{"id":478795,"date":"2026-09-29T00:40:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T00:40:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/478795\/"},"modified":"2026-09-29T00:40:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T00:40:11","slug":"sunset-dunes-gets-a-pirate-themed-playground-arrr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/478795\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunset Dunes Gets a Pirate-Themed Playground, Arrr!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Several hundred kids, parents, and people of all walks came to Sunset Dunes at Kirkham Street Saturday afternoon to celebrate the opening of the park\u2019s newest feature: the pirate-themed Shipwreck Cove playground.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis playground shows the positive things happening at Sunset Dunes,\u201d said former District 4 Supervisor Joel Engardio, who attended the celebrations<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"Some of the new play area. Photo: Streetsblog\/Rudick<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s awesome to see the joy here,\u201d said District 7 Supervisor Myrna Melgar,<\/a> also in attendance. \u201cIt\u2019s amazing that anyone<\/a> would think we should not have this.\u201d<\/p>\n

The \u201canyone\u201d Melgar refers to are the people backing Proposition G<\/a>, which would rip out the skate park<\/a>, the hammocks, Shipwreck Cove, and all the other installations that came with the establishment of Sunset Dunes Park on the former location of this two-mile section of the Great Highway. In November, the voters of San Francisco will be asked again if they want a park or a highway in this location.<\/p>\n

\"\"Quite the turnout. Photo: Streetsblog\/Rudick<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Shipwreck Cove is a 6,000-square-foot \u201cdune education and playground for kids of all ages and abilities,\u201d according to a statement from Friends of Sunset Dunes. It was designed and built by \u201cSomething Labs,\u201d an independent collective of engineers and builders, many of whom create exhibits at the Exploratorium. The playground cost $800,000, funded entirely by philanthropists.<\/p>\n

\u201cIdeally, this can be a place for kids to play and connect to the coastal habitat,\u201d said Sam Haynor with Something Labs and the Exploratorium. \u201cThis playground was created in large part by neighbors, who brought so many hidden treasures to life \u2026 Like the dunes themselves, we hope Shipwreck Cove continues to evolve, inviting families to play, connect, rest, and leap into adventures of their own.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Arrr! Photo: Streetsblog\/Rudick<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a city full of incredible people who create these incredible things,\u201d said Friends of Sunset Dunes\u2019s Lucas Lux, seen in the lead image cutting the ribbon.<\/p>\n

More from a Friends of Sunset Dunes release:<\/p>\n

Sunset Dunes drew more than 1.7 million visitors in its first year, and many of them were families. In an initial planning process led by Rec and Park and Friends of Sunset Dunes, a majority of survey respondents said they visit the park with children, and open house attendees asked for more places for kids to play.<\/p>\n

Shipwreck Cove was built with volunteer support and is fully funded by private donations. It operates under a one-year pilot permit, and feedback from families will help inform the park\u2019s ongoing community planning process.<\/p>\n

\"\"Two leaders who helped make the park happen, Joel Engardio and Myrna Melgar. Photo: Streetsblog\/Rudick<\/p>\n

Fortunately, opponents of the park are sailing in rough waters. Prop. K, which officially created the park in 2024, won with a ten-point margin<\/a> citywide. Now that it\u2019s built, people are enjoying it, and traffic hasn\u2019t changed; support for the park has only grown. \u201cLet\u2019s hope the voters continue to give San Francisco an iconic coastal park, open every day of the week,\u201d said Engardio.<\/p>\n

The campaign<\/a> to ensure that \u201cG\u201d fails and the park is saved continues. Go to the Friends of Sunset Dunes\u2019s Luma page<\/a> to help out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Several hundred kids, parents, and people of all walks came to Sunset Dunes at Kirkham Street Saturday afternoon…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":478796,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[109921,101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":["post-478795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-promoted","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=478795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478795\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/478796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}