Pioneer Park cleanup scheduled

Volunteers are being sought for a new event intended to beautify one of the city’s most historical parks.

Lynn Mandyke, director of the Corbin Art Center at Pioneer Park, wants help to make the 13-acre park presentable this spring.

She is asking neighbors to help out on a first annual Pioneer Park Cleanup on April 26 from 9 a.m. to noon.

On March 13, she plans to appear before the Cliff-Cannon Neighborhood Council at 7 p.m. to ask council members to join her for the cleanup.

Mandyke said volunteers will clean up litter and other debris and assist in helping manage the native vegetation in the woodland that occupies the upper portions of the park. Illegal dumping from Cliff Drive on the south end of the park has been a problem in the past, she said.

In addition, members of the Spokane Preservation Advocates have agreed to assist in cleaning and preparing the Moore-Turner Heritage Gardens at Pioneer Park for reopening this spring. The preservation advocates agreed to help in the heritage gardens to ensure that the site is treated with sensitivity toward its historic garden elements.

Pioneer Park was created in 1945 by combining two estate properties once owned by successful early-day residents, including the Moore and Turner families and D.C. Corbin and his family.

While the Corbin House operates as a park art center, the former Moore-Turner mansion was torn down in the early 1940s. During the early part of the 1900s, Judge George Turner and his wife, Bertha, hosted President Teddy Roosevelt at their home during a presidential swing through western states.

The heritage gardens, which opened on limited basis last summer and fall, combines original garden relics with a faithful recreation of garden elements based on photographs and other documentation.

Mandyke said that maintaining the park is a bigger job than parks crews have time to accomplish, so she is asking for help from the public. “Bring work gloves and a spring rake,” she said. “There is always going to be ongoing maintenance.”

Pioneer Park is at West Seventh Avenue and South Stevens Street. The Corbin House is at 507 W. Seventh Ave.