Marsha Ingrao – Always Write

WordPress Photo Challenge: Local #blogboost

These beautification projects taking place in the City of Woodlake over the past two years have amazed and thrilled long-time residents. First, the city put in new sidewalks on Valencia, then constructed a round-about.

The Woodlake Plaza is the newest ribbon cutting in town.

The Woodlake Plaza sign went up early on Valencia Boulevard, Woodlake’s main downtown street, alerting the town that changes were coming.

By February that building had been razed. Construction began in shortly after that.

Work on the Plaza began in about April, or at least that was when I started taking pictures to document the work.

The winter of 2015-2016 was a particularly rainy year, so that slowed progress from time to time both on the round-about and the plaza. By August rain no longer plagued the project.

August 2016

Woodlake event planners can now count on a well-shaded area to host many large community gatherings. Sidewalks and grassy areas are a vast improvement over weeds and puddles which preceded the plaza.

The last major overhaul of this magnitude was in 1961 when the 1911 Brick Block, just one block away from the current plaza, came down.

Ernie Garcia remembers skating at this location before 1940. Then the Lions built a building which became a community center used by Kiwanis, and the Seniors. In December 2015 the Toys for Joy program held a gift-shopping activity at the Lions Club building where parents could come in and shop for a nominal charge to find gifts for their children ages pre-school through high-school.

The building held many fond memories for those who met there regularly. Kiwanis struggled for a while to find another place as large to host its weekly meetings. But Kiwanians support growth and change and look forward to the new Community Center coming soon.

From September 23 to 25 Woodlake celebrated its 75 anniversary of being incorporated while the high school celebrated 100 years of existence. The City of Woodlake wanted to have the Plaza project completed by that event but the actual ribbon cutting took place on October 1, 2016.

The plaza looks across to the new Woodlake Museum, which opened in February, and Miller Brown Park. Soon there will be a library next to the plaza making Magnolia Street the one stop location for researching about Woodlake. Next to the museum is a walk-through park with murals depicting the western lifestyle in Woodlake painted on existing buildings.

This tiny park provides a walk through to the main street through Woodlake, Valencia Boulevard. New street lights unify the look of the town.

In a town the size of Woodlake, about 7,000 residents, new construction attracts everyone’s attention. The people are so proud to see how these new additions have made the city more attractive. Visitors make positive comments as they stop by on their way to see the giant Sequoias at the National Park.

What’s new in your local area?

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