The Ames Foundation will host a groundbreaking for the Miracle League Field and All-inclusive playground 10 a.m. Saturday at Inis Grove Park, 24th and Duff Avenue. There will be a formal ceremony featuring presentations, introduction the major funders and key figures for the project.

“There’s actually going to be a formal kind of a groundbreaking ceremony with the shovels and … the applicable dignitaries and individuals who have played a large role in getting us to where we are now,” said Drew Kamp, director of public policy for the Ames Chamber of Commerce.

The project is broken into two parts — the field and an all-inclusive playground. The playground will cater to children with physical, cognitive and sensory disabilities, according to the Ames Foundation website, and will be on top of a rubberized surface. 

The field will be accessible to wheelchairs as well as other assistive devices — such as crutches or braces — and will be made out of cushion and rubberized turf to include options for competitive and noncompetitive athletic events for children and adults with disabilities. 

The estimated $2 million project will cater to the 3,500 children between ages five and 15 who have special needs in the Polk, Boone, Dallas and Story counties. 

“It’s just something that we don’t have right now in the community — we don’t have an all-inclusive playground in the community,” Kamp said. “[…] But we’re looking to remedy that situation and really make sure that the population that sometimes doesn’t feel like they have all the services that they need is really getting not only the quality, but the level of service that they deserve.” 

The project is scheduled to finish in the spring of 2020, replacing a playground that was torn down at Inis Grove. 

“This is just making sure any child, adult — anyone with a disability or any hindrance with mobility or anything along those lines that would use this facility,” Kamp said. “We just wanted to make sure they all have the right to play and interact in this capacity just like anyone without limited mobility or anything that would hamper their ability to do so.”