Seattle’s Parks and Recreation opened the Pratt Park Spraypark. The park was closed for renovations. Those improvements have been completed. The parks department welcomed the community to enjoy the new spraypark. The spraypark opened on Saturday, May 28 over Memorial Day weekend. The spraypark is located at 1800 S Main St. in the Central District. The spraypark is located near the play area at the corner of 20th Ave. S and S Washington St.
The park is named after Edwin T. Pratt. He was an incredible community leader. He was the Executive Director of Seattle Urban League, and a founder of the Central Area Motivation Program and the Seattle Opportunities Industrialization Center. He was slain by unknown assailants at his home in 1969.
Pools and water parks are usually all opened on Memorial Day. This is considered by lifeguards to be the beginning of the summer. A community celebration and ribbon cutting will take place later. That event will be held at the park on Friday, June 10 and the community is encouraged to come out and celebrate.
The improvements makes for a more fun environment this year. The parks department hired Site Workshop Landscape Architects and Hoshide Wanzer Architects to do the improvements.
There we’re various iterations of what would be done to renovate the park. The original project scope included installing a re-circulation water system and new play features. Then there was the idea for a new restroom building, adult fitness equipment, site furnishings, pathway improvements, and upgrading the irrigation system.
The usefulness of the re-circulation system is important. It greatly improves water conservation, and increases safety and play-value, making for a much more fun experience. The custom-designed restroom building features a butterfly roof and vegetated wall trellis systems, as well as a gender-neutral single stall restroom.
There is a map of Africa etched into the concrete. It also retains the bronze sculptures that were created by artist Monad Elohim; the sculptures represent the spirits of African American ancestors. There is more that shows someone was listening to the community during the planning. For instance, the spraypark retained bronze plaques, created by artists Monad Elohim and Daniel Minter, reflecting the African American community’s identity, culture and places of origins. The plaques will be re-installed later. The pathway between the spraypark and the play area will have painted lines for hopscotch, two square, and jumping rope.
Money was needed to get it all done. The Parks & Green Spaces Levy and Seattle Park District provided the initial funding for the park with Vulcan Real Estate and Seattle Seahawks Charitable Foundation contributing a total of $50,000 toward the park renovation and pathway improvements. A partnership with Kaiser Permanente provided $80,000 for the adult fitness equipment.
