At 223 W. Vilas Road, the wood chips are gone. Much of the old equipment at Don Jones Memorial Park has been torn out to make room for a new central play structure, new rubber flooring, and new equipment that includes pieces for children with disabilities. Work started after Labor Day. City parks staff expect the playground to reopen in November, as long as the weather holds.
That means Central Point's busiest playground comes back in the coldest, wettest stretch of the year, after a redesign aimed mostly at hot days. The new zip lines will get the attention when the fences come down. The bigger change is shade, and that work keeps going well past November.
Shade was the complaint, so shade got the money
Matt Samitore, Central Point's parks and public works director, was blunt with the Rogue Valley Times about what people had been telling the city:
"It will have a lot of the same features as well as a big play structure, spinners and swing sets … and lots of shade added, which is the biggest complaint we've had at Don Jones (Memorial Park) … and we'll also have zip lines for the first time out there."
He called Don Jones the city's "premier park and No. 1 used park" in the same interview. The park covers about eight acres and was built 18 years ago. It's named for Don Jones, the longtime Central Point mayor and community leader. After nearly two decades of summers, the most-used playground in town was also the one with the most-repeated complaint.
You can see that priority in where the money went. The city posted a video rendering of the new design on YouTube. Samitore told the Rogue Valley Times that the video is already out of date. "We have shade added over the swing sets and individual places not shown in the walkthrough, and we added more to the budget to make sure there's more shade out there," he said. The net spinner isn't in the video either, and some pieces have moved since it was made. If you've already watched the walkthrough, the real playground will have more covered space than the video shows.
What's going in under that shade
Here's what the city and its designer have described for the rebuilt play space, based on the Rogue Valley Times report:
- A central play structure nearly two and a half stories tall, which Samitore called "pretty impressive"
- Dueling zip lines side by side, the park's first, so two kids can race each other
- Spinners, a net spinner, and swing sets, with shade over the swings
- Poured-in-place rubber surfacing instead of the old wood chips
- Equipment for children with disabilities built into the main layout instead of set off on its own, plus a quieter area for kids with sensory disabilities who need a minute to reset
The rubber surface and the drainage work described below are the changes that matter most for a playground reopening in the rainy season. The inclusive layout is the other piece built to last past opening week. "We wanted to make the park more inclusive to allow not only kids with no disabilities, but kids with disabilities to use it as well," Samitore told the paper.
Why a playground built for heat is arriving in November
The project had to get through a state grant cycle and a design competition before construction could start. The Rogue Valley Times puts the cost at about $1.1 million and says a state grant covers around 65% of it. The grant came through the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department. Its 2025 Local Government Grant Awards list includes the "Don Jones Park – Playground Rehabilitation Project" among the large grants, with total project costs of $1,187,602 and $712,558 in grant funds requested.
Taken together, those sources point to a project that moved in this order:
- The 2025 grant round. Central Point applied to the state for a large grant and won it. Samitore said the city had to submit a design as part of that process.
- Choosing a design. The city got seven proposals. The Central Point Parks & Recreation Commission picked one from GameTime, an Alabama-based playground company, and Samitore said its bid was among the lowest-cost options. The project's procurement details are on the city's bid page.
- Building after summer. Demolition began after Labor Day in early September, so the playground was open for the summer of 2026 and closed afterward.
- Reopening, expected in November. City staff and builders are aiming for November, but the schedule depends on good weather.
Starting after Labor Day kept the old playground open through the summer of 2026. It also means the new shade structures will stand through a full winter before their first hot afternoon.
Crews are also working on more than the play equipment this fall. The park's drainage is being reworked, and the pickleball and tennis courts are being resurfaced. Better drainage helps a park in wet weather, and it's the part of the project people will notice least.
The shade plan has a second half
November isn't the end of the shade work. Samitore told the Rogue Valley Times that more is planned at Don Jones in about a year:
"At the end of next summer, we're building a third gazebo at Don Jones. The area between the water spray park and the playground was originally a concession stand, but that's not a priority anymore. We're converting that area into more shade and picnic tables and a drinking fountain."
That space sits between the two places where kids spend the most time on hot days, the water spray park and the playground. Once it's finished, a family should be able to move from the spray park to the zip lines and back while staying mostly in the shade, with tables and a fountain in between. This fall's work puts shade over the play equipment itself, and next year's adds it to the spaces around the playground where parents sit and wait.
There's a funding step first. Samitore said parks staff have to wait for the new city budget, which starts on July 1. Counting from this fall, that puts the third gazebo and the shaded picnic area at the end of summer 2027. The summer of 2027 will have the new playground shade, and the summer after that will be the first with the full plan in place.
Planning the first visit, probably in jackets
Don Jones Memorial Park is at 223 W. Vilas Road in Central Point. The city hasn't announced an exact reopening day, and the November target depends on the weather. Check the City of Central Point's parks page before you promise anyone a zip line race.
Until the fences come down, the city's parks map shows other options around town, including Twin Creeks Park, Robert Pfaff Park, Griffin Oaks Park, and the Skyrman Arboretum. It's worth checking each park's equipment with the city before you go, since playground features change over time.
When it does reopen, the playground will be easy to judge on the first dry Saturday. The two-and-a-half-story structure and the side-by-side zip lines will be obvious right away. Whether the shade answers the park's longest-running complaint won't be clear until next July, when the swings are covered and the spray park is running again.
At Whole Heart Realty, we keep an eye on the parks and public projects that shape everyday life across the Rogue Valley, Don Jones included. If you're weighing a move within Central Point or anywhere in Jackson County and want to know what's changing near a particular street, let's talk about your next move.
