Seattle Parks and Recreation and 12th Avenue Stewards invite the community to the grand opening celebration of 12th Ave. Square Park on Thursday, April 14, 2016, from 5 to 7:30 p.m. during the Capitol Hill Art Walk. Headlining the event is Naomi Wachira, winner of Seattle Weekly’s 2013 “Best Folk Singer” award. The ribbon cutting will kickoff with a trio from the Garfield High Jazz Band. Yesler Community Center will offer a children’s craft activity. The event is sponsored in part by Swedish Medical Center Foundation and will include refreshments provided by Cherry Street Coffee, Ba Bar Restaurant, and Starbucks Coffee.
12th Ave. Square Park is located at E James Court and 12th Ave. between Ba Bar and Cherry Street Coffee House in the Squire Park neighborhood. It is a community initiated project that created a new 7,332 square-foot park and gathering space.
Hewitt Architects and artist Ellen Sollod collaborated with the community on the design of the park and woonerf, which provides pedestrians and cyclists priority on the street. This technique of shared spaces, traffic calming, and low speed limits contribute to improved pedestrian, bicycle, and automobile safety. The artistic sculptural canopy structure in the park is called “Cloud Veil.” It hovers over a rounded “pillow” and wavy concrete paving. Several other smaller pillows for seating are sprinkled through the space. The park’s unique design also includes rain gardens to extend the feeling of open space for the entire block on E James Court, a single east-bound lane.
The creation of this new public space was made possible with funding from the Seattle Parks and Green Space Levy Opportunity Fund, the Pro Parks Levy Opportunity Fund, Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, Neighborhood Parks and Streets Fund, and Seattle Parks Foundation Stim Bullitt Parks Excellence Fund.
For more information about the park or to get updates on the upcoming event, please visit http://www.seattle.gov/parks/ProParks/projects/12thAve.htm or contact Karen O’Connor, Seattle Parks and Recreation, at karen.o’connor@seattle.gov or 206-233-7929.
