New pergola planned for Manito Park

A new pergola is coming to Manito Park in Spokane in February, replacing a more utilitarian structure that was damaged by a falling tree during the windstorm of 2015.

The $74,000 pergola will be “more aesthetically pleasing and blend in more with the plan out there,” said Robin Burris, who owns R&R Woodworking with her husband. The company is building the pergola and demolished the original structure, which was built in 1950.

The Friends of Manito, a volunteer and fundraising group that participates in the preservation and improvement of the park, contributed $20,000 to the project.

Nick Hamad, landscape architect for the city’s parks department, designed the wooden post and beam structure. The 2,100-square-foot pergola will be made from cedar and located to the northeast of the Duncan Garden.

The site, which is where the Friends hold its annual plant sales, is not open to the public but is easily viewable from public spaces. The structure will provide shade for nursery plants and refuge for people working there.

“It’s going to be a lot more historically accurate for this site,” Hamad said.