Seaside parks committee looks to the future

Published 6:25 pm Monday, August 8, 2022

‘It’s All Connected,’ the theme of the Seaside Parks Advisory Committee. This sign will be placed in Broadway Park.

“It’s All Connected” was the message of the Seaside Parks Advisory Committee. The group held an open house Thursday at the Bob Chisholm Community Center, with committee members showcasing city parks in a series of exhibits.

The exhibit includes a new interpretative sign with the message of connectivity and will be placed on the banks of the Necanicum Creek in Broadway Park this summer, committee chair Nancy Holmes said. New photos and information will be incorporated into the 2017 parks master plan. The sign, 3 feet by 5 feet, was illustrated by science and wildlife artist Nora Sherwood with the assistance of local residents Pam Bierly, Brandy Hussa and Neal Maine.

The Seltzer Park exhibit comes with photos of Dick and Tom Smothers — known as “The Smothers Brothers” to the Baby Boom generation. They pitched in when the park was built, playing a benefit concert at the convention center with country music legend Willie Nelson in May 1995. Today a bench with their names marks their contributions.

Nearby Sailor’s Grave Park, with its monument “Known only to God,” is preserved as the final resting place of sailors lost at sea in 1864. Cartwright Park, about 4.5 acres south of downtown, sits on the Necanicum River, with boat dock, playground and pump track for beginning and training mountain cyclists.

The Turnaround is the city’s most familiar park, a quarter-acre parcel and automobile roundabout circling a statue commemorating Lewis and Clark, built in 1990.

Estuary Park sits along the three rivers flowing into the ocean at this spot, and is considered vital to habitat restoration.

Canines are invited to the Broadway Dog Park north of the Sunset Recreation Center, and the Railroad Community Garden stretches four city blocks at the commemorative spot for the “Daddy Train” that ran from Portland to Seaside from 1888 to 1938, when U.S. Highway 26 to Portland was created.

Daycare Park, adjacent to the offices of the Sunset Empire Park and Recreation District, is focused on activities for smaller children, and sits next to an outdoor lighted basketball and pickleball court.

Mill Ponds Natural History Park, the 30.4-acre property owned by the city, was acquired by the city in 1999. With saltwater and freshwater ponds, the neighboring Neawanna River’s role as a salmon hatchery is “unparalleled.”

The history park is getting a breath of new life after the passage of a camping ordinance that has enabled volunteers, public works and law enforcement to clear illegal campers in the woods, many of whom had left garbage and toxic debris in their wake.

“The park is getting back to normal,” said Bill Montero, an advisory committee member. “All the garbage is gone. The park path and surrounds are safe, clear and clean.”

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