Riverfront Park dedication event honors visionaries and builders behind new plaza, playground and splash pad

WENATCHEE — On Wednesday at the new Riverfront Park Plaza adjacent to the Wenatchee Railway Depot, Loop Trail walkers stopped and gawked at what looked like a big event, but was in actuality a small ceremony honoring the PUD, the City of Wenatchee, the residents of the Valley who had the vision and will for park improvements and all of the workers who made it happen.

You may have seen the new items along Riverfront Park over the last year or so as they’ve taken shape: A giant splash pad, not quite open yet, is at the foot of 5th Street. It takes the shape of a sternwheel steamer, the likes of which used to traverse the mid-Columbia River and even congregate in a shipyard right in the area where the park is now.

But today’s ceremony was held in the shadow of a giant Red Delicious apple, stem and all. A huge red powder-coated steel structure in the shape of our valley’s most famous export serves as a sort of jungle gym in the middle of a new playground near the train depot halfway between the splash pad and Pybus Public Market.

Justin Erickson, the Chief Strategy & Stakeholder Officer for the Chelan County PUD, which leases the land that Riverfront Park is on, began the ceremony with thanks to county commissioners, the city council and the Port Authority. He recalled the inception of the park renovation back in November of 2020. He noted that this park is connected to even more parks north and south along the river via the Apple Capital Recreation Loop Trail, the ten-mile paved loop trail on both sides of the Columbia River.

Erickson introduced Steve McKenna, the Board President of the Chelan PUD, who went through the same kind of litany of thanks as Erickson, but pointing out the even more personal connections that specific members of the PUD had with certain features of the improvements, and said that pending inspections, all of the new equipment should be open to the public for use by the end of the week or the beginning of the next. McKenna was particularly proud of the fact that the PUD, as part of their licensing contract with the Rock Island Dam project just down the river, had gone above and beyond fulfilling the duties outlined in that agreement, and that the whole project had remained centered on the Wenatchee Riverfront Railway, a collection of historical train cars and a small kids’ train that children can ride on during the summer on a set of tracks set into the grass of Riverfront Park.

Wenatchee Mayor Mike Poirier spoke next, and he commented on the fact that former Wenatchee Mayor of 12 years Frank Kuntz had overseen this vision prior to his involvement as part of the multitude of things that Kuntz had done as the city’s leader. Poirier recognized the PUD, saying they “always do the right thing.” In fact, he chalked up the utility’s consistency and reliability as the reason he sometimes forgets to mention or thank them during a groundbreaking ceremony — because they just always show up and do the right thing, he’s come to almost take it for granted. “Sometimes I forget everything you guys do, because you just seem to always be there,” Poirier said.

David Lodge, the Chelan PUD Project Delivery Manager, was up next. He spoke at length about how much he hears from friends, family and even strangers about how much they love Wenatchee’s parks and trail system. “The team was able to make these many improvements,” he said, “in an active community park, all in the midst of thousands of trail users, bikers, pedestrians, scooter riders, families and out of town visitors. Trail access was maintained for virtually all of the project, and detours were kept to a minimum. This was no small feat.”

Gill Williams, the principal architect of GreenWorks, who designed the renovation, then spoke. GreenWorks is an architectural firm known for its riverfront and waterfront planning throughout the Pacific Northwest. But despite the firm’s reputation, Williams was pointed about the fact that any project like this takes teamwork. “It takes very engaged and visionary clients to realize something like this, and we always appreciate the opportunity to work with those folks,” Williams said.

Marcus McCardle, the project manager for KRCI Construction from East Wenatchee — a heavy civil engineering firm — thanked his team and told the gathered crowd how proud his team was to be a part of not just the project, but part of the community. They are based here and employ a lot of people right here in the valley. And being from here in the Valley, McCardle was excited about the fact that the park honors the heritage and history of our area.

“From the sunken paddlewheeler it’s modeled after, the splash pad, to the granite boulders you can see up the west side of the Columbia near Entiat, to the basalt columns you see here, which we can see behind us,” McCardle said, motioning to the hills above East Wenatchee, “as well as in Moses Coulee, and in the apple structure — which we all know, the City of Wenatchee is the Apple Capital of the World. I think in bringing some of those elements into the park, they’ve created a one-of-a-kind park that I think we all can enjoy.”

Andrew Simpson: 509-433-7626 or andrew@ward.media