We’re also excited to announce that we’re partnering with the Memphis and Shelby County Room at the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library to collect stories!  If you’ve got photos of the park that you’d like to submit to a permanent archive, you can donate them to the new Overton Park collection at the library.  We’re also holding a story collection day on Saturday, June 29 from 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. at the Memphis Room.  You can bring your photo albums or come prepared to tell us your story, and we’ll have scanners and audio recorders ready for you.  If you’ve never been to the Memphis Room, please use this as an excuse to come check out this local treasure!

Here are a few stories and photos that you’ve submitted to the project.  Keep them coming!

Welcome to Memphis!
When Bena and I moved to Memphis in 1961, transferred from Perry, Florida and knowing two people here, my employer Buckeye Cellulose put us up at the Parkview, in those days an apartment hotel.

On one of our very first evenings there, I thought it a good idea to crank up my bagpipes (I’m a terrible player, but enthusiastic – worst of all worlds for any instrument, especially the four-in-one bagpipe).  I was huffing along peacefully (?) on #8 fairway when suddenly I was blinded by a bright light. Had I died and gone to heaven? Au contraire – ’twas the Memphis constabulary, telling me to shut down the racket, ’twas against the noise ordinance, going to jail, never see Bena and the light of day again, etc.

Then with a laugh, he told me it would be a waste of time to arrest me - because the Police chief was named McDonald and was a (real) piper!

He still told me to shut it down. Not the last time I got that dictate.

- George Cates

Au Naturel
My memory of playing the Overton course (for probably the only time), was just after graduating college in ’64. My last semester I had taken Abnormal Psychology, so I was PREPARED for what happened. On the long fairway paralleling Poplar I saw, out of the corner of my eye, a would-be case from the textbook: buff naked, peeking out from the woods along side, he showed me all his glory again and again and again. “He’s not dangerous,” I assured myself. “Don’t react; he’ll go away.” I tried to convey this to my partner, Barbara Johnson, but she wasn’t buying it. (Hadn’t had the course.) After an eternity, as they say, Mr. Naked calmly road his bike across the stone bridge and joined Poplar traffic. I didn’t hear any wrecks.

- Anne Carriere

Photos

“I took this picture in 1972 of my daughter Molly (now Jason’s wife) and my nephew Charles (now Monique’s husband) on the jungle gym in the old Overton Park playground.” – Jimmy Jalenak

“Me with my two aunts and cousin at the Levitt Shell, 1977.  From left: Brenda Craig, Dawn French, Shelley Thomas, Glenda Eadey.  We frequently played on the stage when there wasn’t a show going on, so this could have been one of those afternoons.” – Shelley Thomas

“My parents and I traveled from Missouri to Memphis on my mother’s birthday, the day this photo was taken at the zoo.” – Keith Cole

With a couple of weeks of nonstop rain, construction on Rainbow Lake Playground has had to slow down or stop for days at a time.  With no shelter on the job site, crews not only have to sit out the storms, they have to wait for their equipment and work areas to dry out.

Luckily, though, the sun has started to smile on the project, and things are happening at a whirlwind pace.  The wooden climbing structure is taking shape quickly, with the wheelchair-accessible ramps already installed and new wooden beams going in all the time.  Once the beams are all in place, the wood will be finished and some small climbing nets added.

The Big Green Mound is almost complete, with final grading of the dirt over the middle of the hollow tree happening this week.  Sod will then be added to the top, in the hopes that grass will have grown in nicely by the time the playground opens.  The slide has been installed, and the view from the top will make kids feel like they’ve conquered the park.

Now that artist Bernhard Meck has put the final touches on the hollow tree for The Big Green Mound, he’s moved on to another tree-themed project: The Mighty Oak, a concrete structure built to resemble a hollowed-out stump for kids to play in.  Following that, he’ll work on one of the two sound sculptures (the other, built by the National Ornamental Metal Museum, is complete and will be installed soon).

