MUKILTEO — In the sky, sea gulls circled. On the water, boats and ferries crisscrossed. And on the beach, people mingled on Saturday morning to celebrate the grand reopening of Mukilteo Lighthouse Park.
Frank and Debbie Dylla brought their four children — Frankie, 12; Celeste, 10; Chloe, 6; and Catrina, 2 — to the park facing the waterfront. The four children kept busy playing with toys at the new playground.
“It’s definitely more kid-friendly. It’s safer now,” said Frank Dylla, of Mukilteo.
The city just completed the first phase of renovations at the park. In addition to the children’s play area, the project included adding a new restroom, picnic shelters, viewpoints and extra parking lots. The park also became accessible for people with disabilities with new paved roads.
The project cost the city about $3 million, including $800,000 in state grants, Mayor Joe Marine said.
“I’m excited to finally see it,” he said. “It’s been talked about for so long.”
The city wanted to add new features to draw more people to the park adjacent to Mukilteo Light Station, Marine said.
“This kind of helps to define Mukilteo,” he said. “We are known for the waterfront and lighthouse.”
The city plans to continue to improve the park in three different phases, which could cost about $8 million, assistant city engineer Jim Niggemyer said. The next phase is improvements to the lighthouse area; construction could start in fall 2009.
“I think they did a great job,” Frank Dylla said. “Now I’m looking forward to next stages to be done.”
On Saturday morning, the park was filled with dozens of people enjoying free ice cream, coffee and cupcakes.
Megan Pointer, who lives in south Everett, visited the renovated park with her mother, Kristi, and her niece, Taylor, 2.
Taylor enjoyed a cupcake and played as much as she wanted in the playground. Her smile made Pointer happy. They had waited for the reopening of their favorite park.
“It’s very nice actually,” Pointer said. “It was kind of inconvenient when it was closed.”
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