New walkways at Walnut Park

Earthmovers and construction equipment dig up Maureen Frances’ beloved Walnut Part and she could not be happier.

“We’ve been working and fundraising for a year and I can’t believe it’s finally happening,” said Frances.

The largest urban park in Petaluma, Walnut Park, is a gathering place for everyone from young parents with kids, to veterans celebrating Veteran’s Day. The park has seen quite a lot of the town’s history since its development in the early 1870s and remains a popular community venue today. Every week there is a farmer’s market, while musicians play from the central gazebo. Folks walk their dogs every morning and evening, while young kids congregate and taste the earliest stages of independence.

Artists display their art, and politicians and political groups speak their minds. Last September, the Petaluma Progressive Festival drew several hundred people to the park. Two years ago, at the corner of the park along Petaluma Boulevard and D Street, performance artist Eli Lucas would dress up as Jesus Christ, cover himself in stage blood, and tie himself to a 12-foot cross in a re-enactment of the crucifixion.

“We’ve certainly gotten all types in this park,” chuckled Frances, who came to Petaluma 50 years ago from the farmlands of South Dakota. “Service clubs built the park back in 1873. It was Addie Atwater who pushed to get the park built so children would have a place to play. She was formidable.”

According to a research project conducted last March by students at Casa Grande High School, Atwater formed the Petaluma Ladies Service Club and successfully developed both Walnut Park and Penry Park, known then as Hill Plaza Park.

“The local ranchers and farmers were herding their livestock through the town and there was no place for the children to play. She got the park built across the street from where her old house still stands,” noted Frances, pointing to Atwater’s large, Victorian mansion on 4th Street.

Frances, who is a member of the Petaluma Valley Rotary club, noted that seven community organizations came together to restore the park. She said in recent years, the pavement for the walking paths had become heavily pot-holed and ragged.

Landscaping for the park was minimal, and homeless people were using the park to sleep and as a toilet.

“The park is a gathering place for the community and our children,” said Frances. “Our service clubs were getting complaints about the pathways being dangerous for families. The homeless population was a problem. But we think these improvements will bring the families back and maybe the homeless problem will get better.”

Frances said the improvements would probably need another three weeks to be finished, and among other new items would be a three-piece granite poll advocating a simple idea: Peace.

“We’ll call it the ‘peace-pole’ and we’re also allowing the people of Petaluma to help purchase bricks so they can have a share in the revival and maintenance of the park,” said Frances. “That’s what’s so wonderful about this effort. So many sponsors and companies have come forward to donate money, time and effort for this park. That’s why we call this a ‘community gathering place’ – the city did not build this park, it was the community that built it.”

It’s an important distinction. In recent years, Petaluma has not have the funds to maintain its parks. After the city failed to pass a special tax exclusively for parks in 2012, the community has stepped in to fill the cracks, sometimes literally.

(Contact E.A. Barrera at ernesto.berrera@arguscou rier.com)