Marymoor Park Highlights from mid Oct – Nov 2009

 

Record Breaking 105 Volunteers Participate…

Beautiful fall weather brought out a recording breaking group of S.O.D.A. volunteers to help resurface Marymoor Dog Park trails with Hog Fuel on Saturday October 10th. Pitch-forking, wheel-barrowing and raking our way through 9.5 truckloads of hog fuel kept volunteers really busy. SODA Volunteer Projects Continue 85 SODA volunteers spread hog fuel over the many off leash area trails the #2 Hog Fuel Work Party Oct 31st . The last work party will be Nov 21. SODA expressed thanks to Andy Boland for picking up, assembling and delivering the new wheelbarrows to the work party. Andy and crew also got tools from the volunteer trailer to make the project a success. If you are a dog-walker, now is a good time to visit the Marymoor OLA to enjoy the freshly covered trails.


 

Audubon & Microsoft Volunteers

On October 23rd about 30 intrepid Microsoft employees braved a deluge to volunteer with The Eastside Audubon Society to do planting in the bird loop area. The other part of the group will be working on the retention pond, clearing out blackberries and grasses.

 

Maintenance Barn & Art Barn Roofing

The final meeting on the re-roofing on the maintenance & art barns was on Nov 17. Check out the nice new buttoned-up look, just in time for monsoon season.

 

Parking Machine Maintenance

Increasing The parking staff have stepped up the ongoing maintenance schedule to keep up with increased use of the machines resulting from enforcement. Simply keeping all working parts clean helps keep things up an running.

 

Community Gardens Kiosk Replaced by Eagle Scouts
Local Eagle Scout Jon Vossler did a fantastic job of working with the community gardeners to design and coordinate volunteers to assist him with the construction and installation of a new kiosk for gardeners announcements. Jon even included a small deck so folks wouldn’t have to stand in the mud to read the notices!  

 

Wash Spot Temporarily Reduces Hours
The Wash Spot has new hours for the off-season, opening at 10 am and closing at 4 pm seven days a week.

 

Routine Maintenance
The Seasonal staff are all gone and the Marymoor Crew is back down to 8 people. They has been doing routine fall maintenance including:
  • Raking millions of leaves and delivering lots to the gardens for bed covers.
  • Cleaning the gutters
  • Pruning trees
  • Removing some trees from around the playground

 

Grading of Marymoor Gravel Lots
Completed - The grounds crew took advantage of the window of dry weather to complete the much needed grading of D and G Lots. Park users have called with thanks.

 

Parking Booth Improvements
The leaky booth received attention from Seth the carpenter this week when he replaced a broken window, rotted door trim, the interior flooring and caulked all possible sources of the leaks, which were many. He also installed a new counter top so a cash register could replace the parking machine in the booth for efficiency. Seth was followed by Mark the painter who gave the whole booth a facelift with a fresh coat of paint. The results are noticeable and will add a couple of more years to the life of this “temporary” structure.

 

Vern Wagner’s Plaque Replaced
The sign dedicating soccer fields to Vern Wagner was lost during construction of the recreation/event (Cirque) area and was recently replaced with a bronze plaque embedded in a rock near the premier cricket field. The area was originally dedicated to Mr. Wagner, the former director of the King Dome and athletic director at San Jose State and the University of Washington, in 2002.

 

New Playground
The new playground is located next to the climbing rock and velodrome and currently has a three car train installed. This playground is still under construction and is awaiting a couple of springy toys and a small swing set for kids age 3-5 years. This will make three playgrounds in Marymoor Park.

 

The MacNair Activity Field Closed Early
The field, which hosts thousand of kids from the Lake Washington Youth Soccer Assn on a weekly basis, is closed due to turf damage resulting from the recent on-going heavy rains followed by heavy play. The damage to the grass was extensive as shown. It will be reseeded next February in hopes it can recover in time for spring play.

 

Three Marymoor PSIIs Take Lead Training
Courtney Zobell, Robyn Afleck and Eric Butler attended the training on November 4th. It will be very nice to have additional trained staff who can step in as needed, especially during the busy 2010 event season.