After more than three years of community engagement, focused planning, construction and the inevitable red tape and adjustments, it seemed fitting that Woodbury would get not one, but two Central Park grand reopening celebrations within the last week.
The first and briefer of the two was a half-hour invitation-only dedication ceremony Thursday afternoon in the new indoor community gathering park’s freshly renovated amphitheater.
The ceremony highlighted some of the $42.3 million project’s closest stakeholders among about 70 visitors and five speakers, including architects Hammel, Green, and Abrahamson (HGA) Architecture and an array of key city, county and state officials and staff.
All were invited to self-tour the project before and after the ceremony.
The second celebration was a wider-ranging, free, four-hour public bash throughout the park Sunday afternoon – with family-friendly activities, self-tours, music and theater, along, of course, with staged kids’ access to the towering Lookout Ridge indoor playground.
In all, an estimated 2,000 people came through the new Central Park for the two events. The project’s onsite partners, the R.H. Stafford Library, the YMCA and TrueLens Community Media, were popular attractions as well.
Mayor Anne Burt kicked off the dedication ceremony by remembering the original Central Park’s debut in November 2002, followed by the original Lookout Ridge’s opening in March, 2003.
“Let’s all look forward to what these next 20 years here will bring,” Burt said. “A lot of work went into deciding what the community wanted and really needed here.”
She continued: “There were so many community partners – including kids at Woodbury Days telling officials themselves what they’d like to have at Lookout Ridge.”
Later, Washington County Commissioner Michelle Clasen emphasized the meticulous planning, outreach and design aimed at including every segment of the Woodbury community.
“This is where we all feel like we’re home,” Clasen said. “Central Park gives us all a feeling of shared belonging.”
The depth and breadth of the project’s appeal was underscored by new state Senator-Elect Amanda Hemmingsen-Jaeger’s memories of Stafford Library, which stayed open directly adjacent to Central Park throughout construction.
“That’s where I used to go to study when I was pursuing my Master’s Degree,” Hemmingsen-Jaeger said.
Meanwhile, State Rep. Ethan Cha recalled that a bill related to Central Park “was one of the first that came across my desk when I was first elected. … This project represents all the people we represent” as lawmakers.
When Parks and Recreation Director Michelle Okada concluded Thursday’s dedication ceremony, she needed only her first succinct comment to spark perhaps the event’s loudest burst of applause.
“Well,” she said, pausing to gesture all around her, “Look! We’re here!”
Okada went on to recognize the contributions of her fellow city staffers and officials with, “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!”
