It’s playtime for residents and school children alike in Lacombe.

KaBOOM!, FannieMae and Bayou Lacombe Middle School are teaming up to bring the city its first public playground at a cost of nearly $50,000, but the months of construction and eyesores it would take to build the 2,500-square-foot structure have all been condensed into one day.

The national nonprofit organization KaBOOM!, founded in 1995, is dedicated to providing play structures for children across the U.S. FannieMae, founded in 1938 as a shareholder-owned lender that provides funding to the nation’s housing market, is providing the funds for most of the project that will take place Tuesday beginning at 8:30 a.m.

More than 200 volunteers from FannieMae, KaBOOM!, Bayou Lacombe Middle School and the area are scheduled to be onsite devoting their time to help piece together the playground.

The monolithic haven of merriment, designed by the middle school’s students, will boast two slides, two rock-climbing walls, a suspension bridge and even a tunnel, among other things.

Principal Patrick Woods said the school already has a play area for the 185 students, but it only sports two playground pieces and an open field. He said the new arena would feature a consolidated area with a lot of equipment that will also be open for public use.

The playground project is part of KaBOOM!’s Operation Playground, an ongoing initiative to build 100 playgrounds in the gulf-coast areas affected by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

This development will be number 98 in the gulf region since 2005 and will be the fifth built in St. Tammany Parish and nearly the 50th in Louisiana.

Lacombe was chosen for the project after filing an application with KaBOOM! and being approved for the endeavor.

Mike Vietti with KaBOOM! said their efforts will not cease with the 100th playground-build next month in Bay St. Louis, Miss. He said the organization will continue its building efforts in the region indefinitely.