Kurt Donaldson Park playground closes Aug. 17, Cape Coral

The playground at Kurt Donaldson Park in Cape Coral closes on Monday for a full equipment replacement and Lee County expects it to stay shut through the end of September, with the rest of the seventeen acre park staying open

Money & World

The Editorial Team · August 13, 2026

A close overhead crop of loose bark and wood chip mulch covering the ground edge to edge, in browns, greys and rust orange, with splintered chips, bark fragments and dry pine needles layered over one another. The frame holds ground covering only. No playground equipment, people, children, buildings, signage or text are in view, and this is not a photograph of Kurt Donaldson Park.

Stock photo

Stock photo. Not the actual scene. Photo: Mike Bird / Pexels

What it changes

If you take a small child to the playground at Kurt Donaldson Park, Monday is the last day it is there in its current form, and you should plan on about six weeks without it. WINK News reports, citing a press release from Lee County, that the playground at 180 Hunter Blvd. closes on August 17 for equipment replacement and is expected to stay closed through the end of September, weather and construction conditions permitting. The county says it could reopen sooner if the work finishes ahead of schedule. Two details are worth having straight before you plan around this. The first is that only the playground closes. Kurt Donaldson is a 17 acre site, and the county's own facility page lists baseball fields, basketball courts, tennis courts, a pavilion, restrooms, grills and free parking alongside the playground. Nothing in the county's account touches any of those, so the park itself stays open dawn to dusk and this is a closure of one structure inside it, not of the park. The second is who actually runs it, because the name invites the wrong guess. Despite sitting in Cape Coral, this is a Lee County Parks and Recreation park, not a City of Cape Coral one. That matters if you go looking for updates or want to ask a question: the contact is the county, and the facility page lists park supervisor Ryan Normoyle at (239) 671-2542. It also matters because the county's facility page for the park carried no closure notice when it was checked for this item, so a parent who checks only the park's own page on the way there will not find out until they arrive. What comes back is a full replacement rather than a repair. The county describes a new playground with shade, swings, slides, climbing components and other equipment. Shade is the detail to note in a county that spent Thursday under a heat advisory, and it is a real change rather than a like for like swap. The equipment coming out went in around 2006, according to the county's own history of the site, which puts it at roughly twenty years old, and it was built as two structures, one for children aged five to twelve and a separate one for two to five year olds. The county has not said whether the replacement keeps that split, so parents of toddlers should not assume it does. The county encourages people to use other nearby Lee County playgrounds in the meantime. What has not been released is the cost, the funding source, the contractor, and any firmer reopening date than the end of September. This site did not obtain the county press release itself and is carrying its contents as WINK reported them.

The playground at Kurt Donaldson Park in Cape Coral closes on Monday, August 17, for a full equipment replacement.

WINK News reported the closure on Thursday morning, citing a press release from Lee County. According to that report, the playground at 180 Hunter Blvd. is expected to remain closed through the end of September, weather and construction conditions permitting, and the county says it could reopen sooner if the work is completed ahead of schedule.

The replacement playground will feature shade, swings, slides, climbing components and other equipment, described by the county as designed to give children an enhanced place to play. Visitors are encouraged to use other nearby Lee County Parks and Recreation playgrounds while this one is closed.

Only the playground is affected. Lee County's facility page for the park describes a 17-acre site whose amenities also include baseball fields, basketball courts, tennis courts, a pavilion, restrooms, charcoal grills, concessions and free parking. Nothing in the county's account of the closure touches any of those, and the park's posted hours remain dawn to dusk.

Despite the name and the location, Kurt Donaldson Park is run by Lee County Parks and Recreation rather than by the City of Cape Coral. The county lists Ryan Normoyle as park supervisor at (239) 671-2542. The park's facility page on the county website carried no closure notice when it was checked for this item.

The equipment being replaced dates to 2006, when, according to the county's history of the site, a new playground was added with one structure for children aged five to twelve and a separate structure for two to five year olds. The county has not said whether the replacement keeps that separation.

The park is 17 acres and was formerly known as Hancock Park. It was renamed on May 17, 2014 for Kurt Donaldson, a 30-year Lee County resident who coached Little League for more than 40 years, 30 of them with Hancock American Little League, and football for 40 years, 26 of them with the North Fort Myers Pop Warner League.

The county has not released a cost, a funding source, a contractor, or a reopening date firmer than the end of September.

The playground at Kurt Donaldson Park in Cape Coral closes on Monday for a full equipment replacement and Lee County expects it to stay shut through the end of September, with the rest of the seventeen acre park staying open

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