MERIDIAN, Idaho — Meridian's Discovery Park is now home to a new "American Ninja Warrior" inspired course designed by and dedicated to local 11-year-old Evangeline "Eva" Brighten Plimmer.
A huge crowd of family, friends and neighbors gathered at Discovery Park Sunday for the grand opening of Eva’s dream ninja warrior course.
"To not be here, feels like you're missing out on something," said Derek Poppell, a longtime friend of the Plimmer family. "If you've met the Plimmers, if you've met Eva, if you've met any of their family members, you know that this type of energy is everything about them," he said.
Eva picked the obstacles, the color scheme, secured approval from the city of Meridian and helped raise nearly $200,000 for the project.
"When she found out that she had cancer, she wanted to have a park set up that kids could find a love, find a passion, find an ability to practice American Ninja Warrior in Meridian," Poppell said.
But sadly, Eva passed away from an inoperable brain tumor before the project could be finished.
"Well, it was her dream and she wanted the community to have it. She loves ninja warriors and she wanted the community to love ninja warriors and that was her dream to have kids play on it people of all ages," said Jeremiah Webb with Sonntag Recreation, the company that provided the obstacles for the ninja warrior course.
That dream became a reality Sunday when the ribbon was cut, the first time trials were run and the community came out to try their hands at something Eva loved.
"So to come out, see it, experience it, and live a little bit of that dream with Eva, I think is something that the family would appreciate, and I know that she would be looking down on us, smiling, knowing that the course was finally made," Poppell said.
The ninja course is now open to the public at Discovery Park in Meridian.
You can learn more about Eva and her battle with brain cancer here.