Volunteers are pitching in as well.  One fun component of the new playground is a “building-block” area where kids will have access to some movable objects that they can stack and move around.  We’re reusing scrap materials as the building blocks, including pieces of wood from the old playground’s climbing structure and branches pruned from the park’s crape myrtle trees.  Last Friday, volunteers from MOOD: South Central spent their annual company volunteer day sanding down wooden blocks to make them safe and smooth for the kids to play with.  Thanks to Charlsei, Buster, Mark, Darryl, Elizabeth, Nicole, and Christian for selecting the park as their community project–they did an amazing job!

Next week, new playground features will start coming in fast and furious: swingsets, tuned drums, the merry-go-round, and the netting for The Spiderwebs climbing structure.

A special thanks to a few of our new sponsors–The Daily News has sponsored The Mighty Oak, and Mike Palazola has sponsored the chess tables!  We’re now over the $300,000 mark on our fundraising, which puts us over 75% of our funding goal.  Items still available for sponsorship include The Big Green Mound, trees and landscaping, and recycling bins that will ultimately kick off a recycling program throughout the park.  Make a gift here.

It’ll be a race to the finish line–June 8′s Day of Merrymaking–but if Mother Nature cooperates, we’ll have something pretty special to show everyone in a few weeks.  Thanks so much for your support of this project!  We couldn’t do it without you.

Thursday, May 23: Get Here Early
One of Memphis’ great summer events, The Levitt Shell Free Music Concert Series, will kick off Thursday, May 23 with a performance by North Mississippi Allstars.  Sons of Mudboy will open at 6:30pm, with North Mississippi Allstars at 7:30. We are encouraging all concert patrons to be in the park by 6:45.  The annual Zoom Through the Zoo race will be happening on the same evening, and all park entrances will be closed from approximately 7:00 to 7:30.  Runners will be coming out of the Old Forest near the Golf Clubhouse, running up the hill on Golf Drive, turning north on Morrie Moss and re-entering at the Zoo entrance.  Cars attempting to enter the park during this window will be rerouted to the surrounding neighborhoods, so plan ahead!

The Levitt Shell’s concert series continues on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings throughout summer.  Here’s a full list of performers.

Black Arts Festival This Weekend
Join us in Veterans Plaza this Saturday, May 18, from 1:00 to 4:00 for a free festival celebrating Memphis’ rich African-American arts tradition.  Sponsored by Hattiloo Theatre, the event will feature crafts and an outdoor art gallery, plus performances by Artistik Approach, Bridging Souls Productions, Ficktive Kin, Flo Roach, Harkin’s House Productions, Hattiloo Theatre, Inner City South, Jamille Hunter, LeChorale, LilyRose Studios, Memphis Black Arts Alliance, Out Loud Ministry, and the Women’s Theatre Festival.  (More info is here.)

Memorial Day Race
Join hundreds of others this Memorial Day for the Second Annual Memorial Day 3-Mile Run at Overton Park.  This run honors all those who served in our country’s military and armed forces.  The race begins at 8:00am and begins and ends at the Doughboy Statue in Veterans Plaza.  To find more information and to register, click here.

Four Seasons Cocktail Series at Playhouse on the Square
It’s not too early to mark your calendar for Friday, June 21, when Playhouse on the Square honors Overton Park Conservancy on the summer solstice.  Playhouse’s free happy-hour events coincide with the changing of the seasons. On each equinox and solstice, the theatre will host a cocktail party in honor of a different non-profit organization. Guests are invited to learn about the organization being honored while enjoying light hors d’oeuvres and a signature cocktail created just for the event. Donations are accepted during the party and will benefit Overton Park Conservancy.  Here’s more information.

And of course…A Day of Merrymaking!
We’re adding new and exciting elements to our June 8 family festival every day!  Among other delights, Art Center Memphis and the Brooks Museum are teaming up to present an Art Experience area, and Hollywood Feed is putting on a dog agility course AND a canine costume contest.  That’s just the tip of the iceberg, so click here for the latest, including a list of vendors who will be joining us that day.

The quarter-mile trail that surrounds the East Parkway Playground is lined with wooden posts, each one containing a page from Mem Fox’s book “Whoever You Are.”  Kids will have to walk the trail in order to finish the story.  This installation of StoryWalk was spearheaded by Eagle Scout candidate John Robert Leake, with assistance from the Memphis Public Library and Information Center.

