'Now that vision has come true'

City officially dedicates Japanese Peace Garden

MOSES LAKE — The city's Japanese Peace Garden has serenaded visitors with tranquil bird chirps and babbling brooks full of koi since it opened earlier this year. But officials finally dedicated the park Friday, with a delegation from Moses Lake's Japanese sister city at their side.

More than 100 people gathered outside the garden on Alder Street for a ribbon cutting, and unveiling of a statue that bears the garden's name in Japanese. The ceremony was presented in both Japanese and English, for the many students and officials on hand from the city of Yonezawa, Japan for the event. Also at the event was Koichi Sano, the Consulate-General of Japan's Seattle office.

Moses Lake Mayor Ron Covey welcomed the crowd, and reminded many how the Japanese Peace Garden project originally got its start in the summer of 1988.

"A group of individuals met with a goal of creating a Japanese garden in Moses Lake," Covey said, "now that vision has come true."

Covey thanked many donors and participants to the project over the years, including the Japanese Garden committee and Moses Lake Parks Superintendent Roland Gonzales. Covey called the garden a place of tranquility and peace, where people can take some time away from their hectic days.

Gonzales too said he was glad to see Friday's dedication come. He said the garden became a reality because of the involvement of a variety of city and community people. He said also that his maintenance staff worked as hard as they could to make the garden as authentic and true to the original as they could.

Following the ceremony, spectators were welcome to walk through the garden and enjoy their surroundings. The dedication came in the middle of a whirlwind tour for representatives from Yonezawa, and Covey said following the dedication that the city had enjoyed hosting the delegates from their sister city.

"It's a very special occasion for both the city of Moses Lake and Yonezawa," Covey said of the dedication. "I think, in part, this is a dream come true for Yukio Seino."

Seino is the president of the Yonezawa Newspaper Company, and a longtime participant in the sister city relationship. He said after the ceremony that the garden has been a big event for the people of Yonezawa, as has its dedication. He likened the garden to the ones in his country, but acknowledged the 10-12 year period it would take for trees within the garden to mature.

"I think it was probably a very big job to make a Japanese garden in America," Seino said through an interpreter, "The dirt is different, the soil is different. I emphasize that it must have been really hard."

The Seino family has donated to Japanese lanterns two be placed in the garden, and Seino had kind words for the city he has visited for almost a quarter-century.

"It seems that the whole city is welcoming us," he said.