Months of planning and development, and a weekend of marathon construction, culminated Monday evening in a substantial face lift for Sumner’s Main Street alleyway.
During construction, which took place during the Sumner Arts Festival Friday and Saturday, Heritage Park was a moving, pulsing organism giving off sounds of hammering, buzzing saws and the chatter of volunteers figuring out what to do next. Passersby stopped in their tracks to watch the activity from across the street.
“What are they doing over there?” one onlooker was heard saying to his companion. “Is that an entire stage they’re building?”
Indeed it was. The restless efforts of project volunteers—Heritage Park’s grassy knoll was blanketed in tents they set up to stay overnight—earned them a stage, benches, planters, decorative posts with waving metal “branches” and Rhubarb-painted banners in under 48 hours.
As of 6 p.m. Monday, each piece had been installed in its new home between Berryland Cafe and the Alley on Main.
On Friday morning, Deana, an artist, accompanied by volunteers Carolyn and Rona, had laid contact paper flush against banner cloth and was busily drawing the outlines of rhubarb stalks against it.
“After I sketch the outline, the shape will be cut off and people can come in and paint in the rhubarb,” she said. “That way anyone can do it. Even if they splash some paint outside the line, it’s just on contact paper.”
That has been the principal of the entire project from the start: work that can be completed by many inexperienced volunteers, guided by a handful of expert volunteers.
The alleyway was one of four projects under arts nonprofit Pomegranate Center’s Gathering Space initiative. The mission of the Gathering Space initiative, funded by a grant from Tully’s Coffee, was to develop public arts spaces created entirely by the community outside government domain, so that they could be finished at a rapid clip.
Members of Sumner’s government still became involved in the project—as volunteers.
Planning Manager Ryan Windish could be spotted making sure the inside of a planter had been put together sturdily, and asking for another set of eyes to see if his work was sound.
Councilman Ed Hannus was also on hand to help, seen lounging on one of Heritage Park’s outer benches.
“I’m supervising right now,” he said, joking. “Actually, I’ll be helping out with shaping the metal branches when the metal arrives.”
Installation of the alleyway furniture came after press time this week, but look for photos online.
