Rotary Centennial Playground
Tour: Forest Park (Everett)
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Rotary Centennial Playground
Everett Lions Club sponsored a project to build a children’s wading pool which was dedicated on June 8, 1932. At 75 by 45 feet in size, the pool was considered one of the largest and best constructed playgrounds in the state at that time and featured a sculpture of two babies, the artwork created by artist Frances Hedges. Although the wading pool is gone, the Hedges sculpture remains, incorporated into an art setting here at the playground. In 2013 the Rotary Centennial Water Playground became the new water feature.
This location was once the site of a short-lived event called Snofair, sponsored by the local Skiers Club. Members built a ski jump consisting of a large removable scaffold that ran from over the wading pool and extended down the steep slope to the north, ending in the ball field below. On January of 1952 the first Snofair event took place, with 70 skiers competing before a crowd of 7,000. The second (and last) Snofair was held January 24-25, 1953. The well-attended event was part of its undoing. Forest Park could not accommodate the crowd size and, without a fenced and gated area, ticket buyers were not the only attenders. Adding to the event’s expenses was the cost of having to use manufactured snow.
In 2020 the Parks Department began a $900,520 renovation of the Forest Park playground. One of its new features is a 9-foot-long concrete climbing sculpture for kids by Themed Concepts, a tribute to Rosemary “Rosie”, well-loved star of the Forest Park Zoo from her arrival in 1951 to her untimely death in 1955. One of only 261 captive elephants in the country at that time, Rosie, a three-year old 3,100 pound Indian elephant, was first a circus performer and then donated to the city by Everett department store owner Harold Rumbaugh (1907-1959), who also co-owned several circuses. Rosie was named after Rumbaugh’s daughter. Tragically the elephant died, suffering, it is believed, from complications and inadequate treatment of a disease known as foot scald.
Follow the concrete walkway back toward the picnic grounds.
