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ONTONAGON -- Children in Ontonagon have a new reason to celebrate and play.  Why?  Because they won a nationwide contest and will now be getting $10,000 to help equip a new playground.

It was officially announced Wednesday that Ontonagon won the Kaboom and NFL Play 60 online contest.  In fact, they won in a landslide with 46 percent of the vote over four other finalists in the competition.

When students at Ontonagon Elementary School were told the big news, the room erupted in cheers.  Of course the students know they wouldn't have won the 2009 Play Day competition without the help of people across the U.P. who also voted and spread the word.

This was the first year that Kaboom offered the playspace improvement grants.

Though organizers were surprised that Ontonagon was able to beat its bigger competition, every one there knew they could count on the community's support.

"We watched it everyday and the kids were fired up because we were in the lead,” said school counselor Kirsten Menigoz.  “I kept saying it doesn't matter because the top two win, but it feels really good that we were number one.  We really pulled ahead towards the end, so it was fun for the school and the community."

The money will be spent on new equipment such as benches and basketball hoops.  The kids have some ideas about what else they'd like to see, too.

"We have ropes on our playground where you can swing across and just more stuff like that would be fun so the older kids can play and the younger kids, too," said fifth grader Kessy Domitrovich.

The grant is a huge help to the district, which needs the new playground for next year's building consolidation.

School officials say now that some of the bigger items will be taken care of, they're even more motivated to continue fund-raising.