Featured Photograph: Mayor Dwight Landreneau with his mother Ethel Landreneau. (Photograph by Bobby Ardoin.)
BOBBY ARDOIN
Editor/Contributing Writer
The Ethel Park project dedicated Saturday in the Town of Washington was celebrated in advance Friday night as hundreds crammed into the historic Wolff Reception and Banquet Hall for a gala ceremony and preview event.
Mayor Dwight Landreneau said the now-completed municipal park will serve as a gathering place and trailhead destination for walking tours that feature the town’s display of historic homes and commercial buildings.
The quarter-acre park located across from the Washington Town Hall on North Washington Street is named after Ethel Landreneau was constructed on property donated by Joe Kavanaugh.
Ethel Landreneau is the mother of Dwight Landreneau.
During a brief presentation, Dwight Landreneau said that no public funding has been used to complete the fenced in park, which features indigenous plants, a small walking trail and seating areas.
“All of $65,000 in proceeds used for the park was obtained through grants or private donations. The architectural plans and drawings for the park were reviewed by the Town Council and approved by the council members before any work was done,” Landreneau said during a brief interview with St. Landry Now.
The Friday social gathering also featured an auction in which donated desserts and pastries were sold. The opening bid for each of the dessert items was $100.
A historic home which was once located on the park site was removed several years ago.
Landreneau said Kavanaugh agreed to give the land to Town and repurpose the property as a park as long as the land parcel would be known as Ethel Park.
Eventually the park could host Town events like Farmer’s Market produce sales and small concerts, according to previous discussions at Town Council meetings.
Landreneau told the crowd planning and grant assistance for the park was provided by the Acadiana Planning Commission.
Concept sketches for the park began in April, 2021, as town officials accepted the property donation and then included land tract for use by the Town.
“What we tried to do with the park is use it as something like a pocket park or green space within the Town,” Landreneau added.
Landreneau said the large crowd at the Wolff Hall was indicative of the effort that was provided in allowing the park to evolve from concept drawings to a completed landscape.
“When you look around this room (Friday night) the people you see are those who in some way contributed to the completion of the park. There is no expense for the park. The people in town helped fund it and we had a number of volunteers who contributed what they could to make it all happen,” Landreneau said during the interview.
