KENT, Wash. — Kent mayor Dana Ralphs has been walking by Kherson Park nearly every day since it opened in May.
"There are kids here," Ralphs said. "There are families here. All day every day. And it is so much fun to see that in downtown."
It's the kind of playground where kids can use their imagination to blast off into space. There's a scaled down lunar lander kids can climb up on, a moon buggy, a mission control panel and more. Kids are invited to get as hands-on as they like and to imagine a career in the cosmos.
"Really the hope is this park will inspire sort of that next generation of workforce," said Ralphs. "Like 'I can be a rocket scientist!' Or 'I can be an engineer!' Or 'I can be an astronaut!'"
Ralphs is especially pleased to see a lunar rover here. They were originally built by the Boeing company here in the Kent Valley. Seven are still parked on the moon. With local companies like Blue Origin and Boeing’s Defense, Space and Security division, space exploration has been very good to this growing city.
"Over half of the jobs in the space sector in the state of Washington are located in the Kent Valley," said Ralphs. "We've got rockets and satellites and all kinds of research and development going on."
Boeing has developed an app for visitors called Space for Kidz that can add some virtual reality to the play equipment at the park.
It's never too soon to get a child thinking about their future. Or lunch. We asked Rayne Leon Guerrero what she would be doing if she were on the moon right now.
"Eating McDonald's burgers," she said before skipping away to play on the lunar lander.
"We want kids to stand there at Mission Control or get on that lunar rover, get in the lunar lander, and think, you know, 'this could be me'," said Ralphs. "We want to spark that desire to take the next step in a career."
Kherson Park is located at 307 West Gowe Street in Kent.
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