This article was originally published in The Examiner on March 23, 2017.
By Eleanor Skelton
Staff Writer
The City of Port Arthur held a ribbon cutting for the Pavilion and Peoples Park on Tuesday, March 21.
“We’re excited about the possibilities that it brings to Port Arthur,” City of Port Arthur spokesperson LaRisa Carpenter said in a news release.
City officials believe the Pavilion and Peoples Park are “key elements that will help to ignite and sustain downtown re-development,” Carpenter said.
“These two projects [are] going to improve the quality of life for Port Arthur residents,” Port Arthur parks and Recreation Director Jerry Smith said. “It gives people the opportunity to experience leisure at their leisure.”
“It’s a great day in Port Arthur, Texas, folks,” Smith said in his address during the ribbon cutting ceremony.
The park includes a water fountain feature with a push-button start, and a harmony wind harp designed by Ross Barrable, an artist from Colorado, as well as new landscaping. Barrable traveled from Pagosa Springs, Colorado, to install the wind harp, which plays “Song of Aquarius,” an Aeolian soundscape, according to Port Arthur city officials.
The water feature comes on automatically every 15 minutes between 8 and 10 a.m., 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., and at night between 7 and 10 p.m., Smith explained to the crowd gathered for the ribbon cutting.
“Kids can still turn it on [manually] with a button,” he said.
The park was completed just in time for Port Arthur Mardi Gras, Smith said.
The improvements were designed by LaBiche Architectural Firm and completed by N&T Construction Company, according to the city’s news release.
Eleanor Skelton 