And so, off we went to check it out.
After a detour to the Chipolte in Uptown, we found (free) street parking and headed over to the fountain to check it out. (There is a Dunn Brothers on the south side of the park, an expensive restaurant, Loring Kitchen & Bar, with valet parking on the east side near the fountain, and the Cafe & Bar Lurcat on the north side, but Chipolte picnic-style was much more affordable.)
It is -- indeed -- awesome.
The kids had a great time wandering around it and splashing a bit. It was a hot summer day. And there was a fountain right there. How could you not get wet?
The Berger "Dandelion" Fountain has been a fixture in Minneapolis since 1975. It was designed by Robert Woodward of Sydney, Australia.
Apparently, we almost missed seeing the fountain on, as it had been closed until mid-July 2014 to replace the fountain pump and filter. Benjamin Berger, a former Park Board Commissioner, donated the fountain, after being inspired by a similar fountain in Sydney, Australia.
Who was Ben Berger?
According to this Minneapolis Journal story: http://www.journalmpls.com/node/5625
Berger immigrated to the United States from Poland in 1913 at 16 and started working as a vendor on the Minneapolis & St. Louis Railroad on the Minneapolis to Chicago run, according to his biography.
According to published reports, Berger rose to own the Minneapolis Lakers basketball team, the Minneapolis Millers hockey team, Schiek's Caf and a string of movie theaters. He founded and served as first president of Amicus, an organization helping prisoners and ex-convicts.
He also served on the Park Board.
... Berger was a fountain fan. During his travels, he saw a fountain in Sydney, Australia called "El Alemein." Built in 1961, that fountain commemorates the Australian Army's role in the World War II siege of Tobruk, Libya and the and the battle of El Alamein in Egypt.
"My dad fell in love with it," recalled Lawrence (Bob) Berger, Ben Berger's only son. His dad got the designer to make one for Minneapolis.
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| Bob Woodward's first fountain design, the El Alamein fountain at Kings Cross, which has become one of the symbols of Sydney and a model for thousands of similar fountains throughout the world. Photo: Landscape Australia. Click here for more on Woodward. |
In 2007, the Save Berger Fountain group announced ambitious plans to raise $1 million to rehab the park's ailing dandelion fountain, rebuild the leaking basin, improve the plaza and reroute Loring Park walking paths. The block base is deteriorating, and it affects the flow of the water through the fountain. Designers originally had discussed using granite to create the base, with its small waterfalls and pools, he said. When the bids came in, the Park Board couldn't afford granite, so it bought brick instead.
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| There are 3 play areas on the east side of Loring Park, near the Dandelion Fountain. Plus, there's a pool. |
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| Note the gorgeous flowers that border this play area for the younger set. We saw several butterflies. |
DID YOU KNOW?
- Loring Park was created in 1883.
- Originally it was called Central Park, but was renamed in late 1890 to honor Charles Morgridge Loring (b. 1833 -- d. 1922) who served as a Minnesota Supreme Court Justice and who was the first President of the Board of Park Commissioners in 1883. Loring is now known as The Father of Minneapolis Parks.
- It was not the first official park (that is Murphy Square on the Augsburg College Campus), but it was the first park in the system to have electric lights.
- The park is located on the former farm of Joseph and Nellie Johnson.
- The park today is 32.94 acres. Shortly after the Board of Park Commissioners was created in 1883, the board purchased the initial 30.16 acres of land for $147,125.72.
- Although they look very much like loons in the water, they are actually Double-Crested Cormorants are smaller, all black in feather coloration. Other frequent visitors are Great Blue Herons, Snowy Egret, and the diminutive Green Heron.
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