An official dedication ceremony will be held soon (update: ceremony has moved from Saturday, May 18 due to rain).  Mayor AC Wharton will give remarks, and John Robert and his Scoutmaster will talk about what inspired the project.  The Boy Scouts will also bring a Color Guard for the festivities.  Anyone is welcome to come and enjoy this new park feature!

Now that the posts are installed, the story will be changed occasionally to provide a new experience for frequent visitors to the playground.  And coming soon, a Little Free Library built by Midtown Cub Scout Pack 13 will be added to East Parkway, along with another Little Free Library at Rainbow Lake Playground, built by Evergreen Historic District Association.  Books for both libraries will be provided by Books From Birth.

So if it’s been a while since you’ve sat under a tree and enjoyed a good book (or if you’ve never walked through the park while reading), you’ve officially run out of excuses!

The StoryWalk® Project was created by Anne Ferguson of Montpelier, VT and developed in collaboration with the Vermont Bicycle & Pedestrian Coalition and the Kellogg Hubbard Library. It has been adapted for use in Memphis with their kind permission.

This pileated woodpecker is eating from a dead tree that’s still standing, called a snag.

Overton Park is full of beautiful old trees.  Many specimens in the Old Forest State Natural Area are estimated to be over 200 years old.  But it’s not just old trees that are subject to falling during a wind or thunderstorm event–young trees that aren’t structurally sound can fall at any time too.  On the exterior of the forest, it’s easier to spot trees that aren’t healthy and take steps to remove them before they become hazardous.  But what about in the woods?

Within the Old Forest, occasional tree death is a fact of life.  This week we had two large trees fall, one of which was a huge black oak that took out a couple of smaller trees when it uprooted.  Our general philosophy in the forest is to let trees lie where they fall, much as they would in a forest untouched by human intervention.

Now this doesn’t always look like the most attractive way to manage a forest–large tree limbs just lying around amid all this other growth.  But in a forest, a tree’s work is far from done after it’s dead.  Here are a few of the reasons why we don’t remove dead trees from the woods:

• Dead trees help create soil.  Rotting wood is colonized by fungi and mosses, which break it down into nutrients that enrich the soil.  In turn, wildflowers, ferns, and new trees have a welcoming environment to take root, and erosion of the existing soil is reduced.
• They’re an excellent habitat source.  Dead trees make a whole menagerie of life possible–from tiny ants to frogs to raccoons.  Whole life cycles take place when a tree falls: insects move in, then woodpeckers make holes in the trees to pluck out the insects, and then smaller birds like wrens and chickadees make their nests in those cavities.
• They provide a natural reservoir.  Large trees that fall over create pits where their roots had been and mounds where the trees decay.  The pits trap water and leaves, helping reduce water runoff (which has the added benefit of less water collecting on walking trails).  Pits and mounds support different kinds of life, which only adds to the richness of biodiversity in the forest.
• And finally…moving huge trees is hard!  Imagine how long it would take–and how hard on a worker’s back it would be–to move several tons of tree through the narrow trails of the forest, especially since vehicles can’t be driven into the woods.

This carpenter ant enjoyed a sawdust snack.

Unfortunately, these particular trees fell right across a walking trail, so we needed to take some kind of action.  We want to preserve the existing trails, because if we allow them to become blocked then people will cut a path around the trees and create new trails, disturbing understory plants and habitat.

So we called our friends at Urban Forestry to come and cut a space the width of the trail in the black oak’s trunk.  It was hard work, because the trunk kept coming off in layers rather than in one large chunk.  Wes and Nathan had to be careful with the chainsaws, because the massive root ball (not to mention gravity) put tremendous pressure on the trunk.  If they don’t saw strategically, part of the trunk could snap over onto them, or the root ball could fall toward them instead of away.  Instead, they spent about an hour on each of the large trees, unearthing all kinds of beetles, ants, and even a skink hiding out from the day’s chilly weather.

Now, the forest will benefit from the rotting of these large trees, and park users will still be able to access the trails as they normally would.  It’s a rare example of intervening in the life of the forest, but keeping humans on established trails is worth the effort in the long run.

