After months of planning and $70,000 of fundraising later, the Peter Woodbury Community School Yard will finally be built.

The work will begin Friday, July 31, when Bill Simione of Play Pro installs the first deck of the traditional playground equipment.

On Saturday, Aug. 1, volunteers will attach other playground equipment to the main piece installed the day before.

According to Cheryl Daley at Peter Woodbury, some people have already signed up to volunteer on Saturday, including four people from Lowe’s and a handful of high school students needing community service hours.

“This weekend we’re in good shape for numbers,” said Daley. “It’s really next weekend we’re looking for people.”

On Saturday, Aug. 8, volunteers are needed to build a shed and prepare 24 garden beds. People will also be needed for maintenance work in gardens on the other side of the school. Master gardener Anne Southwell and secondgrade teacher Connie Roberge will be in charge of these.

Most of the plantings in the gardens will be vegetables, but students will help with that when school starts.

“We’ll try to involve the kids, and get their input on what we should plant,” said Daley. “We’re trying to figure out if each class will have a garden, or what.”

Peter Woodbury received money for the school yard project through fundraising, grants, gifts, lemonade stands, cookbooks, T-shirts and more.

Daley said this project is a two-year vision, and $70,000 was raised in its first year. The goal is $150,000.

“We are very happy with where we’re at,” said Daley. “In the future, we still have things to do, like put bricks down,” said Daley.

“And in the fall, we’ve thought about doing something called a shrub-athon, where people will plant shrubs outside.”

Other elements that could potentially be added to the school yard project later on include weather stations and exploration backpacks for bird watching and plant identification.

Daley said the playground equipment will be ready for use by Monday, Aug. 3.

For more information, or if you would like to volunteer some time to help with the project, e-mail Daley at daleyc@sau25.net.