I was pleased to attend the celebration on Tuesday marking the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Mountlake Terrace Recreation Pavilion. City officials and staff did a great job throwing the birthday party. Many thanks to all.
The working-class town of Mountlake Terrace, then about 10,000 people, invested in the future of the community when citizens voted to build the recreation center.
My dad, the late Gene Fiege, was a city councilman then and big proponent of the Pavilion. He and many other folks, including former city manager Bob White, parks director (the late) Ken Harms and a committee of campaigners such as the late Harry Sherman, who also served on the city council, worked hard to get the facility built.
My friend Marianna Evans Hanefeld and I were among the first kids in the pool on opening day.
The party on Tuesday featured a performance by singer-songwriter-guitarist Bill Kimball, whose tune about our hometown expressed the safety and inclusiveness we felt growing up there, especially during the late 1960s when our parents stepped up to foot the bill for the Pavilion.
Fifty years later it continues to be the center of the city and a place where kids (and seniors) love to go.
Gale Fiege
Mount Vernon
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