Splash Pad Park Celebrates 10th Anniversary Today

From a SplashPad.org press release:

Splash Pad Park celebrates its 10th anniversary Oct. 20, 2013.

The park first opened to the public on Oct. 20, 2003. To commemorate the occasion, an organizing committee of community volunteers, headed by SplashPad.org founder Ken Katz, is hosting an “Oak-centric,” free concert and community festival from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Oct. 20, 2013 at Splash Pad Park, at the corner of Lake Park and Grand Avenues in Oakland.

“Splash Pad Park has become one of the jewels of Oakland,” stated Oakland Mayor Jean Quan. “We encourage Oakland residents, supporters and neighbors to celebrate this milestone anniversary and, more importantly, celebrate our City.”

The event headliners, The Medicine Ball Band with Lady Bianca and guest artists, Pee Wee Ellis and John Santos, will be the last of five Oakland-based bands to perform.

The other groups, whose genres include folk, rock, jazz and blues, are CHELLE! and Friends, The Jim Grantham Jazz Quartet, The TSisters and American Nomad.

Breaks between sets on the main stage will be filled with musicians to be announced later.

Elsewhere in the park, face-painter Jessica Gates will work her magic alongside a 20-foot diameter yurt that will host children’s book readings, singing and other children’s activities throughout the day.

In addition, Oakland community groups, including neighborhood crime prevention councils, business associations and park improvement groups, will participate in the anniversary festivities.

While there is no admission price to attend the anniversary celebration, celebrants may purchase Oakland-based Linden Street Beers and Periscope Wines in a dedicated “Beverage Garden” in Splash Pad Plaza.

“Splash Pad Park 10th Anniversary” t-shirts will also be available for a $25 donation.

All proceeds will be used to defray the cost of the event, fund improvements to the existing California Native Plant garden and its future expansion.

Event sponsors include the Agricultural Institute of Marin; Rick Richetta from Alain Pinel Realtors; the City of Oakland’s Parks and Recreation Department and Grand Avenue residents, Gordon Shell and Jim Maranan.

Additional information about Splash Pad Park’s 10th Anniversary event is available at www.splashpad.org/10thAnniversary.html.

A Brief History of Splash Pad Park

Plans for a new park at Lake Park and Grand Avenues in Oakland, CA began in the late 1990s after a proposal to lease the existing, severely neglected park for commercial development faltered.

In 2011, the City of Oakland hired Oakland-based landscape architect Walter Hood to design the new park.

Hood’s plans to completely revamp the space included removal of the existing roadway that bisected the park, pedestrian and traffic improvements in the immediate vicinity and the creation of a central plaza.Hood’s primary goal was to provide an attractive, multi-use park with easy access into and through the space.

Some of the most notable features of the park include the gracefully curved seating walls, the blue up-lighting under the freeway on Grand Avenue and the illuminated names that acknowledge donations for the construction of the iconic fountain.

In 2009, the Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum named Walter Hood the Landscape Architect of the Year, citing how his work on Oakland’s Splash Pad, as well as San Francisco’s Lafayette Park, which he also designed, benefited the surrounding communities.

A Grand Opening celebration was held on Oct.20, 2003, which was an unseasonably warm day. Although the fountain was designed strictly for its aesthetic value, it was soon filled with children happily splashing, as has been the case ever since.

The Grand Lake Farmers Market has operated on this corner since 1998 under the management of the Agricultural Institute of Marin.

When the new park opened in 2003, the market moved out from under the freeway and into the park, subsequently doubling in size.

The improvements to Splash Pad Park and the surrounding roadways, combined with the success of the farmers market have played a major role in the renaissance that has occurred in the surrounding commercial district.

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