This illustration shows an improved Ampersand Park, as envisioned by the Saranac Lake Village Parks and Trails Advisory Board. (Photo provided)

SARANAC LAKE — The Saranac Lake Kiwanis Club is trying to win $25,000 to upgrade Ampersand Park’s playground equipment, but it requires people to vote for the local project by noon Sunday.

This local club has entered Ampersand Park in Kiwanis International’s Legacy of Play contest, now in its seventh year. The deadline is noon Sunday, and the Saranac Lake Kiwanis Club is only now publicizing its entry. While the leading projects have over 3,000 votes each, Saranac Lake’s had about 250 as of Friday morning.

The contest website is “https://play.kiwanis.org”>https://play.kiwanis.org, and the Saranac Lake entry is at https://play.kiwanis.org/contestants/saranac-lake. To vote, go to the entry, and click the blue “Vote Now” bar at the top. The site then asks for your email address, which you enter — but don’t leave that webpage because you have to wait for the Kiwanis site to email you a code. When that happens — you may have to be wait a few minutes, or check your junk folder in case the code is sent there — copy and paste the code into the space for it, click “Submit,” and your vote is cast.

If Saranac Lake wins the $25,000, it will be spent on playground equipment that is part of the Saranac Lake Village Parks and Trails Advisory Board’s planned upgrades for Ampersand Park as a whole. In recent years the advisory board planned improvements for all Saranac Lake parks, but these plans have not yet been funded.

“Thanks to help from the PTAB, we have a great proposal for the Ampersand Avenue Play Park,” said Dan Reilly of the Saranac Lake Kiwanis Club. “But, we need a lot more votes before (noon) Sunday. Absolutely anyone can vote. If all the readers of the (Adirondack Daily Enterprise) vote, we’ll be in the final round!”

Each person can vote once every 24 hours. The 10 projects with the most votes by noon Sunday will move to a final round. From there, the winner will be chosen by a panel of judges who include past winners and “Kiwanis partners.” The winner will be announced on or around Oct. 7, Kiwanis International says.

Saranac Lake’s entry is one of 48 from all over the country.