GOT PHOTOS?
If you have photos of baseball teams that played at Library Park the city would like to borrow them to help immortalize the images in tile. Contact Parks Operations/Landscape Maintenance District Manager Kevin Fant by e-mailing kfant@ci.manteca.ca.us or call 456-8639.
The gazebo stage that has been part of everything from Manteca’s first Pumpkin Fair over 30 years ago to weddings, veterans’ ceremonies, and summertime entertainment is no longer.
Crews tore the structure down after the conclusion of the last community event ever to take place on its stage - the entertainment portion of the 15th annual Crossroads of California Street Faire.
It will be replaced with a larger gazebo stage near the Tidewater Bike Path that will have better sight lines and handicap access. It will be married with an 80-seat concrete amphitheatre-style seating along with grassy knolls suitable for sitting.
The marker honoring Antone Raymus for his dedication to the children of Manteca that was near the front of the gazebo will be relocated elsewhere in the park.
The gazebo is just part of an $894,000 project that is doubling the size of Library Park. Work will be completed in September.
Crews have already ripped out the closed segment of Poplar Avenue and installed a masonry wall. The street will be replaced by grass, sidewalks and other features.
The masonry wall - which will separate the revamped Verizon parking lot from the expanded park - is being designed to accommodate five murals.
The biggest mural at 105-feet long by 8 feet high faces the Tidewater Bike Path and an area that will feature a baseball history plaza. Before Library Park was a park it served as the community baseball field where the likes of Milo Candini - the first Mantecan to play in the major leagues - pitched.
The baseball history plaza will contain three benches with the seating surface consisting of custom tiles the city hopes to have images of old photographs of teams and games at the baseball field etched into them. Anyone who may have such photographs are being asked to let the city borrow them by contacting parks operations/landscape maintenance district manager Kevin Fant at kfant@ci.manteca.ca.us or by calling 456-8639.
Where the old gazebo stage was located a bocce ball court and additional open space will be created.
Along the eastern masonry wall seating Verizon from Library Park will be the “Mural Walk” complete with four 35-foot by 8-foot-murals separated by landscaping. Those murals will cover four subject areas - the Yokuts Indians, Manteca pioneers, Manteca industry, and Manteca agriculture.
The Manteca Mural Society will commission all five murals while one or more may be part of the annual Mural in a Weekend undertaking.
Additional children’s playground equipment will be added plus additional “box car” benches that play off the water feature’s theme plus 12 new round picnic tables.
Funding is from three sources - redevelopment agency funds, park fees paid by new growth, and federal Community development Grant Block funds since the park serves nearby low-income neighborhoods as well as doubling a as community plaza.
The city has pumped more than $2 million into the park over the past eight years including the water feature, the land swamp and utility relocation that allowed the park to double to 1.33 acres, restrooms, and the playground equipment and lighting.
Crews tore the structure down after the conclusion of the last community event ever to take place on its stage - the entertainment portion of the 15th annual Crossroads of California Street Faire.
It will be replaced with a larger gazebo stage near the Tidewater Bike Path that will have better sight lines and handicap access. It will be married with an 80-seat concrete amphitheatre-style seating along with grassy knolls suitable for sitting.
The marker honoring Antone Raymus for his dedication to the children of Manteca that was near the front of the gazebo will be relocated elsewhere in the park.
The gazebo is just part of an $894,000 project that is doubling the size of Library Park. Work will be completed in September.
Crews have already ripped out the closed segment of Poplar Avenue and installed a masonry wall. The street will be replaced by grass, sidewalks and other features.
The masonry wall - which will separate the revamped Verizon parking lot from the expanded park - is being designed to accommodate five murals.
The biggest mural at 105-feet long by 8 feet high faces the Tidewater Bike Path and an area that will feature a baseball history plaza. Before Library Park was a park it served as the community baseball field where the likes of Milo Candini - the first Mantecan to play in the major leagues - pitched.
The baseball history plaza will contain three benches with the seating surface consisting of custom tiles the city hopes to have images of old photographs of teams and games at the baseball field etched into them. Anyone who may have such photographs are being asked to let the city borrow them by contacting parks operations/landscape maintenance district manager Kevin Fant at kfant@ci.manteca.ca.us or by calling 456-8639.
Where the old gazebo stage was located a bocce ball court and additional open space will be created.
Along the eastern masonry wall seating Verizon from Library Park will be the “Mural Walk” complete with four 35-foot by 8-foot-murals separated by landscaping. Those murals will cover four subject areas - the Yokuts Indians, Manteca pioneers, Manteca industry, and Manteca agriculture.
The Manteca Mural Society will commission all five murals while one or more may be part of the annual Mural in a Weekend undertaking.
Additional children’s playground equipment will be added plus additional “box car” benches that play off the water feature’s theme plus 12 new round picnic tables.
Funding is from three sources - redevelopment agency funds, park fees paid by new growth, and federal Community development Grant Block funds since the park serves nearby low-income neighborhoods as well as doubling a as community plaza.
The city has pumped more than $2 million into the park over the past eight years including the water feature, the land swamp and utility relocation that allowed the park to double to 1.33 acres, restrooms, and the playground equipment and lighting.
