MARYSVILLE — A new nature park is set to open in Marysville early next year.
The 6.31-acre Doleshel Park is at 9028 67th Ave. NE, the former tree farm site next to Kellogg Marsh Elementary.
The county helped the city acquire the land in 2002 as part of a neighborhood improvement program, said Marysville parks director Jim Ballew. A final opening date has not been set.
The park will include nature trails, picnic tables, a playfield and a bridge over Allen Creek. Much of the work at the site was donated by volunteers from the local Boy Scouts and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Ballew said.
“It was full of blackberry bushes and weeds and tall grasses, really impassable, and now it’s an opening, welcoming, great opportunity, particularly for families who just want to go for a quiet walk,” he said.
More than 200 volunteers from five different Latter-day Saints congregations throughout the Marysville area have worked at the site, local church spokeswoman Deanna Vaughan said.
The volunteers cleared timber, thinned branches, poured concrete and carved out trails, she said. One father and his sons worked together on building the fence along 67th Avenue NE, and they also put up the park sign and painted it.
Everyone could be seen “having fun but doing work, and it’s work for their community and a cause,” Vaughan said.
Danyon Heacock, a junior at Marysville Getchell High School, built the bridge over the creek as part of his Eagle Scout project, said his mother, Carleen Heacock. It took him about six months, including planning, she said.
“He wanted to do something for the community,” she said.
Local lumber companies donated supplies and equipment. The bridge is made of decking wood with concrete footings. It has handrails and is built to last, she said.
The Heacock family lives nearby and looks forward to the park opening.
“We’ll be able to relax on weekend afternoons and have it be a good place for families to enjoy nature,” Carleen Heacock said.
Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@heraldnet.com.
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