"Kayla's Playground" was designed with accessibility in mind. The goal has been to allow children with mobility issues or wheelchairs to get in there like any other kid.

Kids and their parents celebrated the one-year anniversary of a park in Franklin on Sunday.

"Kayla's Playground" was designed with accessibility in mind. The goal has been to allow children with mobility issues or wheelchairs to get in there like any other kid.

Dozens of families came out as part of a planned reunion. Many had connections to the park - either volunteering during its construction or using the park frequently.

A group of kids tried to get that dizzy feeling spinning on the merry-go-round. Among them was 15-year-old Tatyana Spidell, smiling with the other kids.

"Tatyana...is non-verbal and unable to walk. So doing things that I feel she might appreciate and having here show me that she likes it is a reason to come out here and be out here," Tatyana's mother, Magaly Spidell, said.

Tatyana showed her happiness on her face with a butterfly pin in her hair. In fact, most people at the park wore them.

"The green signifies the caterpillar," Shelly Runte, describing the butterfly pin, said.

"And the purple is the butterfly, transforming into a butterfly, and flying into the blue clouds. And people say 'What's the gray body all about?' And I say 'Well, I guess its the silver linings'," Runte said.

Shelly Runte knows about silver linings. The park she helped design is named for her daughter, Kayla, who died in 2012.

Since then Runte has promoted the idea of accessible playgrounds. City officials said the usage of Kayla's Playground is steadily growing.

"When I observe families on the playground, they're together. Parents aren't on the benches. There's no separation of wood chips between families which is beautiful," Runte said.

"The best part and what warms my heart is that these children look at Tatyana, especially when she's on the swing or the merry-go-round, and they have questions," spidell said.

"'Why is she like that?' 'What is she doing?' And having them learn and ask questions just opens up what our world has become," Spidell said.

Event organizers said that Thrivent Mutual Funds have recently made a $10,000 donation to this project. Park planners are going to apply it to some improvements in the space - but otherwise, construction is completely finished on the park.

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