A swing for Wyatt

PINEHURST — It was around this time last year that family and friends of Wyatt Blalack were gathered around the Canyon Elementary School swingset to honor the memory of a boy who died too soon.

Fast forward to now, those same family and friends have recently unveiled a more permanent memorial that not only memorializes Wyatt — but also enables others to enjoy his favorite activity.

Wyatt, who would have been a third-grader in 2019, was diagnosed with cerebral palsy at 5 months old and had attended Canyon Elementary since he was in first grade.

His condition did not allow him to communicate verbally or have solid control over his hands or legs — forcing him to be in a wheelchair — but these things did not stop him from participating in the classroom or playing with his classmates.

Wyatt’s favorite activity at school was to go back and forth on his personal swing on the playground. When it came time, he would be lifted out of his wheelchair and placed into the unique swing — similar in appearance to a plastic car seat — where he and his fellow students would have endless fun together.

In the spirit of his favorite activity, Canyon Elementary School principal, Jenny Ferreira, set up a GoFundMe account shortly after his death to raise money for a true wheelchair accessible swing. The project received immediate support from the community and in less than a year, the idea became a reality.

On June 25, the Blalacks and the Shoshone County Public Works Department installed the fully-functional wheelchair accessible swing at the West Shoshone Park in Pinehurst.

“It turned out beautiful, more than what we had expected in the beginning,” said Stephanie Blalack, Wyatt’s mother.

In those early months, Stephanie ran into some trouble with even finding a swing that could get to the Silver Valley.

“I had done extensive research to locate a swing manufacturer within the United States and there were none, so it would have had to come from overseas,” she said.

She contacted roughly 10 companies outside the U.S. and the logistics alone of shipping a swing to North Idaho would have been a nightmare; not to mention incredibly expensive. With no luck other than outside the country, Stephanie decided that instead of doubling down on looking further and further out, she would shift her efforts and look locally for help.

“We contacted a fabrication company in Spokane called Phoenix Fabrication and asked if they would be interested in the project,” she said.

Phoenix Fabrication and its designer, John Hendry, were more than happy to put a design together. Hardy even kept a picture of Wyatt on his desk throughout the fabrication process as motivation. With only some other examples of swings as inspiration, Hendry created the design of the swing from scratch and nearly finished the project in roughly three weeks.

Unfortunately for everyone involved, the COVID-19 pandemic set things back exponentially and delayed the project for eight weeks.

Thankfully, the final product finally did come and has certainly lived up to Stephanie’s expectations.

“We’re just so grateful that it all came together and everybody was on board with it,” she said.

The powder coated swing was created with all wheelchair-bound users in mind, regardless of person or chair size.

“The basket for the swing was designed to accommodate an adult wheelchair, as well as a pediatric wheelchair,” Stephanie said. That’s why I wanted to do a wheelchair swing, so that anyone of any age can use it and have that feeling of freedom.”

This swing is a huge improvement over the one Wyatt used at Canyon Elementary, as that one only allowed certain sized children to use it and they had to be lifted from their wheelchair to the swing.

Stephanie believes that this is not only a wonderful way to remember her son, but also a very special thing for the community — as this swing is the only one of its kind in our region.

“We’re really thankful for everyone that donated to the GoFundMe or donated their time or materials,” she added. “We’re just really excited to donate this and have Wyatt be a part of the community. That’s why I like his name on it so much because when people see it, they will say his name — even if they didn’t know who he was.”

While the Blalacks are still waiting on dedication and instruction signage, the swing is currently ready to be used by anyone.