The one-of-a-kind glow-in-the-dark playground Joya at Oran Good Park in Texas is now officially open. City officials at Farmers Branch, a town just 20 minutes outside Dallas, welcomed the public to the 18,000-square-foot park on Saturday, January 20.

Joya at Oran Good Park dubbed itself as the country’s first all-accessible, glow-in-the-dark playground, according to a release from the city. While open during the day, the park comes alive during the evening with its glowing elements. The playground features a 27-foot futuristic sphere where children can climb inside, a zip line, a spin zone, glow seating, swings, and an obstacle course - all lit with colorful LED lighting.

  • @grue
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    310 months ago

    That’s incredibly cool, except for the part where kids need to get good sleep and therefore probably shouldn’t be out playing that late.

    • @[email protected]
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      510 months ago

      Good point in this context (of Texas), moreover it’d be WAY more useful in places higher up latitude-wise. It gets dark REALLY early here in Northern Scotland, and stuff like this would be way more tangibly useful.

      Though also, being from Texas, I just want kids going outside there… at all.

    • CounselingTechieM
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      310 months ago

      I admittedly agree to a point, but I remember when I lived in Texas in the summer that somedays it got too hot during the day for me to be able to actually play or enjoy myself.

    • SteveOPM
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      110 months ago

      Yeah it closes fairly early which is likely due to it being in a small town and the need to reduce energy use and light pollution as well as it being for kids. Maybe not exactly lunarpunk but more lunarpunk inspired. Would be interesting to see if one or more of these open in a city where it could be open longer and be more geared towards adults as well. I agree it’s cool and if you click the link to the park in the summary you can watch the livestream where it has a solarpunk palette by day and turns to a color-changing lunarpunk spectrum after sunset.