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Anne Bauer remembers the playground at Alta Mesa Park once boasted a tire swing and other children's swings, monkey bars and a metal merry-go-round.

These days, four forlorn swings at the edge of a kidney-shaped bark swath are all that remain of the playground, the only one in walking distance for hundreds of homes in that heavily populated part of Redding's east side.

The city hauled away the rest of the equipment a few years ago after declaring it unsafe.

Bauer would like to see the playground come back so her grandchildren could have a place to play.

Now a coalition of local and national groups is determined to recruit 300 volunteers to build an up-to-date playground in Alta Mesa Park -- in a single marathon work day, March 29.

As a first step toward that ambitious goal, Bauer, her daughter, Alexis Williams, and her grandchildren joined dozens of neighborhood youngsters and parents in the Alta Mesa Elementary School cafeteria on a recent evening for a crack at designing the playground.

The children -- some as young as 3 -- grabbed crayons and drew their dream playgrounds on desk calendar-sized sheets of paper. Many imagined a play area much like the one that used to sit in the park, but with newer attractions like a rock wall or a trampoline. A few envisioned more fanciful features, like a monorail.

"This reminds me of when we were designing Fantasy Fountain," Bauer said. "I remember drawing dragons."

Once the drawings were done, the children shared their ideas. Later, the adults who will actually design the playground will try to use as many of those youthful ideas as they can.

Representatives from KaBOOM! coordinated the design party at Alta Mesa and will supervise playground construction in March. The Washington, D.C-based nonprofit has facilitated more than 1,000 volunteer playground build days in lower-income neighborhoods nationwide over 11 years, including one at Redding's Vista Ridge Park in 2005.

The Active 20-30 Club of Redding teamed up with the city's Community Services Department to bring KaBOOM! back to town, winning a $50,000 grant from the nonprofit's foundation.

Adam McElvain, Active 20-30 Club president, said his organization is a service club for the younger set. The group organized in 2006 and went to Redding City Hall, looking for something to do.

Kim Niemer, community services director, said Alta Mesa Park was the right service club cause at the right time. Before landing the KaBOOM! grant, the city had twice before applied unsuccessfully for money to get playground equipment back to the park, one of Redding's busiest.

People using the park's lighted ball fields bring youngsters with them who have no place to play without the equipment, Niemer said. The playground in the schoolyard next door sits behind locked gates, she said.

The city plans to add some extra benches and tables for picnic areas at the Alta Mesa playground once it's complete, Niemer said.

KaBOOM! will build nine other playgrounds in California besides Alta Mesa on March 29 in honor of Cesar Chavez Day under a program run by California Volunteers, an arm of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office.

The Active 20-30 Club also won a $10,000 grant from the Shasta Regional Community Foundation that will serve as a match for the KaBOOM! grant.

Reporter Scott Mobley can be reached at 225-8220 or at smobley@redding.com.