The Maker Playground, a maker space created and managed by Fishers Parks, was awarded ‘Best Innovation in Design’ by the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA). The Maker Playground was also recently announced as host of the 2022 Make48 City Series Competition, the subject of Make48 docuseries currently syndicated by PBS.
The Maker Playground opened in 2021 as an interactive park property that features equipment and programming for woodworking, metalsmithing, and technology to build and create projects in a collaborative space.
The NRPA Innovation Awards recognizes park and recreation agencies nationwide that improve and strengthen their communities through innovative practices in park design, health and wellness, conservation and social equity. The Maker Playground was selected as top in its category.
The Maker Playground was also unveiled recently as the host for the national Make48 competition. The celebrated docuseries brings its 48-hour collaborative inventor and maker challenge to Fishers after a successful run in 2021. The Fishers Maker Playground will host the event, scheduled for September 9-11, 2022. Now open to teams nationwide, competitors from Indiana and beyond will be able to participate in the unique maker competition, which helps participants discover what is possible in just 48 hours.
The winning team will win $2k and advance to compete at the national competition, slated for March 2023, where one team can win $10k. This year’s challenge theme is Food Preservation & The Supply Chain - Food at the Right Place at the Right Time, as determined by United Way of Central Indiana. The event is sponsored by Corteva Agriscience.
Corteva Agriscience™ will serve as the competition’s Challenge Sponsor, helping craft the teams’ competition objective. Corteva is a leading, global pure-play agriculture company headquartered in Indianapolis.
The Innovation in Design award will be officially presented to Fishers at the 2022 NRPA Annual Conference, in Phoenix, AZ in September 2022.
For more information about the Maker Playground, visit fishersmpg.com.