A tranquil place

Moses Lake Japanese Garden opens Friday

MOSES LAKE — At the end of Alder Street South, the roadway opens up to a red Japanese Totii gate welcoming all into a quiet place filled with babbling brooks, chirping birds and a sense of calm.

At noon Friday the city of Moses Lake will quietly take away the "Keep Out" sign and open the city's Japanese Gardens to the public. Workers with the city's Parks and Recreation Department are now putting the finishing touches on the project. The end result is a place Parks and Recreation Director Spencer Grigg refers to as a peaceful oasis in the middle of the community.

"It's not a complicated place, just peaceful and quiet," Grigg said.

The garden is completely different than any other park in Moses Lake. While many city parks emphasize running and playing ball, this one is designed for calm and quiet. It sits near some of the city's busiest streets, but car and truck noises are heard only rarely while in the park.

"The cool thing to me is the amount of natural sounds you get," Grigg said, "between the birds chirping and the burbling of the water."

The final construction is now almost completed, and workers are adding benches and constructing a tea house for the garden. The park also includes a sand Zen garden and live koi swimming through the park's streams and under its stone bridge.

"It's so unique to everything else that we've got in our parks community," Grigg said, "It will make a nice refuge in our community."

The vision is one that began in the late 1980s, when a committee formed to look at the concept. A Japanese garden was originally slated to be located at McCosh Park, but officials later moved plans to the Three Ponds wetland area where the park now sits.

"The purpose of it was not only to create something the people of the city would enjoy," said Larry Godden, "but also recognize the Asian influence in our community."

Godden is the chair of the Japanese Garden Committee. Godden inherited the position from J.E. Abram, who Godden said was instrumental in getting the project going. Organizers say the park should evolve over the years, a process Godden said should be fun to watch.

"I am just thrilled with it," Godden said, "It exceeds my expectations."

Rolando Gonzales is parks superintendent for Moses Lake Parks and Recreation and said the department was trying to build a garden that was as authentic as possible but one that also meets building and Americans With Disabilities Act codes. Gonzales said the vision of the park wouldn't have become a reality without the effort of the Japanese Garden Committee and all the other groups involved in the project.

"Everybody's knowledge helped get us there," Gonzales said.

The garden opens to the public Friday, but a grand opening is scheduled for August when representatives of Moses Lake's sister city of Yonezawa come to town. Officials are hoping the tranquil garden stays that way, and hidden security cameras have been set up throughout the park to ensure security of the fish and plant life in the park.

"We hope the people respect them," Grigg said.