Loris Nature Park unveils new, inclusive playground

LORIS, S.C. (WBTW) – Horry County Parks and Recreation celebrated Loris Nature Park’s new inclusive playground with Tuesday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The park is located on Loris Lions Road, right across the street from Loris High School.

Horry County Council spearheaded the $500,000 project, and it will serve the 6,307 residents who live within three miles of the park.

Ray Dunham, director of Horry County Parks and Recreation, said the seven principles of inclusive play inspired the park’s design: be fair, be included, be smart, be independent, be safe, be active and be comfortable.

The county upgraded the main play area of the playground. Now, the park has play areas for ages 0 to 5 and ages 5 to 12.

There’s now a new fitness area open to all ages and abilities where the old playground used to be.

“An inclusive recreation space is one of the best things a community can do for people,” Dunham said. “Inclusive play and recreation simply means no one is left out, and everyone of all ages and abilities can play to the greatest extent possible. It ultimately celebrates the voice of the community.”

At Tuesday’s ceremony, officials could hear the laughs of Horry County students. These students were from the county’s home school group and Daisy Elementary School.

As soon as the ribbon was cut, they could not wait to try out the playground’s new, nature-themed, inclusive equipment.

Those students were the very first to play on the playground, and their feedback will help the county make more parks inclusive in the future.

“This park actually represents a National Demonstration Site, so we’ll be able to take the data from this site and give feedback onto the different amenities and feedback on how this is actually impacting the community as well,” Dunham said.

One park that already got an inclusive upgrade is Socastee Recreation Park. Dunham said that playground does not have as many inclusive features as Loris Nature Park’s new playground, but that the county is sliding in the right direction.

“We did have a good opening, good turnout, very positive feedback from the community,” he said. “That playground had exceeded its life expectancy, so it was very welcomed by the community to have a new playground down there.”

“Things such as the way you can access the playground,” Dunham said when asked what features make a playground more inclusive. “If you’re a wheelchair user, for example, you can roll the wheelchair all the way up to the playground. And then we have a variety of different amenities here, such as the swing that’s back behind me, which allows users to look at each other, which is one of the first in the industry to be able to do that.”

The county has a few other parks on the list for inclusive equipment. The next one will be the Michael Morris Graham Park in Aynor about six months from now.

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Skylar Musick is a multimedia journalist at News13. Skylar is originally from Long Island, New York. She joined the News13 team in June 2024 after graduating from Villanova University in May 2024. Follow Skylar on X, formerly Twitter, Facebook , or Instagram , and read more of her work here .

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