Woodward Park is a public park located in
Fresno, California
Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, maki ...
, abutting the
San Joaquin River
The San Joaquin River (; es, Río San Joaquín) is the longest river of Central California. The long river starts in the high Sierra Nevada, and flows through the rich agricultural region of the northern San Joaquin Valley before reaching Suis ...
, opened in 1968. It is named after the late Ralph Woodward who bequeathed a portion of his estate to provide a regional park and bird sanctuary in Fresno. The park has a multi-use amphitheatre, an authentic Japanese Garden, disc golf course, BMX course, three children's playgrounds, a lake and trails that connect to the Lewis S. Eaton Trail.
History
Ralph W. Woodward was a longtime businessman and property owner in the Fresno area.
His father, Oscar James (O.J.) Woodward, was an early Fresno civic leader and banker who donated the large Memorial Fountain in Fresno's downtown Courthouse Park in 1921. Ralph Woodward created a
will which included the requirement that, upon his death, one-fifth of his estate would go to the purchase of a site for a public park and bird refuge.
The site was to be "selected solely by said trustees and conveyed to the City of Fresno as soon as purchased" and that the site shall be purchased "within a reasonable time."
Woodward was an outdoorsman and frequently went
trap shooting
Trap shooting, or trapshooting in North America, is one of the three major disciplines of competitive clay pigeon shooting, which is shooting shotguns at clay targets. The other disciplines are skeet shooting and sporting clays.
They are disting ...
on the
San Joaquin River
The San Joaquin River (; es, Río San Joaquín) is the longest river of Central California. The long river starts in the high Sierra Nevada, and flows through the rich agricultural region of the northern San Joaquin Valley before reaching Suis ...
. Woodward died on March 6, 1961, and his will was filed for probate. One of the executors and trustees of the estate estimated the value at $1 million.
Various options were considered for the site, but the estate trustees settled on land next to
State Highway 41 and Shepherd Avenue with Friant Road skirting the eastern boundary in September 1964.
The trustees purchased of land for $296,000 and the city added at a cost of $80,000 and the entire site was transferred to the city for development of a park and bird refuge, now named Woodward Park.
Features
Shinzen Friendship Garden
![Shinzen Japanese Garden - Flickr - mepp](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/Shinzen_Japanese_Garden_-_Flickr_-_mepp.jpg)
As Woodward was being planted and constructed, a group of Japanese-Americans, headed by local accountant Ben Nakamura, approached the city to set aside two acres of the park for a Japanese garden.
A meeting between the Japanese-American group, Fresno parks department director and the son of the late Ralph Woodward produced a plan for the project and they sought to raise $250,000 in donations for it. The city had formed a
sister city
A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties.
While there are early examples of inter ...
relationship with
Kochi, Japan a few years earlier, in 1965, and looked to them to donate authentic Japanese buildings.
Landscape architect Paul Saito was hired to do the design in 1972 and construction began in 1975.
Construction involved the addition of of earth and of granite boulders.
On May 18, 1981, the garden was officially dedicated and a large delegation from Kochi attended the opening.
The Shinzen Friendship Garden, also known as the Shinzen Japanese Garden is a 5-acre
Japanese stroll garden. The Garden was planned around the four seasons, with distinctive plantings in each area.
The spring section features azaleas, camellias, crabapples, irises, flowering cherries and plums. A paved pathway connects visitors to the summer section, in which a Koi Pond is the centerpiece. Tulip trees, Chinese pistache and tallow trees are planted in the Autumn Section, where they display bright colors in the fall. A large waterfall, pines and evergreens anchor the Winter Section.
![Shinzen Friendship Garden in Fresno, California](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/Shinzen_Friendship_Garden_in_Fresno%2C_California.jpg)
In 1989, the garden received a thatched-roofed teahouse that was built in Japan and re-assembled by Japanese carpenters on the shore of the pond. Allowing the construction of a Japanese-themed restaurant incorporated into the garden was much discussed. Proponents of the plan cited the revenue it would generate, allowing for continued improvements to the park while detractors claimed that a restaurant would violate the "quiet oasis" intent of original park benefactor Ralph Woodward. No restaurant was built and the area that it would occupy is a service yard seen from Friant Road.
