PORT TOWNSEND — When the Port Townsend Parks and Recreation Department originally approached Bonnie Corra about pursuing a memorial project for her late husband, Steve, she said she didn’t know if she could do it.
Now that the first phase of renovations to Haller Fountain Park is near completion, Corra said she doesn’t know what she would have done without the support from the city and the community.
“It has been the perfect process for me to work with people who really cared about Steve,” she said.
“This project is a manifestation of the support from everyone involved.”
The construction is a major step in an improvement project inspired by Corra, the former Port Townsend parks director who died in January 2006 from mantle cell lymphoma.
He worked to improve city parks for 24 years and envisioned a community plaza around the fountain that would make it more attractive to the public.
The new additions to the park include a concrete sidewalk, concrete benches, a multi-level drinking fountain — which includes a dog level watering dish — and new grassy areas that were created by clearing out the wild hillside entanglements.
Bonnie Corra said there are a few finishing touches still left to be done on the lower half of the park, located at the intersection of Washington and Taylor streets, but for the most part, the project is nearing completion.
“But that is just the lower half,” Corra said.
“The work on the top is just beginning.”
