With temperatures warming up and playgrounds drying out, parents and kids are focusing on the best places to play. As luck would have it, a flourish of playground improvements are cropping up across the valley.

Out with the old and in with the new. From Ashland to Central Point, old playgrounds are being retired, revamped and reconstructed entirely, with local groups hoping for completion of almost all play structures by early-to-mid summer.

In Medford, more than a half-dozen playgrounds will see new equipment.

Parks and Recreation Director Brian Sjothun said the city has used a park dedication fund to make needed improvements to city parks, many of which were decades past their prime.

"It was just a matter of things needed replaced after awhile," he said, noting that most playground equipment is good for about 15 years. "We're planning on doing this over the course of the next five years, replacing all of our aged and outdated park equipment. The community, in partnership with the city and school districts, replaced all the school playgrounds, but it was time for the same to happen for our city parks."

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Aa a prime example, Fichtner-Mainwaring Park recently traded worn swings and rusty pipes for a modern play structure adorned in interactive play toys such as giant tic-tac-toe blocks and a steering wheel. Nearby, a handicap accessible sand play area and a water spray park that opened last summer offer plenty of options for play.

Other excursion spots include the following:

Elsewhere in Medford

• Hawthorne Park, off Main Street, was updated last summer with a small climbing wall and a climb-on spider web-style structure.
• Holmes Park, off Modoc Road, traded 30-year-old equipment for a modern a play structure geared for both young (ages 2-5) and old (5-12).
• Lone Pine Park, planned for an early June opening, was recently constructed with the city's second zero-depth water spray area, open space and restrooms. A playground could be added in the future.
• Lewis Street Park, the city's newest park, is set to start construction near Lewis and Eighth streets. The park will include a playground structure similar to that in Fichtner-Mainwaring and a slightly smaller water spray area.
• Another play structure is planned for the center of five softball fields at the new Medford Sports Park near Harry & David field.
• Details on projects can be found at the Medford Parks and Recreation Web site, www.playmedford.com

Phoenix

• The newly construction Blue Heron Park, between Highway 99 and the Bear Creek Greenway, includes a large play structure, two monkey-bar style climbing domes, a tire swing and open space.

Ashland

• Lithia Park was recently outfitted with a spider-web "climber," up and running in time for the recent Easter weekend when the thing was literally stuffed with kids. Other new equipment is in the works.
• A park near sports fields along North Mountain Avenue got a small playground and climbing rock in recent months. A play area near the North Mountain Park Nature Center nearby will get an 8-foot climbing rock with various handles and steps.

Central Point

• A playground in the Blue Grass Downs subdivision off Hamrick Road is slated for construction in coming months, with completion by summer.

Buffy Pollock is a freelance writer living in Medford. E-mail her at buffypollock@juno.com.