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Steamboat Springs — As the pink ribbon fell to the ground, more than 30 children ran screaming onto the new universal playground at Strawberry Park Elementary School.

The childrens' elation followed a short ceremony Thursday evening led by Julie Taulman and Shelly St. Pierre - co-chairwomen of the Let's All Play group - to dedicate the Strawberry Park and Soda Creek elementary schools universal playgrounds.

Ben Northcutt, of the Steamboat Springs Rotary Club, which helped organize last year's community build of the playgrounds, and Scott Gorman, of Children's Playstructures & Recreation, of Littleton, also gave short presentations during the dedication.

As much as Thursday's ceremony allowed those who presented to thank everyone who assisted with the development of the playgrounds during the past two years - from the raising of nearly $1 million to the more than 500 volunteers who helped build the structures - it also allowed the children a chance to play.

"It's really, really, really fun," said Lowen Epstein, 7, a second-grader at Strawberry Park. "I love it. It's way better than the old playground. I love the spider web and the tight rope. I like pretty much everything. It's the coolest playground."

A similar sentiment was shared by a number of the kids taking full advantage of their new playground Thursday. Casey Buchanan, 7, also a second-grader at Strawberry Park, said the playground was really fun, but she also cited another benefit.

"You don't get splinters very often now," she said, referring to the school's old wooden playground structures.

Even the parents didn't seem to mind spending extra time on the playground after the sun started to set and the temperature dropped.

"It's amazing," said Stephanie Orozco, whose 6-year-old son, Max, is a first-grader at Strawberry Park. "We were just discussing our grammar school playgrounds. There were monkey bars, concrete and some sand. This is neat. We're really lucky."

The universal playgrounds were designed to allow all children, including those with physical disabilities, to participate. St. Pierre has said about 75 percent of the playgrounds' structures are handicap accessible. Ramps lead from the spongy rubberized surface - made from recycled Colorado tires - to some of the higher apparatus.

And both playgrounds will eventually feature snowmelt systems that will make them accessible year-round. The system at Soda Creek has been completed, and infrastructure for the system at Strawberry Park is mostly in place, with completion anticipated for next summer.

The Soda Creek playground was dedicated to Joseph and Suzette Brumleve, who were killed in a plane crash in December near Hayden. The Brumleves, who operated the COHIHO Family Foundation, were the largest private donors to the project, giving $50,000, Taulman said.

The Strawberry Park playground was dedicated by Mark and Cheri Scully in memory of Mark's mother, Lou Ann. Mark and Cheri, who were married during the fundraising for the playgrounds, asked for wedding gifts in cash, which they donated for the purchase of the $20,000 play boulder at Strawberry Park.

Signs thanking donors that also included photographs of the volunteers were unveiled at the dedication ceremony Thursday.

Strawberry Park Co-Principal Celia Dunham remembers when the school's original wooden playground was built in the 1980s. She said the community came together then to build the playground, which also was bombarded by a wave of happy children after it was dedicated.

"And then to see it happen again 25 years later with a new generation once again shows it's Steamboat coming together to do great things for families and kids," she said. "That's why we live here."