Golden Ohlde

EDMONDS – One of the more influential days in the history of the city of Edmonds took place about 45 years ago, in Raymond, near the southern Washington coast.

It was the day that city parks and recreation director Arvilla Ohlde, then a 10-year-old girl, took a 4H class and found out that she could work on a project other than cooking or sewing. It was called “recreation.”

She assisted activity leaders with camps and events and games.

“I was just into it,” she said. “I always loved it, I always wanted to do more.”

Now, Ohlde is leaving the city of Edmonds at the end of March to become something of a freelance parks and recreation project coordinator and consultant. During her 14-plus years in Edmonds, the city has acquired the Anderson Marine property (now Brackett’s Landing South), the tidelands immediately south, Marina Beach, and had a series of the beach bulkheads rebuilt into a combination bulkhead-pedestrian walkway. Ohlde secured more than $4 million in grants to assist with these and other projects during her time with the city. Now, almost the entire waterfront is owned either by the city or the port, and all of it is accessible by pedestrians.

“She will leave a legacy in the city like no other director ever could,” said Mayor Gary Haakenson.

Ohlde says there’s no trick to getting the grants – she says the city of Edmonds deserves the credit for its steadfastness in dedicating one-quarter of 1 percent of its real-estate excise tax to parks and recreation. While other cities started out using the same fund, originally created by the state as a parks fund, for that purpose, most are now taking advantage of the law that allows it now to be used for other things, Ohlde says. Not so in Edmonds – and it’s that money that serves as matching funds for the state and federal grants the city has received.

She credits former Council member Dave Earling for his advocacy for keeping the fund dedicated to parks. Earling, in turn, credits Ohlde as having been “a true visionary for our city,” pointing out that she was a consistent advocate for acquiring the land.

That vision comes from a passion for keeping space set aside for public use.

“On my gravestone it’ll be etched: public access,” Ohlde said. “I’ll go to the death in keeping ‘public’ public for everyone. So no matter who you are, if you’re a young mother and you just barely have an income, and your children want to go play somewhere, they don’t have to pay to get in to play, they go play. They can go down to the playground, they can go the beach and put their feet in the water. That’s important.”

Ohlde got a job out of college working for the parks department at the city of Bremerton, and eventually worked her way up to director. She had been there 18 years when city officials were considering selling longtime ballfields for parking. Around the same time, Ohlde saw that Edmonds was looking for a parks director – “I was mad that day” – and checked into it.

When talking with then-mayor Larry Naughten, Ohlde asked him, ” ‘Do you sell your parks here?’ His answer was, ‘Sell the crown jewels?’ And I said, ‘I’ll work for you, Larry.’ “

To work in Edmonds meant a two-hour daily commute each way for Ohlde, who lives with her husband Dennis on the Hood Canal near Belfair. His job as a sergeant with state Department of Fish and Wildlife enforcement meant he had to live in his area of responsibility, so the Ohldes couldn’t move closer to Edmonds. Plus, they didn’t want to give up their home on the water. “It’s absolutely gorgeous,” she said.

But the commute didn’t wear her down. “I have lots of energy,” Ohlde said.

Ohlde has enjoyed working with elected officials and parks employees – “I have the most amazing staff” – and with the community. Though she’s butted heads at times with individual citizens on some projects, her memory of the people is fond.

People in Edmonds are “highly educated, well read, and they understand value. They understand why it’s important to have flowers. They understand it’s a greater thing than just, it’s a flower. It’s a community commitment.” The same goes for Edmonds citizens’ support for history and the arts, she said.

“I’ll miss the city, that will be hard, the city’s been very good to me.”

Resident John McGibbon, who along with recently passed-on citizen Rob Morrison negotiated with Ohlde over the design of the waterfront walkway, had nothing but praise for her.

“We were able to sit down with her and work something out,” McGibbon said. “She’s a proactive individual with a lot of energy and has been an asset to the community.”

One project that couldn’t get done during Ohlde’s time at the city was construction of an aquatic center. She’d like to see that happen, and believes it has great potential to help the city with economic development.

It goes the other way around, too, she says. With tax dollars shrinking, “you’re going to have to be innovative,” she said, and the city’s new economic development initiatives are a positive step in that direction, she believes.

Now, Ohlde will offer her services to other jurisdictions on a per-project basis to help them with funding issues and individual projects. She’ll also stay active in the organizations of which she’s a part, including the state Recreation and Park Association (WRPA), where she’s served as president and is on the board, and the National Recreation and Park Association. Last year the WRPA bestowed upon Ohlde the Honor Fellow Award, given for dedication and achievement in the field, and she was recently selected to serve on the newly created state Lands Management Advisory Council.

Ohlde’s love for her work wells to the surface when she witnesses the results. When she sees, for example, a learning-disabled child learn to dribble a basketball, kids at Yost Pool learn how to swim, people come out on a sunny day for a concert in the park, or kids roll down the hills at Brackett’s Landing South, she knows she’s played a big role in making it all possible.

“How thrilling,” she said.