The Playground at Catfish Row could be open for business by the end of the month.

Originally expected to open in May, the community project completed by volunteers in April has required grading and landscaping by city workers and still needs a private contractor to install a special rubberized foundation before it can be cleared for children to use safely.

“We hope the surface will be done in the next two weeks,” Melissa Blackburn, playground co-chairman for the Vicksburg Junior Auxiliary, said Thursday.

The Junior Auxiliary raised $200,000 to fund the project. Under the direction of Leathers and Associates, a national firm that oversees dozens of playground projects annually, children helped design and then hundreds of Vicksburg volunteers assembled and installed the playground equipment in a one-week blitz. Despite heavy rains and high winds one day, installation was completed on schedule.

Jeff Richardson, Vicksburg’s landscape architect and a volunteer on the project, said all grading at the site has been completed. Before the rubberized foundation material can be poured, however, the site needs a soil compaction test. That test was scheduled for early this week, Richardson said, but had to be postponed due to heavy rains

“If it stays dry I hope they can do the test (Friday) or early next week,” he said.

The city hired Ladner Testing Laboratories in Jackson for the compaction test. The test assures that the underlying soil will adequately support the playground equipment and keep it stable, said company president Todd Ladner.

No Fault Sports of Baton Rouge will install the rubberized foundation, Blackburn said. The process will take four days plus one more to allow the material to cure, and at that point the playground will be open for Vicksburg’s children to try out the equipment. “It’s going to be great. We would have loved to have it open during the summer but the grading had to be just right.”

The Junior Auxiliary will hold a ceremonial opening once all pieces of the project are complete, including final landscaping, sidewalks and installation of engraved bricks, which the city will lay. Plans for the grand opening have not been finalized, but the Junior Auxiliary is considering several ideas for the celebration, said Blackburn. “A lot of the people who gave us money don’t even have kids or grandkids, and we want to invite them out to show our appreciation.”

The revitalized downtown area already has a river-themed art park and splash fountain and murals along the floodwall. In addition to the playground, a transportation museum and a Corps of Engineers interpretive center, featuring the MV Mississippi, are in the works.