Wilsonville, Oregon: Walt Morey Park and heARTs of Wilsonville

My family lived in Wilsonville until I was six and we moved out to Aloha. (The old neighborhood is now Bullwinkle's.)

A lot has changed since then, including a proliferation of parks with some interesting features. I remember one park from when we were there. 

There are also considerably more homes, businesses, and public buildings, so that tracks, but it was mostly the parks we recently visited.

Our first object was viewing heARTs of Wilsonville, where ten fiberglass arts were painted by local artists.

The hearts were introduced in April, then placed in the parks in May. 

They are slated to be on display for at least a year. That phrasing leaves the possibility of longer, but there is always the possibility of them being moved or auction, looking at similar projects other cities have done. 

I appreciated that the hearts were easy to find.

Sometimes the parks were not so easy to find. The map we were using was not to scale, so even though none of the distances were that far, they were farther than the map indicated.

However, once you got to the park, the heart was usually in plain sight, possibly even visible from the road as you approached.

Even with the largest of the parks, Memorial Park, where there were two, the map told us that they were at the tennis courts and the Nature Play Area. 

There was a nice variety of arts and art styles. If flowers were a common theme, there's a certain logic to that when you are walking around parks.

Exploring the heARTs exhibit can also be a good introduction to new parks and neighborhoods.

I didn't know all of this was there.

That also goes for Walt Morey Park, where there were no hearts.

Speaking of a long-ago childhood, Walt Morey was a popular author of books for young readers, generally focused on animals. There are some similarities to Jack London, but writing for a younger audience.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Morey 

His most famous creation was Gentle Ben, a big Alaskan brown bear befriended by a boy.

I read as many of those books as the library had after he visited my school (around 1980). Not only was the 1965 book popular, it inspired a movie, then a television series that ran from 1967 to 1969. Clint Howard played the boy, but Ben's portrayer Bruno has a pretty impressive resume as well:

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4184248/?ref_=tt_cst_t_4  

Walt Morey park has the small bust and plaque for Morey, but also a big bear statue, as well as several smaller bears scattered around. I can't really fault the logic. (The library has a statue of Morey.)

The park is part of Morey's Landing, a development built on Morey's property after it was sold by his widow. It seems like a nice neighborhood park, but we were there for the bear.

COVID: This is all outside and there were no situations that were really crowded, though obviously that can change. The weather was nice considering, but it was still February.

Accessibility: This is also pretty good, with smooth paths and nothing too far hidden. Getting right up to Ben would involve going on grass. 

Some of the parks did not have great parking options, but we were not spending a lot of time in any one spot so that did not affect us.

Then, for other park amenities it would just depend.

https://www.wilsonvilleoregon.gov/bc-achc/page/hearts-wilsonville-many-cultures-one-heart 

https://www.wilsonvilleoregon.gov/administration/page/public-art-exhibit-open-may%C2%A0ten-hearts-be-placed-around-wilsonville

https://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/35069