The Friends of Patapsco Valley State Park worked with the Maryland Park Service and Towson University to create the park service’s first fully accessible playground, at the Hollofield area of Patapsco Valley State Park in Ellicott City.

The playground, located off Route 40, opened to park visitors last month. It took some six years to accomplish.

Don Wecker, project leader and a board member for the Friends group, said the playground was designed to be accessible to all children and adults, including those with mobility challenges.

“Kids who have challenges can play with their friends and siblings,” he said. “It’s a unique design for everybody to be together.”

Wecker said Capt. Robin Melton, a manager with the state park service, approached the Friends group in 2011 with the idea of creating an accessible playground.

Zosha Stuckey, an English professor at Towson University, was familiar with the park from her own use. She formed a community partnership with the Friends board to have her students write grants for the project.

Stuckey had created a grant writing and nonprofit writing project within the university’s English department, and wanted her students to apply their knowledge in the real world.

“Students love writing for real causes,” she said. “The play space in Patapsco is significant especially because people with disabilities deserve the same, if not more, access than us.”

Researching the organizations seeking grants and the sources of funding, Stucky said, students become “mini experts” as they research the organizations seeking grants and the sources for funding. Once the grant proposals are drafted, they go through an extensive revision in collaboration with the organizations involved. While not all grant requests are submitted or funded, she said, the Towson University program has raised more than $170,000 for nonprofits around Baltimore.

For the playground project, Wecker said, more than $77,000 in grant funding was raised over two years through partnerships with the Community Foundation of Howard County, the county’s Department of Recreation and Parks, Coldwell Banker Cares, the John J. Leidy Foundation and the Finish Line Youth Foundation. Additional funds were provided through a state allocation to create six playgrounds across the Maryland park system.

Though the playground is accessible to those with mobility challenges, it’s attractive to all populations. On a recent afternoon, children sprinted from their parents’ cars to a pavilion that stands above simulated tree stumps, leading to a plastic hollowed log. The playground, constructed largely from recycled material, sits on rubberized material designed to make movement easier, Wecker said.

On the other side of the pavilion is a platform — called an Aero Glider — that sways back and forth when rocked by riders. The glider is accessible from a wheelchair ramp, which also leads to interactive pictures, spinning wheels and small slides. Climbing bars connect to another section of the playground, where visitors can enjoy open and closed slides.

Catonsville resident Chris Gallo watched his children Lucy, 7, and Sammy, 3. Gallo said his family has lived in the area since 1979, but he hadn’t seen anything quite like the Hollofield playground.

“I heard they had a big new playground. It’s nice,” Gallo said.

At the lower end of the playground, Ellicott City resident Helen Brooks showed her son, 17-month-old Ezekiel, how to spin a wheel. Brooks said she appreciates the educational tools that are built into the space.

“There are a lot of learning tools, like the ABCs. I can go over there and work with him,” she said. “They have something that can actually help you teach.”

Rob Dyke, Hollofield’s park manager, said the park has seen an increase in attendance since the playground opened, and is working to address the need for more parking.

anmichaels@baltsun.com