Eight years after tragedy, Sophie and Madigan's Playground opens to the public

Apr. 17—Sadie Lillard can't remember her sisters Sophie and Madigan. Her brother, Mason, never met them.

When 6-year-old Sophie and 3-year-old Madigan were killed in a January 2013 fire at the Lillards' home near Myersville, Sadie was an infant, and Mason hadn't been born.

By that spring, despite their overwhelming grief, the Lillards started work on a project to memorialize the girls' spirits. They wanted something colorful, lively and fun — something joyful.

Seven springs have come and gone since then. And this week, as another one dawned in Frederick, the Sophie and Madigan Lillard Memorial Playground finally opened to the public.

Sadie and Mason were the first to play on it.

"They've always known that this was going to happen, but I don't think they ever grasped that it would be a real place where people would go," said their mom, Christine Lillard. "Seeing that happen has been really exciting for them."

Eight years in the making, Sophie and Madigan's playground is a vibrant, fantasy-themed park located off Butterfly Lane in Frederick. It features the standard pieces — swings, slides and a jungle gym, to name a few — but its unique design and careful planning speak to the emotional weight behind the project.

There's a tall castle with long blonde hair spilling out of the window, a patch of pumpkin-shaped pods that evoke Cinderella's carriage and a mermaid's tail that appears to be splashing through the waves. The spongy flooring is printed with rainbows and swirling vines.

"The design itself is things that we know they loved," Lillard said. The Disney influence is a nod to the family's favorite vacation spot, and the colors were chosen with Sophie and Madigan in mind.

As the sun shone Friday afternoon, more than a dozen children were playing at the park. They chased each other around the swing set, scrambled up the slides and picked small yellow flowers out of an adjacent field, their shrieks of laughter carried by the chilly spring breeze.

"It's gorgeous," Lindsay Guntow said as her 2-year-old daughter, Ivy, plopped down on the ground next to her. "It's the most unique park I think I've ever been to."

A pair of bulldozers was still parked nearby, a reminder that the project is far from finished.

The playground that's open now — referred to as "Fantasy Land" — represents what the family is calling phase one of the project. Lillard said they're "very close" to putting down a deposit for the second phase, an area that will be called "Wonder Land." They hope to build that this fall.

The most important features of the park, Lillard said, are the ones aimed at accessibility. The family was set on making the playground enjoyable for kids and adults of all abilities — a goal inspired, again, by their girls.

"Sophie was one of those kids that could make a friend with anybody," Lillard recalled. "At 6 years old, she would walk up to the kid that was all by themselves and make sure that they had a friend."

That same attitude is evident across the playground, especially to parents like Cynthia Kugler.

Kugler's 4-year-old son is autistic. He loves to swing, but he has trouble staying put on the swings designed for older kids and is quickly growing out of the bucket-style ones for babies and toddlers. Sophie and Madigan's Playground offers a large, high-backed swing with an overhead bar to keep kids like Kugler's son safe.

"It was not like any playground that we've been to around here before," said Kugler, who moved to Frederick about six months ago and visited the park earlier this week. "The family really put a lot of thought into it, and it shows."

The playground also features a large, soft swing made for people with low muscle tone. The pumpkin pods are designed to provide a quiet retreat for overstimulated kids, and the ground is flat to allow people in mobility devices to navigate the park.

Anne Levitsky, whose 5-year-old daughter has a sensory processing disorder, followed the project on social media for ages. She'd never met the family, but she felt connected to their story and their mission.

So even though it was gray and rainy when Levitsky opened Facebook on Wednesday and saw that Sophie and Madigan's Playground was finally open, she didn't hesitate. Her daughter — who had spent hours in virtual school — put on a bathing suit and spandex pants and climbed into the car.

On their way from Whittier, Levitsky explained the story of the park to her daughter. She said she wanted her to understand that "this project was created to bring joy to the world, like Sophie and Madigan did."

Phase one of the project cost about $500,000, Lillard said, and she expects to spend about $1.5 million before it's done. The city donated the land and paid for the sidewalks, electricity and lighting, she added, and the rest of the money has come from community fundraisers.

Though the playground has been complete since October, the tall construction fences surrounding it didn't come down until Wednesday due to the coronavirus pandemic. Seeing those barriers finally come down brought on a powerful blend of emotions, Lillard said. She knows her girls would have loved the space.

"We're super happy that we made it to this point, and then we're heartbroken that we can't share it with them," Lillard said.

An official ribbon-cutting ceremony is planned for next week.

As the clouds rolled in and 1 p.m. inched near on Friday, parents around the playground began corralling their kids toward the parking lot. It's time for lunch, many of them called out: Slide one last time, pick one last flower, say goodbye to your friend.

Carole McClure's daughter, Sage — a small girl with pigtails and glasses who happily answered "everything" when asked what her favorite part of the playground was — kept on climbing up the jungle gym. She didn't want to leave.

"I promise," McClure called to her over the wind, "we'll come back."

Follow Jillian Atelsek on Twitter: @jillian_atelsek