Gresham Main City Park and Japanese Garden

Three of the GOPA artworks are in Main City Park. We had to make a second trip to see two of them, due to a lack of clarity on the location. That is one reason that the final post will be specifying a route to see all of the art. It is doable, but the GOPA brochure won't get you there.

To be fair, Main City Park is a large (21.6 acres) park with many features; it could be easy to get lost. The park borders downtown, going all the way to Forest Lawn Cemetery, and intersects with the Springwater Trail and Johnson Creek.

The Gresham Heroes Memorial draws attention to the Powell Blvd side, but as you go further in you find two Little League baseball diamonds, as well as picnic areas, a jogging trail, a dog park, and a playground.

We started at the skateboard park, home of the first statue, Crash.

That was the easy part. The other two status were supposed to be in the Japanese Garden. 

We thought that would be pretty easy too. Yes, we were going to the other side of the park, but we had already been interested in the Japanese garden, Tsuru Island. Two birds, one stone.

Obviously you cross a bridge to get onto an island; we were still feeling confident.

It is not a huge garden, but it does have the features that you would expect.

If you have been to the Portland Japanese Garden in Washington Park, Tsuru Island has similar plants and art, with the added bonus of being free and not having crowds of amateur photographers in the way of everything (which has gotten better, but you know what I mean).

The only problem is that we were not finding either Japanese Cranes or Mandarin Duck and GOPA tiles. We had quickly gone over the whole island without seeing them.

Had we missed something?

Yes, but not the way we had thought.

So, yes, Tsuru Island is the primary focus of the landscaping and gardening; it is reasonable to say that.

However, very much attached to the Japanese Garden is the Resource Center, featuring meeting and classroom space.

Then there is Ebetsu Plaza. Are those sculpted crane wings?

They sure are!

Then, with just a little more effort, we found the Mandarin Duck.

Nearby were tiles commemorating those who had contributed to the project.

But we did not figure that out on our first day; it required additional research and a visit back. With sufficient research, we could have done it all at once.

Nonetheless, it was a nice, big park, with many ways to serve the community.

COVID: Almost everything is outdoors, and there is plenty of room to spread out to maintain social distancing. The baseball bleachers and the resource center are probably the highest risk areas.

Accessibility: Paths are wheelchair accessible, though it does seem like the playground could have more options. Also, the size of the park may present issues for some, especially if you are visiting different areas.

https://greshamoregon.gov/Parks/Main-City-Park/

https://www.greshamjapanesegarden.org/