New playground equipment has been installed at shelters 20 and 21 in Cape Girardeau County Park South.

Cape Girardeau County park superintendent Bryan Sander said the new MicroPlay equipment replaces equipment that was approximately 30-years old.

“Some of the equipment had been brought in from the playgrounds that we had already replaced,” Sander said. “We refurbish the equipment and put it back.”

The parks department also replaced the old pea gravel at the playground with rubber mulch.

“Rubber mulch is a lot safer than the pea gravel,” Sander said. “Years ago, pea gravel was pretty much what everybody used. Now, there is the rubber mulch.”

According to Sander, the new equipment cost $104,000. Half the project was paid for through a Missouri Department of Natural Resources grant, and the other half was paid by Cape Girardeau County.

The Cape Girardeau County Parks Department installed new playground equipment to replace 30-year-old equipment shelters 20 and 21 at Cape County Park South Park in Cape Girardeau.J.C. Reeves