CRANBERRY TWP — The Kids Castle, a Cranberry Uniting Playground that replaces the former Playtime Palace in the Cranberry Community Park off Route 19, will be dedicated Sept. 26.

The time and agenda for the ceremony will be announced in August after volunteers are done building the Today section of the Kids Castle.

The playground, which is the 2013 Cranberry Township Community Chest’s Community Project of the Year, will have three thematic areas: Cranberry Yesterday, Cranberry Today and Cranberry Tomorrow.

Construction of the Cranberry Today section will need 400 volunteers over five days from July 31 to Aug. 4 to build.

Bruce Mazzoni, community chest treasurer, said half of the 4.5 hour volunteer shifts still are available from July 31 to Aug. 4.

“The first shift for July 31 is full, but we have a need for people to help for the 4 to 8 p.m. shifts for all five days. There are other shifts that need to be filled including many over the weekend,” he said.

Mazzoni said it is fitting that the Today playground is being built over the Cranberry CUP weekend, “being that they are our named sponsor of the playground, but we realize a lot of potential volunteers are tied up with tournament.”

“Thus, we are renewing our effort to encourage residents to sign up. It could not be easier to do so either on the township or CTCC website,” he said.

The construction is being managed by Play by Design. This is the same firm that designed and helped coordinate the Playtime Palace. More than 900 people helped build that playground.

“This section of the playground is a custom, one-of-a-kind design and will be stick built,” Mazzoni said.

“We will have six volunteer captains who will be there all five days for 12 hours a day. They will help coordinate volunteers from one shift to the next helping to keep us on schedule and to help assure safety. We have a wide arrange of shifts available with different skill sets.

“We need another 200 people to sign up for one shift of work, but we welcome them to consider two or more shifts. We welcome businesses, neighborhood and civic/nonprofit/churches to sign up and be part of a special event that will stay with you for decades.”

The direct link to sign up to help build Kids Castle is: https://secure.twp.cranberry.pa.us/volunteer.