{"id":7820,"date":"2008-06-24T12:36:42","date_gmt":"2008-06-24T19:36:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spiken.wpengine.com\/news\/a-party-at-the-plaza\/"},"modified":"2016-10-24T01:35:29","modified_gmt":"2016-10-24T08:35:29","slug":"a-party-at-the-plaza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/life\/a-party-at-the-plaza\/","title":{"rendered":"A party at the plaza"},"content":{"rendered":"

Town Square is site of fete<\/b><\/p>\n

City officials will throw a \u201cParty at the Plaza\u201d starting at 10 a.m. Saturday to celebrate the opening of Town Square Plaza Park, and to kick off a community health initiative.<\/p>\n

Residents are invited to check out the floating, green granite sphere that will be one of the featured attractions at plaza. The park is at the corner of West Smith Street and Second Avenue.<\/p>\n

The huge granite ball will float on water in a granite base in the middle of Town Square Plaza Park. Residents will be able to rotate the ball by touching it. The sphere is 63 feet in diameter and weighs 13,000 pounds.<\/p>\n

The Rotary Club of Kent and the Kent Sunrise Rotary Club donated the sphere to the city in celebration of the 100 years of Rotary International. Seattle Solstice created the sphere, similar to water sculpture projects the company has built at Green River Community College in Auburn and at the Pacific Science Center at Seattle Center. The sphere is slated to be installed Thursday at the plaza.<\/p>\n

The \u201cParty at the Plaza\u201d also will be the kickoff for Kent4Health, a citywide health initiative spearheaded by Mayor Suzette Cooke, and organized by a committee of area residents. As part of the health-related festivities that day, Cooke will lead a \u201cMayor\u2019s Mile\u201d walk through downtown Kent, in which anyone can participate. The walk starts at 11:45 from the park.<\/p>\n

Other activities will include live music, clowns, acrobats, wellness vendors, health screenings, hula hooping, games and prize drawings.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of us on the Council have long awaited the event because it will be the focal point of the downtown core,\u201d Councilwoman Deborah Ranniger said at the June 17 City Council meeting. \u201cIt\u2019s quite exciting to be able to dedicate the park and to kick off the health initiative.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 34,500-square foot urban park hosts the Kent Farmers Market from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. each Saturday through Sept. 27. The plaza also will be the home to the city\u2019s noon Wednesday Picnic Performances, starting July 9. The Morford Family Carousel will be at the plaza during the Christmas holidays.<\/p>\n

JV Constructors Inc., of Seattle, received the $3.42 million contract last year from the city to build the plaza.<\/p>\n

Party at the Plaza<\/p>\n

\u2022 When: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday<\/p>\n

\u2022 Where: Town Square Plaza Park, West Smith Street and Second Avenue<\/p>\n

\u2022 Schedule:<\/p>\n

10 a.m. – Wellness vendors and live entertainment<\/p>\n

11:10 a.m. – Kent4Health kick off<\/p>\n

11:15 a.m. – Park dedication<\/p>\n

11:30 a.m. – Warm-up for \u201cThe Mayor\u2019s Mile\u201d walk<\/p>\n

11:45 a.m. – \u201cThe Mayor\u2019s Mile\u201d walk begins<\/p>\n

Noon to 2 p.m. – Live entertainment<\/p>\n

Town Square is site of fete<\/b><\/p>\n

City officials will throw a \u201cParty at the Plaza\u201d starting at 10 a.m. Saturday to celebrate the opening of Town Square Plaza Park, and to kick off a community health initiative.<\/p>\n

Residents are invited to check out the floating, green granite sphere that will be one of the featured attractions at plaza. The park is at the corner of West Smith Street and Second Avenue.<\/p>\n

The huge granite ball will float on water in a granite base in the middle of Town Square Plaza Park. Residents will be able to rotate the ball by touching it. The sphere is 63 feet in diameter and weighs 13,000 pounds.<\/p>\n

The Rotary Club of Kent and the Kent Sunrise Rotary Club donated the sphere to the city in celebration of the 100 years of Rotary International. Seattle Solstice created the sphere, similar to water sculpture projects the company has built at Green River Community College in Auburn and at the Pacific Science Center at Seattle Center. The sphere is slated to be installed Thursday at the plaza.<\/p>\n

The \u201cParty at the Plaza\u201d also will be the kickoff for Kent4Health, a citywide health initiative spearheaded by Mayor Suzette Cooke, and organized by a committee of area residents. As part of the health-related festivities that day, Cooke will lead a \u201cMayor\u2019s Mile\u201d walk through downtown Kent, in which anyone can participate. The walk starts at 11:45 from the park.<\/p>\n

Other activities will include live music, clowns, acrobats, wellness vendors, health screenings, hula hooping, games and prize drawings.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of us on the Council have long awaited the event because it will be the focal point of the downtown core,\u201d Councilwoman Deborah Ranniger said at the June 17 City Council meeting. \u201cIt\u2019s quite exciting to be able to dedicate the park and to kick off the health initiative.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 34,500-square foot urban park hosts the Kent Farmers Market from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. each Saturday through Sept. 27. The plaza also will be the home to the city\u2019s noon Wednesday Picnic Performances, starting July 9. The Morford Family Carousel will be at the plaza during the Christmas holidays.<\/p>\n

JV Constructors Inc., of Seattle, received the $3.42 million contract last year from the city to build the plaza.<\/p>\n

Party at the Plaza<\/p>\n

\u2022 When: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday<\/p>\n

\u2022 Where: Town Square Plaza Park, West Smith Street and Second Avenue<\/p>\n

\u2022 Schedule:<\/p>\n

10 a.m. – Wellness vendors and live entertainment<\/p>\n

11:10 a.m. – Kent4Health kick off<\/p>\n

11:15 a.m. – Park dedication<\/p>\n

11:30 a.m. – Warm-up for \u201cThe Mayor\u2019s Mile\u201d walk<\/p>\n

11:45 a.m. – \u201cThe Mayor\u2019s Mile\u201d walk begins<\/p>\n

Noon to 2 p.m. – Live entertainment<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

City officials will throw a \u201cParty at the Plaza\u201d starting at 10 a.m. Saturday to celebrate the opening of Town Square Plaza Park, and to kick off a community health initiative.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":212,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7820"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/212"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7820\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7820"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=7820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}