If you see a tree that looks potentially dangerous (particularly in the more open, landscaped areas of the park), please let us know.  The City of Memphis handles tree removal, and we’re happy to communicate with them if you see something that concerns you.

Wes Hopper and Nathan Sigler of Urban Forestry carve a space in the middle of a fallen black oak for park users to walk through.

Early pavilion in Overton Park, courtesy of Memphis and Shelby County Room, Memphis Public Library & Information Center

My grandfather, Prof. George Pfaff, sponsored a party and dance one evening at the open pavilion that was across the street from the present “Doughboy” statue in Overton Park. The year was about 1917. As they danced, ballroom style, his daughter, Caroline, met and took a fancy to a tall young man who was a gymnastics student of her father, Prof. Pfaff. Throughout the following years they kept up with each other. She was a gymnastics teacher and he became a pharmacist.

In 1925, Caroline Pfaff became the wife of John Borg–my parents. I can still hear with the inner ear the band playing their favorite tune, the theme from the operetta “The Merry Widow,” when I pass the spot.

Professor Pfaff, as Memphis City Schools director of physical education, designed the playground equipment for Overton Park’s first playground. Actually, he bought his family’s home in walking distance to the park back in 1906 when Overton Park was established so that his family could enjoy walking through the Old Forest. Then Cooper St. was the city limit, according to our family’s stories.

Share your own memories at www.overtonpark.org/stories.

The first wildflower we saw in bloom this spring was cutleaf toothwort.  Its name comes from the obviously jagged appearance of its leaves, but also from the tooth-like appearance of its roots.  It’s a spring ephemeral, which means you’re not likely to see any remnants of the foliage after spring ends–it’ll wither back to its underground parts.  Spring ephemerals take advantage of the copious sunshine available before the trees begin to leaf out to bloom and spread their seeds.

Jacob’s ladder (at left) is another early bloomer, named for the ladder-like arrangement of its leaves.  To the right is woodland phlox, which isn’t widespread within the Old Forest but provides a nice nectar source for the insects who happen across it.

These are a couple of varieties of wood violets.  The one on the left is likely smooth yellow violet, while the one on the right is either butterfly violet or common violet.  We’ll have to take a closer look!

These yellow flowers on the edges of the forest are butterweed, a member of the aster family (which includes other recognizable plants like daisies, dandelions, and goldenrod).

The flower on the left here is large-flowered bellwort, a member of the lily family.  Its flowers hang like bells and are favorites of bees.  To the right is a plant you’ll find all throughout the Old Forest this time of year: the celandine poppy.  This plant sows itself easily and forms beautiful drifts.  You can’t miss it in the woods right now!

Another plant you can’t miss right now: mayapple!  They’re tiny at first, but soon form a blanket over the forest floor.  Sometimes, when they come up from the ground, they punch through a fallen leaf.  As the mayapples rapidly expand, the leaf acts as a girdle, keeping the plant from opening.  They’re very easy to free, though–rip the leaf off and you’ll feel like you’re opening an umbrella!

It can take a few years for a mayapple to mature and produce a set of two leaves.  In the axil of those leaves, a single white flower forms, which then gives way to a fleshy berry.

They make a beautiful carpet for the forest floor, don’t they?

This isn’t a wildflower, but it is a beautiful native on display in the forest: coral honeysuckle.  Destructive Japanese honeysuckle is also present in the Old Forest, and can be difficult to tell apart from the coral variety, but this photo is of your friendly native version.

Here are a couple of plants we recently spotted beginning to come up: to the left is rattlesnake fern, which is a tiny fern growing less than a foot tall.  The plant on the right is sweet cicely, whose seeds have tiny barbs that allow them to stick to fur and feathers (the better to distribute themselves!).

Finally, we have another plant that is blooming like crazy right now: prairie trillium.  With trillium, everything occurs in threes: leaves, flowers, and sepals.  The foliage of this kind of trillium is highly variegated, so when you look closely you’ll notice some beautiful patterns on the leaves.