The garden celebrated its 25th Anniversary on April 29, 2006, with a delegation from Kochi, Japan present. A Cherry tree was planted at the entry to commemorate this event.
In 2015, the garden received over 100
bonsai specimens from the Golden State Bonsai Federation (GSBF) Collection of the former Clark Center for Japanese Art and Culture in
Hanford, California
Hanford is a city and county seat of Kings County, California, located in the San Joaquin Valley region of the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley. The population was 53,967 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census.
History ...
.
The garden is a popular spot for photography sessions also hosts events. Annually, the garden is home to a Spring Blossom Festival, a
Toro Nagashi
The Floating Lamp is a type of lamp that floats on the surface of the water. It is also known as a river lamp or lake lamp etc., depending on the water body in which the water lamp is floated. The water lamp originated in India and later spread t ...
(Floating Lantern) Ceremony in August and a Shinzen Cultural Faire.
Rotary Amphitheater
The park houses a shaded outdoor pavilion, named Rotary Amphitheater, which seats 4,000 people. The amphitheatre was renovated in 2010, and has hosted performances by acts such as
Deftones
Deftones is an American alternative metal band formed in Sacramento, California in 1988. They were formed by Chino Moreno (vocals, guitar), Stephen Carpenter (guitar), Abe Cunningham (drums), and Dominic Garcia (bass). During their first f ...
,
Tech N9ne
Aaron Dontez Yates (born November 8, 1971), better known by his stage name Tech N9ne (pronounced "tech nine"), is an American rapper. In 1999, he and business partner Travis O'Guin founded the record label Strange Music. He has sold over two ...
, and
Sevendust
Sevendust is an American rock band from Atlanta, Georgia, formed in 1994 by bassist Vince Hornsby, drummer Morgan Rose and rhythm guitarist John Connolly. After their first demo, lead vocalist Lajon Witherspoon and lead guitarist Clint Lo ...
as well as numerous others.
BMX Track
BMX riders had used the park for recreation since the sport gained popularity. However, in 2007 the city constructed an official course in the Woodward's southwest corner.
The "S" shaped course includes timing equipment, barriers, hills, and a staging area.
Disc Golf Course
The first permanent disc golf course in Fresno was installed in Woodward Park, named "Woodward Legacy Disc Golf Course," and it opened in November 2003. The course includes eighteen holes on acres of rolling hills, trees and bluffs.
The hole distances range from 200 feet to more than 600 feet in length.
Installation of the course was the work of city officials and parks department head at the time, Ron Primavera.
In the first year of operation, the course earned a spot as part of the in the "Central Valley Series," an annual circuit of approximately 10 tournaments throughout the
Central Valley. Since 2014, the disc golf tournament in Fresno has branded itself the "Hard Pan Classic," named after the cementitious substratum frequently found in
San Joaquin valley soil. In 2019, the Hard Pan Classic moved to the course in
Kearney Park, just west of Fresno.
Connected open spaces and trails
![Granville Grove 2022](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/50/Granville_Grove_2022.jpg)
A 167-acre parcel just north of Woodward Park was acquired by the San Joaquin River Conservancy, named the Jensen River Ranch. The parks are now connected in multiple places. The six-mile, paved Lewis S. Eaton trail originates inside Woodward and continues north, following the curve of the San Joaquin river.
Events
Cross Country
State championship
Cross Country races for the top California high schoolers, organized by the
CIF
Cif is a French brand of household cleaning products owned by the Anglo-Dutch company Unilever, known as Jif in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Middle East and the Nordic countries.
Cif was launched in France in 1965 and was marketed in competit ...
, have been held at Woodward since 1987.
The state championship Cross Country races for community college students, organized by the
CCCAA
The California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) is a sports association of community colleges in the U.S. state of California. It oversees 108 athletic programs throughout the state. The organization was formed in 1929 as the Calif ...
are also hosted there, typically in November.
At the university level, it is the home course for the Fresno State Bulldogs men's and women's cross country teams.
It has also hosted 14 NCAA Regional Cross Country Championships since the tournament's inaugural year of 1968.
The park most recently hosted the 2004 NCAA Western Region Championship, the 2006 Western Athletic Conference Championships and 2014 Mountain West Championships.
