Friendship Fountain

Larry Summerville called me yesterday to alert me that they would be doing a full pressure test of the fountain pumps and nozzles and I scampered on down to get a look.

That is Eric Beebe standing in front of the Fountain, he is about 6 foot tall for height comparison, and he also worked on the last Friendship Fountain refurb in the early 2000’s.

As you can note the Center ring is being pushed to the right due to winds I would guess to be around 15 – 20 mph and caused severe water over spray that completely soaked the east side of the Park and required that the pumps be turned down to about 60 – 75%.

Here is a shot of the Pump control panel with (left to right) Eric Beebe, Danny Strickland and Larry Summerville, all from AC General, as they were powering up the pumps.

The park is starting to shape up and this week they are expecting new trees to be put into place and then they should be starting on laying the new sod…

I will have an update again this Friday if not sooner and if you want to get into the discussion there is a pretty active one going on at Metro Jacksonville Forums.

Till next time,
Bob

I received a call from Larry this morning that they were about to send water under pressure to the Fountain and I grabbed my camera and was on my way.

I was able to get a couple of quick pictures posted to Twitter from my cell phone, “The Beast”, just to get the first images on the web 🙂

They are being very careful at this point and only placed full pressure on the center ring for a few minutes but it sure looked great.

Over the next few days they will be working on regulating the flow as well as getting the engineers to program the light and flow patterns for the planned water sequences…

There are just a few more sections of guardrail to be put into place and I understand some preliminary landscaping may start this weekend.

More pictures from my quick trip today are here:
http://jaxfountain.com/Gallery/May112011

I also got to meet Danny Strickland again as he was present to see the Fountain pump test and of course Larry Summerville, who I have mistakenly referred to as project manager when his actual title is Superintendent, was there and again I must thank Danny, Larry and everyone at AC General for their allowing my full access to the project and site.

Till next time,
Bob

With setting a Grand reopening date of Jun 18, 2011 I felt like it would be nice to change to weekly updates to try and keep up as work would start moving at a feverish pace and today was the first of what I hope will be bi-weekly Thursday updates 🙂

My timing could not have been better as not only was work going on all over the Park but Ginny Walthour from the City of Jacksonville’s Public Information Office along with a group of planners stopped by to visualize aspects of the Grand re-opening and it was a pleasure to meet her…

She was also kind enough to provide me a copy of the Artist’s Rendering of the finished Park project as seen below. (with some modifications of my own)

As you can see in some of the pictures workers were all over the park including Larry, the site project manager, who was working with a pressure washer, though I suspect it was timed for myself, an Engineer and the City Planning Group who all arrived around the same time… No seriously, if you met Larry you would have no doubt he knows how to work and is willing to jump in when needed 😉

Got a chance to get down into the Fountain to get some pictures of the new LED lights and took the opportunity to get a panoramic view from the center of the Fountain (couldn’t get a 360 degree pano due to technical difficulties)..

As I said lots going on and we will be trying to keep up with the various aspects as it “All comes together” counting down to Jun 18, 2011.

Until next time,
Bob

I just was contacted by Ginny Walthour from the City of Jacksonville’s Public Information Office and she let me know they are beginning to plan the Grand reopening of Friendship Fountain and Park, scheduled for June 18, 2011, time to be announced.

Make sure to mark your calendars for this date and plan on being in Attendance as Ginny has indicated the plans are for a Family Affair lasting a few hours and everyone is invited.

If you have any suggestions for the event please feel free to contact Ginny at:
walthour@coj.net

She is especially interested in hearing from anyone that has old photographs of the Fountain from the past, such as family gatherings, weddings and similar events and anyone with experiences from the early days of Friendship Fountain.

I of course will post additional information as it becomes available and look forward to seeing as many folks as possible on what I expect to be a very Memorable Event!

Until next time,
Bob

Friday was just another beautiful day once the smoke started clearing and on the River I just doesn’t get much better then this… That was the backdrop for this weeks trip to the Fountain which brought some real excitement in terms of progress with the renovations.

Immediately upon entering the Park area you can see the new Park benches wrapping the palm trees as well as the picnic tables dotting the west side of the Park. But what really grabs your attention is the Fountain Pool itself which was just freshly painted a beautiful blue (paint fumes still in the air)…

As I walked into the park excitedly mentioning the Fountain pool Larry, the Site Project Manager, saw me and asked if I had been in the pump house yet this trip, with a wide grin on his face… I hadn’t so he said you have to see this…

The new Custom made pumps for the Fountain Water features are in place and ready for the final connections. I also got the opportunity to go down into the Sump room and saw the brand new water pickups and water return from the Fountain pool, a sight that is only available when the pool is completely empty…

Also the new Park benches and picnic tables are in place…

As I said in the outset lots of exciting steps having taken place since my last visit and I honestly believe the Men working on the project are getting a bit excited about the project as well, as everytime I speak with one of them they are sure to point out “have you seen this yet, or that”…

Gonna be wonderful to see the Fountain back in operation surrounded with a new beautiful and more visitor friendly park…

One last parting mention, I have started a new Image Folder with “Comparison” shots, some from before and now and some with intermediate steps picured, I hope that some of you find this of interest…

Oh and hey folks don’t be shy, feel free to post your thoughts or comments regarding the renovations 🙂

Until next time,
Bob