Myrtle Edwards Park in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

is a

public park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a municipal park (North America) or a public park, public open space, or municipal gardens ( UK), is a park in cities and other incorporated places that offer recreation and green space to re ...

along the

Elliott Bay Elliott Bay is a part of the Central Basin region of Puget Sound. It is in the U.S. state of Washington, extending southeastward between West Point in the north and Alki Point in the south. Seattle was founded on this body of water in the 1850s an ...

waterfront north of Belltown. It features a long bicycle and walking path and is a good place to see eagles, gulls, and crows. The park was originally named Elliott Bay Park, but was renamed after the late Seattle city councilwoman Myrtle Edwards in 1976 after her family withdrew her name from what is now

Gas Works Park Gas Works Park is a park located in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is a public park on the site of the former Seattle Gas Light Company gasification plant, located on the north shore of Lake Union at the south end of the Wallingford ne ...

because of the design emphasis on the gasification plant. Now, Myrtle Edwards Park celebrates a different kind of plant — the hemp plant — by hosting the annual

Seattle Hempfest Seattle Hempfest is an annual event in the city of Seattle, Washington (and the world's largest annual gathering) advocating the legalization of cannabis. Vivian McPeak serves as the organization's executive director. Founded in 1991 as the Was ...

. From 1964 until 2008 the park was the site of the annual Fourth of Jul-Ivar's celebration — one of Seattle's large

Fourth of July Independence Day (colloquially the Fourth of July) is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the Declaration of Independence, which was ratified by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, establishing the United States ...

fireworks Fireworks are a class of Explosive, low explosive Pyrotechnics, pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics), combining a l ...

shows. The

Olympic Sculpture Park The Olympic Sculpture Park, created and operated by the Seattle Art Museum (SAM), is a public park with modern and contemporary sculpture in downtown Seattle, Washington. The park, which opened January 20, 2007, consists of a outdoor sculpture mu ...

, part of

Seattle Art Museum The Seattle Art Museum (commonly known as SAM) is an art museum located in Seattle, Washington, United States. It operates three major facilities: its main museum in downtown Seattle; the Seattle Asian Art Museum (SAAM) in Volunteer Park on Cap ...

, opened on the southern end in 2007. At the northern end is Centennial Park operated by the

Port of Seattle The Port of Seattle is a government agency overseeing the seaport and airport of Seattle, Washington, United States. With a portfolio of properties ranging from parks and waterfront real estate, to one of the largest airports and container t ...

, which was also known as Elliott Bay Park until 2011. Near the park's northern end is the sculpture '' Adjacent, Against, Upon'' (1976) by

Michael Heizer Michael Heizer (born 1944) is an American land artist specializing in large-scale and site-specific sculptures. Working largely outside the confines of the traditional art spaces of galleries and museums, Heizer has redefined sculpture in terms ...

. The Myrtle Edwards and Centennial parks are sometimes described as a single park. The

BNSF Railroad BNSF Railway is one of the largest freight railroads in North America. One of seven North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 35,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and nearly 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that ...

tracks and a fence run along the long, narrow park's eastern side. Beyond the tracks is a major roadway, Elliott Avenue West. These obstacles make it difficult to enter the park except at the northern and southern ends. A pedestrian/bicycle

overpass An overpass (called an overbridge or flyover in the United Kingdom and some other Commonwealth countries) is a bridge, road, railway or similar structure that crosses over another road or railway. An ''overpass'' and ''underpass'' together form ...

at West Thomas Street (), approximately from the park's southern end, was constructed in 2012 to address these concerns.

References

External links

Seattle Parks & Recreation: Myrtle Edwards Park
Parks in Seattle Belltown, Seattle Elliott Bay {{KingCountyWA-geo-stub