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Grace Marton Memorial Park is slated for a major makeover in the coming months and the City of Eureka wants to hear your thoughts on the design of the soon-to-be playground. Do we want the park greeter to be a squid or a harbor seal on a rock? A pelican? The city needs your input!

For those who are not familiar, Grace Marton Memorial Park, wedged between Humboldt Bay and the Sacco Amphitheater along the Waterfront Trail, is named after a local woman whose husband, Lance Hardie, made a donation to the City of Eureka in 2016 to dedicate the park to his wife.

“Grace and Lance made this donation to honor the many lunches they enjoyed on the waterfront together and wished to improve this location for the community’s benefit by establishing a park and gardens,” according to the City of Eureka. “Upon Lance’s passing, and the sale of the estate, Humboldt Area Foundation notified the City of Eureka that the funds were available for the City to begin park planning.”

Planning efforts for the park are back on track after being put on pause by the COVID-19 pandemic. A chunk of the bequest will fund the development of a waterfront-themed playground featuring various sea critters to climb on and a reproduced merchant ship handmade by Eureka’s own Eric Hollenbeck of Blue Ox Millworks. The park will also feature an area for “social games,” like a life-size chess/checkers board, cornhole or perhaps a ping pong table.

The city plans to realign and repave the Waterfront Trail as a part of the park project. Staff are pursuing a 50 percent match grant from the Land and Water Conservation Fund to double the park and trail budget. Construction is tentatively slated to start next year pending additional grant funding and permitting.

Want to share your thoughts? Click here to take the survey!