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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Sister Cities group plans to turn Japanese Pavilion grounds into garden in Riverfront Park

Margo Buckles, left, and Chuck Rehberg, second from left, organizers of the Sister Cities garden project, meet Feb. 17 with Chris Winkler, of the Wm. Winkler Co. and Mark Roders, right, field representative for Labor’s Local 238, at the site of the former Japanese Pavilion from Expo ’74 in Spokane’s Riverfront Park. Work is being done to reclaim the area for the garden. Roots are painted in orange and are targeted for removal. (Dan Pelle)

Lying in ruins in the heart of Riverfront Park are the old foundations, rock walls and reflecting pool of the Japanese Pavilion from Expo ’74.

Over the years, the little-used space became overgrown from shrubbery planted to decorate the pavilion. Irrigation to the small area broke and the city stopped maintaining it.

Now, the site on the northwest end of the Howard Street footbridge near the Looff Carrousel has been partially cleared and is getting ready for a transformation.

The Sister Cities Association of Spokane has been pushing for about a decade to convert the old pavilion into a new Sister Cities Garden to celebrate Spokane’s civic connections with cities in other countries.

“We hope the garden can be one of the centerpieces (in Riverfront Park),” said Chuck Rehberg, one of the organizers of the project.

The garden would have sculptures from each of Spokane’s four most active Sister Cities – Nishinomiya, Japan; Jilin City, China; Limerick, Ireland; and Jecheon, South Korea – as well as Spokane.

A prelimary design by Landscape Expressions, of Spokane, shows the garden laid out in a swirl of pathways and landscaping with the sculptures located on the outer perimeter. The swirls would represent the flow of the river.

Existing trees would be retained, and the sculptures would be low in height to fit into the landscape.

Each of the sculptures would be designed to capture sound, light, touch and motion.

Participating Sister Cities would develop and provide a sculpture representing each of their cities, Rehberg said.

So far, about $100,000 has been raised out of a goal of $250,000 to pay for the garden’s design and construction.

The first phase is to remove the concrete and other remnants of the former pavilion.

Chris Winkler of William Winkler Concrete in Spokane has agreed to donate a portion of the demolition and construction work.

Union members from the Building and Construction Trades Council have also offered to donate their work on the project.

A portion of the proceeds from Mayor David Condon’s annual ball earlier this month are going to the project, as well.

Site preparation could begin as early as spring.

The Sister Cities garden would be built in tandem with voter-approved improvements slated to remake Riverfront Park, Rehberg said.

Margo Buckles, a co-chair of the garden committee, said one idea from Jecheon is a sculpture of geese or birds on a pole.

The poles are a folk art known as “sotdae” and were traditionally erected as village guardians.

Limerick has proposed a harp.

Nishinomiya is talking about a solar-powered lighthouse.

Spokane’s idea is to have a tree sculpture with its leaves chiming in the wind.

Buckles said the site within an easy walk of City Hall will allow the mayor and other city officials to show off the garden to guests.

Global unity is the overarching theme, Rehberg said.

Sister Cities is an international program established in the U.S. by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956.

Spokane formed its first Sister Cities partnership with Nishinomiya in 1961 under the leadership of Spokane businessman Ed Tsutakawa and Mayor Neal Fosseen

Tsutakawa died in 2006 and Fosseen died in 2004.