A two-man work crew is putting the finishing touches on a much-needed facelift of the wooded picnic shelter at historic Anderson Park in downtown Redmond.
The renovated picnic shelter, which was full of rotted timber and roofing, will be open to the public later this month — just in time for spring and summer use, according to David Tuchek, City of Redmond assistant manger of Parks and Recreation Operations.
The picnic shelter, along with the other two log buildings at the park, were built in 1938 under the Federal Works Progress Administration. The $107,755 picnic shelter project was awarded to Logs & Timbers LLC, which specializes in restoring and renovating historical timber structures.
“Basically, we’re restoring the shelter to its 1930s period,” said Logs & Timber owner Dave Rogers.
The project is funded by a $15,000 grant from the Redmond Rotary Club and $20,000 from a City of Redmond Landmarks and Heritage Grant, with the rest of the $72,755 coming out of the parks operating budget, Tuchek said.
Rogers was the contractor who renovated and restored the park’s other two log structures — the Adair and Fullard Cabins — in 2007-08.
Now Rogers, along with his partner, Joe Herrle, are doing the picnic shelter renovation, which includes replacement of rotted logs and roofing and refurbishment of the stone chimney structure. Rogers and Herrle have replaced all of the base logs of the picnic shelter with Alaska Yellow Cedar and the rest of the replaced timbers are Douglas Fir.
Tuchek said that about 40 percent of the shelter was damaged or decayed. The goal of the project is to replace the rotting wood to make the structure safe, but more importantly to preserve the historical feel and nature of the seven-decade old log structure, according to Tuchek.
“There is such a nice historic feel at this park,” Tuchek said. “We didn’t want to change it, we wanted to preserve it.”
Many community members also value the park’s historical presence as Anderson Park is a popular gathering for families, Tuchek said. The Adair and Fullard Cabins can be used for parties or family gatherings by reservation through the city’s parks and recreation department.
“This place will get really rockin’ around June,” Tuchek said. “It’s a very popular park.”
The picnic shelter is one of several upgrades at the park since 2007. The Adair and Fullard Cabins were renovated three years ago and just recently a major renovation project of the park’s plaza and landscaping upgrades were completed. The two wellhead stations were also restored and improved. In all, there have been more than $400,000 of improvements done to the park since 2007, according to Tuchek.
“The park still has that historical feel and it looks much better,” Tuchek said. “We are very pleased with these projects.”