Shakespeare in the Park
Woodward Park also plays host to the Woodward Shakespeare Festival - for
Shakespeare in the Park
Shakespeare in the Park is a term for outdoor festivals featuring productions of William Shakespeare's plays. The term originated with the New York Shakespeare Festival in New York City's Central Park, originally created by Joseph Papp. This c ...
.
The performances take place on the WSF Stage near the Friant/Fort Washington Entrance, and showcase a number of familiar titles. The company held 311 performances in the park over 11 seasons.
Grizzly Fest
Woodward Park hosted the Grizzly Fest music festival in 2018 and 2019.
The event started in 2012, when local Fresno artist
Fashawn
Santiago Leyva (born October 19, 1988), known by his stage name Fashawn, is an American hip hop recording artist from Fresno, California. He first gained major attention after releasing his debut album '' Boy Meets World'' in 2009, which was pr ...
organized a hip-hop festival held at the
fairgrounds
Fairground most typically refers to a permanent space that hosts fairs.
Fairground, Fairgrounds, Fair Ground or Fair Grounds may also refer to:
Places
Canada
* Fairground, Ontario, a community
United States
* Fairground, St. Louis, a neighbo ...
. The original lineup featured performances by himself, Murs,
Husalah
James "Husalah" Ratliff (born May 13, 1979), is an American rapper from Pittsburg, California. He began his career with the Pittsburg group the Mob Figaz, whose first album, ''C-Bo's Mob Figaz'', was released in 1999. Like his late close frie ...
,
Strong Arm Steady and many local talent and skateboarders.
The event was revived in 2015 at
Chukchansi Park
Chukchansi Park, formerly known as Grizzlies Stadium, is a city-owned baseball stadium located in Fresno, California, United States, completed in 2002 as the home for Minor League Baseball's Fresno Grizzlies. The first game was May 1, 2002. Loca ...
, the minor league baseball stadium in downtown Fresno, and became an annual event after that. It moved to Woodward Park in 2018 because the move allowed expansion from one day to two days.
There was much discussion about the potential effects of noise and parking congestion on nearby residents east of Woodward Park. The Grizzly Fest promoters appeared before the City Council in 2018 and responded to those concerns, getting their mitigation plan and $100,000 license to use Woodward Park approved.
In 2018,
Snoop Dogg,
Nas and
Foster the People
Foster the People is an American indie pop band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 2009. Its members are singer Mark Foster, guitarist Sean Cimino, and keyboardist Isom Innis.
Foster founded the band in 2009 after spending several years in ...
were the headliners and the event included two stages, a Ferris wheel, carnival games, vendor booths and food trucks.
In 2019, the headliners were
Portugal. The Man and
G-Eazy. The festival was canceled in 2020 due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
and did not return in 2021 or 2022.
Impact
![Woodward Park en Fresno, California (33954896795)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/Woodward_Park_en_Fresno%2C_California_%2833954896795%29.jpg)
The formation of Woodward Park preceded, and in some ways drove, development on Fresno's northeast edges.
Ted C. Wills
Theodore Carl Wills, Sr. (November 28, 1911 – November 6, 2003) was a labor leader, Fresno City Council Member from 1954 to 1987 and was the mayor of Fresno from 1969 to 1977. He is the father of MLB pitcher Ted C. Wills, Jr. The Ted C. Wills ...
, who was mayor from 1969 to 1977 just following completion of Woodward Park, made northern expansion a focus of his administration. The community bounded on the south by Herndon Avenue, on the west by Blackstone Avenue, on the north by the San Joaquin River and Copper Avenue and on the east by Willow Avenue is called the
Woodward Park area. Many structures in this area include the "Woodward" name, including the public library and the 1,100-home Woodward Lake subdivision. Woodward remains the largest public park in Fresno.
References
External links
Woodward ParkWoodward Shakespeare FestivalShinzen Friendship Garden
{{coord, 36.8708, -119.7845, region:US-CA_type:landmark, display=t
Geography of Fresno, California
Municipal parks in California
Urban public parks
Parks in Fresno County, California
Tourist attractions in Fresno, California
Cross country running courses in California
College cross country courses in the United States
Fresno State Bulldogs cross country