July 2, 2021 – Preservation in Pink

It’s summertime! I have a few new (to me) playground apparatus finds, and it seems like the perfect season to share them. You never know where a vintage piece of playground equipment will be. I was surprised to come across this one, sitting adjacent to a large modern playground in Williston, VT.

Today’s apparatus feature is the 1975 Miracle Recreation Equipment Company’s “Four-Way Climber”.

From the book *Once Upon a Playground: A Celebration of Classic American Playgrounds, 1920-1975* by Brenda Biondo (University Press of New England, 2014), page 88. The advertisement reads “Boys and girls love the patented Four-Way climber because it can take on a whole group of children at one time. They can climb, balance, chin, leg drop, or skin the cat with plenty of room to maneuver on this sturdy climber.”

For those wondering what “skin the cat” means in the advertisement above… I looked it up, too. It’s a gymnastics exercise and involves starting in a dead hang, keeping your arms legs straight, pointing your toes, and bringing your legs over your head into an inverted hang position.

These 1970s pieces are getting rarer as the years tick by, so take photographs while you can and send them my way. I’d love to feature them on Preservation in Pink.