Great news for Homewood—construction of the new Central Park playground is scheduled to begin soon! Read on to learn about the features of the new park and when it’ll be finished.

New Central Park Playground

Located at 1632 Oxmoor Rd, Homewood Central Park is a popular public park with an outdoor pool, two tennis courts, a community central, six pavilions with picnic tables, an amphitheater, multiple walking paths and a large playground for kids.

Now, the playground is set to undergo a complete renovation.

When approving its 2024 budget, the City of Homewood allocated nearly $1M to update the playground in Central Park.

To kick off the renovation, workers will remove the old playground equipment and clear out out the mulch to have a clean slate. The new playground will feature Playground Grass, an artificial turf that is ADA-compliant, accessible to kids in wheelchairs or on crutches and has built-in antistatic technology and antimicrobial properties.

Once complete, the new Homewood Central Park playground will include:

A Ninja course
Swing sets
Slides
ADA-compliant play structures for all ages
A GaGa ball pit
Plenty of shaded areas for hot summer days
New entryways designed to encourage parental engagement

Bugsy the caterpillar in Homewood Central Park. (Nathan Watson / Bham Now)

What about the caterpillar? Sadly, Bugsy—the beloved steel caterpillar that has been a part of the park since the 1980s—does not comply with current playground codes and cannot be used as originally intended. However, the City is working on a way to repurpose Bugsy in the park.

The City of Homewood plans to begin work on the playground soon; once work begins, the playground area will be closed to the public until further notice. However, the rest of the park will remain open as normal.

Although weather delays are possible, the City of Homewood has the new playground slated to be complete by mid-March.

Excited to see Homewood Central Park’s playground updated? Tag us @bhamnow to let us know!