On May 28, Jeannie Null will have a 15th birthday party years in the making.

“For most people, having a party at a playground isn’t cool,” Julie Null, Jeannie’s mother, said. “But for her it’ll be a big event.”

Because Jeannie uses a wheelchair, most playgrounds are inaccessible. So her mother, an elementary school teacher at Northeast Elementary School, wondered if Planet Playground, a 19-year-old wooden playground at Northeast Park, could be transformed into something Jeannie and other people with disabilities could enjoy.

“We want it to be accessible to everybody,” Null said. “Even for adults with disabilities; so they can come with their child to the playground. I just want this to be for everybody.”

At 8 a.m. Friday, a city worker cut down the first part of the fence surrounding the old wooden playground, clearing the way for nearly two dozen volunteers to swarm the playground to make room for Jeannie’s Place.

Nearly 100 volunteers had built the wooden playground from the ground up in late October of 1999, including eight memorable turrets, a mock Union Station and even a time capsule, which was unearthed Friday afternoon.

Jason Null, the father of Jeannie, brought a generator and sawzall to tackle the iconic turrets and wooden bridges. Friends, neighbors and coworkers volunteered their time from Southern Pipe and Supply, Precision Fence, Lowe’s and the City of Meridian, focusing on preserving parts of the playground for storage at Norman Roofing.

Julia Norman, the government liaison for the city, said the keepsakes would be incorporated into the final design for the playground, specifically the turrets.

Kay Spells, a minister whose grandchildren used to play at the park, came early to take photos and preserve the playful memories before the playground came down.

“They called it the castle,” Spells said, gesturing to the turrets. “I’m sad but I’m happy. Not every child could come and enjoy this playground. Now, they can come.”

Spells said she would send the photos to her grandchildren, some as far as Atlanta or Chicago.

“I’d say, ‘Let’s go to the castle’ and they’d be excited to come to the castle,” Spells said. “Now they’ll have something to remember… but this needed to be done.”

Norman said that with parts of the playground already ordered and final design meetings scheduled, she was excited about the February build.

“The community will build this playground, just like they built the last one,” Norman said, noting it would keep the same Meridian theme.

The playground, made by Play by Design based in Ithaca, New York, will include a swing for wheelchair users, an in-ground merry-go-round for children of all abilities and a stainless steel slide.

“The reason we went with the stainless steel slide, which is quite a bit more expensive than the aluminum or plastic slides, is because then there’s no static,” Norman said. “So children with cochlear implants can go down the slides without worrying about the static.”

To combat concerns about the heat, Norman said she’d called a parks and recreation director in Texas who said that because of the shaded design of the slide that it didn’t heat up like other slides.

Despite the joy Julie Null said she felt, knowing that the new playground would be more inclusive, she couldn’t help feeling a little sad to see the old one come down.

“It’s bittersweet because I know that there’s a lot of sentimental value here,” Null said. “My son did play here. But it’s also so good to see it happen.”

Null couldn’t arrive until 11:30 because of her job as a teacher but said she was shocked at the progress and how far volunteers progressed in just a few hours of work.

“I wish I could have seen it,” Null said.

Null recalled Easter egg hunts with her students on the soccer fields at the park and the games of pretend that Planet Playground inspired.

“The new playground will have the same look and feel because we loved that and we didn’t want to take that away,” Null said. “I really hope there’s still going to be some fun things that kids can be creative and use their imaginations.”

As an aside, Null said she thought the park would be more than beneficial to children of all abilities, maybe even improving the reputation of Meridian.

“It’s going to be a positive thing and we need more positive things. People drive to Madison or Hattiesburg to go to playgrounds like this,” Null said. “Maybe they’ll see things like this and think ‘Let’s go to Meridian for the day.’ We’re raising our kids here; we want to see Meridian do well.”

Norman noted that the window for companies to donate to the playground was closing for large components. By the end of the month, most of the playground will be ordered in order to prepare for the build at the end of February.

Businesses and people looking to donate toward Jeannie’s Place can contact the Community Foundation of East Mississippi at www.cfem.org mail a check to CFEM at P.O. Box 865 Meridian, MS 39302.