Lake Tapps Elementary School’s playground is about to get a $25,000 facelift, thanks to a grant received from Coca-Cola.

Parent Greg Levchek, whose son is a first-grader at the school, entered Lake Tapps Elementary in Coke’s “Sprite Spark Parks for School Sweepstakes” in September and the school in selected in November as one of the winners.

“When we built the school, we brought over the old Big Toy to save costs. We left a large hole for new equipment ‘someday,'” Principal Connie GeRoy said in an email. “We now have our ‘someday.'”

The current Big Toy is 17 years old.

The district made the announcement to the school during the final day before winter break in 2011. The school always hosts a sing-a-long with Santa on the last day and this year, Levcheck was on hand to help make the announcement that the students were getting a new playground.

GeRoy said students would be involved in deciding the final makeup of the play structure, though the district would supervise to make sure there was access for all students.

GeRoy said the district would use the spring to design the playground, which will keep the old toy and add new features in a space that was left open for just such a possible expansion.

“We’re just going to give kids more options,” she said.

The school will also try to raise in-kind donations of labor and to cover any additional costs, with construction planned for summer.

“Twenty-five thousand dollars doesn’t take you very far in today’s world,” GeRoy said, estimating the total cost will be closer to $75,000.

The new playground is expected to be open this fall.

GeRoy thanked Levchek for entering the school and following up on his entry.

“Needless to say, we certainly wouldn’t have gotten it without his generosity!” she said. “it was a pretty great thing he did.”