We hope you have a chance in the coming days to take your own walk in the woods.  We encourage you to post your photos on our Facebook page so others can enjoy them as well!

Bernhard Meck turns a tunnel into a tree.

Meanwhile, artist Bernhard Meck is a regular fixture on the construction site these days, putting together a log tunnel through The Big Green Mound.  He’s just about finished constructing the concrete tunnel, the middle portion of which will be buried and planted with grass.  The outer edges of the tunnel will be finished to look like a fallen tree.  Construction crews are also working on grading out the site to install other features such as a slide and sand pit.

Fundraising Update
We’re pleased to announce that we achieved our $10,000 goal and unlocked our matching gift!  We couldn’t have done it without you.  Thanks so much to everyone who has donated to the project so far!  We are still well short of our funding goal of $400,000 with only a few months before the playground opens.  If you haven’t had the chance to contribute to this project, there’s still time–make your donation today!

Grand Opening
We will officially celebrate the grand re-opening of Rainbow Lake Playground at our spring family festival, A Day of Merrymaking, on Saturday, June 8!  Make your plans now to come out and celebrate the park and this project with us.

Living on the Edge

This month we sat down with Bill Ferguson and Brian Martinelli of ANF Architects, the creative team behind the design of Rainbow Lake Playground.   They shared how the concept for the playground was created and some of the things they’re excited to see when the new space is unveiled.

Brian Martinelli and Bill Ferguson look at the playground plans.

The playground began with some community input–specifically Bill’s then-two-year-old grandson Benji.  He loved My Big Backyard at Memphis Botanic Garden, so Bill and Brian spent a lot of time talking with the Garden’s staff to determine how they made their playground magical.  Armed with some ideas about the relationship between nature and play, as well as the balance between safety and adventure, they held meetings with a playground focus group made up of parents who regularly visited Overton Park.  That’s when the vision really started to take shape.

“The theme of the playground that emerged from those meetings is the idea of being on this edge space,” Bill says.  ”The playground is right between the Old Forest and the Greensward, between woods and grassy, open space.  We wanted to reflect that theme in both the larger pieces and the smaller details of the playground design.”  Elements such as as The Big Green Mound bring together a fallen tree and a grassy area for kids to explore.

At the edge of the “fallen log” will be a sandbox fashioned in the shape of a tree stump.

The element of originality and creative play was crucial in planning for the playground.  ”We didn’t want some cookie-cutter playground with everything bought from a catalog,” Brian says.  ANF decided to build in elements that would change during the life of the playground, such as a build-it-yourself area with stones, branches, and other materials that kids could piece together, take apart, and move around.  Older kids might interpret the equipment one way, while younger kids use it another, but all the features were meant to trigger the imaginations of kids regardless of age range.

They’re both excited to discover the imaginative ways kids use the playground.  ”One of the great satisfactions of building something like this is watching the kids actually enjoying it,” Bill says.  ”There are all kinds of ways they’ll use the playground that we’ve never considered.”  He has a hard time choosing a favorite element, but he’s especially excited about the National Ornamental Metal Museum’s pebble processor, which was Museum Project Coordinator Holly Fisher’s creative response to his idea that the playground needed a “noisemaker” element.  Brian is anxious to see The Spiderwebs, a cargo net climbing structure, realized.  With its swinging rope bridge, “it has the potential to be something really great.”

Next up for ANF?  Having already designed Overton Bark, Rainbow Lake Playground, and the Rainbow Lake restrooms, they’re now working on the Bike Gate project as well as restrooms near the East Parkway pavilion.  For Bill, having the chance to put his creativity to work at Overton Park is particularly special, since he’s been coming here since he was a small child.  He’s gone from walking through a wading pool with his siblings, to driving through the Old Forest with his roommates, to walking with his wife, Anne, and their four dogs along the trails, to designing for the park’s future.  We’re proud to work with Bill and Brian, and we can’t wait for you to see the finished product of their work!

Tylur French and OPC’s Director of Operations & Capital Projects, Naomi Van Tol, at Tylur’s studio

When we last checked in with Tylur French, he was collecting bikes for the sculpture that will soon greet visitors to the East Parkway entrance of Overton Park.  We visited his studio this week as he was beginning to assemble the bikes into their arched formation and narrow down how to present the piece as a unified work of art.

