Santa Barbara County First District Supervisor Salud Carbajal will host a special ribbon-cutting ceremony along with community leaders and County Parks officials to formally open the county’s newest playground at Manning Park Annex in Montecito.

The ceremony will be held at 9 a.m., Friday, June 18. The new playground at Manning Park Annex (also known as Lower Manning Park) is located off Santa Rosa Lane just east of San Ysidro Road.

Staff and board members from the nearby Montecito Family YMCA are also expected to participate in the ribbon-cutting ceremony. The YMCA shares the use of the parking lot at Manning Park Annex on weekdays and contributes to the maintenance of the parking lot through a joint-use maintenance agreement with County Parks.

“Our kids deserve contemporary playgrounds that make outdoor activity fun and challenging,” Carbajal said. “With childhood obesity on the rise, I’m glad to see County Parks using dedicated resources that have accumulated over the years to install play equipment that is a real attraction for kids of all ages.”

Installing the new playground equipment caps a multiyear effort by the County Parks Department to replace outdated play equipment throughout the county. Financial support for this renovation came from the county’s Deferred Capital Maintenance Program with additional funding from the South Coast East Quimby Program. Quimby fees are paid by approved subdivisions in Santa Barbara County in lieu of dedication of public parkland and can be used for a variety of capital projects, including playground equipment. Total cost was about $70,000 for the new outdoor activity equipment and installation.

“We want to make sure that our playgrounds are attractive, durable, in excellent condition and fun to use,” Parks Director Daniel Hernandez said. “The new Kompan equipment is among the most user-friendly I have ever seen and is incredibly well-designed and well-constructed. This playground will be a fun place for kids for a long time to come.”

The new playground — manufactured by Danish playground company Kompan — replaces old and static equipment previously earmarked for replacement. The new equipment is more kinetic and active, and has been very popular in other locations where it has been installed.

— William Boyer is the communications director for Santa Barbara County.