Construction: The construction of the Nico Project officially began on May 7th 2007, but fencing and a professional survey began a couple of days earlier. This page will detail construction of the project as it occurs.

Donors: The following companies are donating time and/or materials related to the building of the Nico Project.

Guillon Inc Construction - playground perimeter and seating walls
New Urban Builders - anchor walls and entrance forming and concrete
Northstar Engineering - survey
Ed Brown Trucking - trucking and crusher dust
Jess Serrao Construction - concrete pads for sea monster
7/11 Materials - road base
Baldwin Contracting Company - top-soil
Mathews Ready Mix - concrete
Link Engineering - heavy equipment for leveling and compacting the play area
Mountain Valley Express Co. - time and equipment for "anchor barbs"
Alpine Landscaping - poured anchor seat walls and stamped entrance way
Universal Precast - donated 5 sea monster "humps"
Pebble-Flex, LLC - reduced cost of surfacing
Bob Hill - sod
Zamora Sod Farm - sod installation

Artists: These artists worked on the Nico Project.
Gregg Payne - sea monster paint and color consultation
Robin Indar - tile mosaic on sea monster head
Rick Satava - sea monster glass eyes

July 7th -July 10th, 2007 - We did some basic cleanup of the project area, and took down the construction fencing that went up on May 4th. On the 10th, which is Nico's birthday the Nico Project will be open to the public.
July 3rd -July 6th, 2007 - Artist Rick Satava installed the sea monster's eyes and the flags with nautical symbols were installed onto the boat. Four different nautical symbols spell Nico (blue and white checkerboard = "N", black dot = "i", red and white stripe = "c", red and yellow triangle = "o"). Zamora installed sod around the outside of the play structure, and mulch is being placed in areas not covered by sod.
June 26th -July 2nd, 2007 - Peter, David, and Jerod from Pebble-Flex, LLC (out of New Jersey) came to Chico and installed the surfacing. First a black "bouncy" layer made from shredded recycled tires was poured across the entire surface of the playground. Next the color design was marked off using foam strips. Finally, each color of the surface was poured, hand troweled, and power troweled. Colors were made by combining tiny different colored beads.
June 16th -June 25th, 2007 - The art component of the project was nearly completed with Gregg Payne painting the sea serpent and Robin Indar completing a tile mosaic on his face. It is expected that custom glass eyes will be donated and installed soon, finishing the serpent. The sprinkler system was installed and the palm tree footing was built with water running to it. A "beachscape" garden of various grasses and decomposed granite (looks like sand) was installed around the entrance. Next comes "poured in place" surfacing, and installation of sod.
June 12th -June 15th, 2007 - Odds and ends were tied up and some of the concrete work was stained, but the big event during this time frame was the introduction of the sea monster to the play area. Universal Precast built the sea monster sculpture that consists of 7 pieces (head, tail, 5 humps). The sea monster is designed to look like it's coming out of the ground and is a climbing object. A rubberized "poured" surface will simulate water around the monster and is the last component of the project that will be installed. Special thanks go out to Martin Crane from Oroville, who moved the sea monster components (weighing a total of more than 10,000lbs) into the play area.
May 24th -June 11th, 2007 - Quite a bit was accomplished in during these two and a half weeks. New Urban Builders finished forming the anchor seating walls and the concrete was placed into the forms. A couple of "volunteer days" got the post holes dug for the "springy toys" and boat play structure, and the sea monster footings were dug and reinforced with rebar. Jess Serrao Construction poured the concrete footings for the sea monster. The anchor barbs built by Nico's grandfather and great grandfather were powder coated and made ready for installation. And finally the majority of the boat was assembled by volunteers. The Durham High School wrestling team and some local coaches, as well as other volunteers came out for a big volunteer day. Alpine Landscaping finished the work on the anchor themed entrance. Pay particular attention to the photo of Dave giving Tony the "what for" during his short stint as project foreman.
May 18-23rd, 2007 - Ed Brown Trucking brought in loads of road base which was then distributed across the play area. The road base was donated by 7-11 Materials. Link Engineering with the help of some project volunteers leveled and compacted the road base. The Ed Brown trucking donated and trucked in "crusher dust" that Link Engineering spread out and compacted. They then dug the footings for the anchor seat walls and entrance. Additional survey work was completed by volunteers for the Nico Project (photos below)
May 15-17th, 2007 - Chic Cardoza, Nico's grandfather, has designed and assembled "anchor barbs" as embellishments to the project. Nico's great-grandfather, Albert, also helped out on the project. These steel components will be powder coated or stained. Paralleling the metal work Guillon Inc Construction completed 80% of the concrete perimeter for the play area. Great Job guys (photo below).
May 10-14th, 2007 - Jeff and the crew from Guillon Inc. came in and formed up 80% of the perimeter and four seating walls. Doug Guillon, Bill Brouhard, and Steve Honeycutt all helped get the crew in to work on the project. Guillon Inc. was able to get additional donations from Payless Building Supply and Mathews Ready Mix Concrete(photo below).
May 7-9th, 2007 - Doug and Mark with Link Engineering move soil and compact the play area using heavy equipment. A couple of project volunteers also helped digging holes and replacing conduit and PVC. Baldwin Construction donated the soil for the fill, and Ed Brown Trucking trucked the soil in for us. Thanks go out to Link Engineering, Baldwin Construction, and Ed Brown Trucking (photo below).
May 5th, 2007 - Jeff Jukkola, an engineer with the City of Chico organized a survey crew to come into the project site and set up elevation stakes for the project. NorthStar Engineering provided equipment and volunteers Mark Herrick, John Hanley, and John's son (photo below).
May 4th, 2007 - Fencing from Chico-Rent-A-Fence is installed around the project work area. Roughly 480 linear feet of fencing is installed. The perimeter encloses both the project area and the elevation stakes that are located 10' beyond the edge of the work area. (photo below).