Tylur’s first concern is getting the composition of the sculpture right.  ”It needs to read as cohesive piece, not as a junk pile,” he says.  Unifying the many different colors and shapes of the bikes is a challenge he’s looking forward to tackling creatively.  He’s considering different color palettes to paint the bikes, as well as additional elements like spinning medallions fitted to the wheels.  He has an end goal in mind and is looking forward to the twists and turns that will get him there.  ”I like the idea of having these bikes sort of explode out of the arch formation,” Tylur says.  ”I want the bikes to look like they’re airborne.”

The next challenge is making it last.  Right now, Tylur and his crew are stripping loose elements from the bikes like vinyl seats and stickers that would be susceptible to decay.  They’ll spray-foam the tires to keep them attached to the rims, and they’re sandblasting rusty or burnt bikes to give them a smooth foundation.  Next week, they’ll work with Hardwick Company in Birmingham to shape several tons of steel into a support structure for the 5,000-pound bike arch.  The final arch will be about 24 feet tall, with a 24-foot open space for cyclists and pedestrians to pass through.

Working on the project has been special for Tylur, particularly because several of the bikes came to the sculpture along with the stories of their owners.  One man currently in his 50s brought Tylur the tricycle he rode when he was two years old–along with a photo to prove it.  Two others, somewhat melted, were from a house that burned down whose owners wanted to see a piece of their place live on.  Another came from a woman who built the bike as a bonding exercise with her son.

Over the next month or so, we’ll continue to document the progress of the sculpture and share with you.  If you have any questions about the project or anything you’d like to ask Tylur for a future blog post, let us know!

I’ve lived near Overton Park for close to 20 years, 13 years now in the Evergreen Historic Neighborhood.  Like so many, Overton Park is my sanctuary.  I can’t imagine living in Memphis without having this park as my “go to” place.  As a runner, I visit the park any chance I get.  I love seeing other runners like me year after year on their routine runs, which makes me feel old and young.  I’ve run in numerous 5ks held at the park over the years as well as Zoom through the Zoo and my proudest moment, running through Overton Park during my first St. Jude Marathon.  I love my memories of spreading a blanket in the spring,  building snowmen in the winter, and being invited to the annual Christmas Adam Party every year at the Club House.

In fact, I fell so in love with Overton Park that I began my bootcamp classes at Veterans Plaza back in 2009.  Going strong today, I lead a sunrise bootcamp class every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday all year round.  As a fitness instructor, I have been blessed with meeting the best group of Midtowners (and some East Memphis folks too) that come to my workout.  Our group comes to stay fit and for the camaraderie, but most of all because it is their sanctuary too…and what better way to start the day?

Our group could share so many stories throughout these past four years… We’ve been at Veterans Plaza when there was ice on the ground, in the middle of summer when the morning temperature begins at 80 degrees and when the fog has been so thick you can’t see the tree line behind Rainbow Lake.  We’ve seen sunrises that will take your breath away and listened to the birds that fill the air.  We even had an escaped flamingo greet us one morning.  I recently added a minute of meditation to our workout for us to pause and take in the serenity the park offers.

Two of our members were married last year in the formal gardens by a minister who also attends our workout.  On Memorial Day, we say the pledge of allegiance to the flag at the north end of Veterans Plaza and take a moment to remember all the veterans listed on the surrounding memorials.  I walked my parents around Veterans Plaza last year and watched my dad, a Korean War veteran, as he admired and intently read the map of the two countries on the Korean War memorial.

Our workout group was there before the Overton Park Conservancy group began its mission and we’ve cherished every little improvement this group has done for our park.  We are collecting money to sponsor the conservancy group and are planning quarterly trash pickup days over the next few seasons.  I believe the best thing about the park is that it’s open to everyone.  All are welcome.  What a beautiful gift from our city.  I know where I’ll be every MWF this year…Veterans Plaza at Overton Park.

Share your own memories at www.overtonpark.org/stories.