Ramsey Park just received another major upgrade for 2015 with the addition of an impressive adult exercise station. It’s located on the west side of the park at 43rd St., not far from the big “Ramsey Park” sign. There are stations for doing dips, chin ups (at four different spots), push ups, sit ups, and leg lifts/body curls. The station includes an instructional sign showing how to use each of the stations and a cement walk to get from the sidewalk to the exercise area. The area is extremely sturdy, ensuring another great amenity for the park for years to come. It’s planted in an attractive base of crushed granite with a wood border (should be getting an upgrade soon to stone). The sign explains that the equipment is intended for adult use only. The RNA (Parks Committee), the City of Austin Parks and Recreation Department and your generous donations (plus $7,000 from the Austin Community Foundation) all helped to make this welcome addition possible. Check it out and enjoy the latest enhancement to Rosedale’s Ramsey Park!

The Saturday before Thanksgiving was (thankfully) super weather for planting trees, and dozens heeded the call to help add 42 new trees to Rosedale’s Ramsey Park. The planting was originally going to be 30 trees to be installed on November 7th, but rainy weather pushed the event to the 21st, and in the process the number of trees grew to 42, including two larger oaks.

The City of Austin’s Urban Forestry program, in cooperation with the Rosedale Neighborhood Association (RNA), coordinated the planting. Urban Forestry provided the trees,  along with many big truckloads of mulch, lots of rakes, shovels and wheel barrows, good direction, as well as their own hard work. The RNA’s Jeff Archer oversaw the event, helping to get volunteers (and breakfast tacos) to the planting, along with lots of water to keep the volunteers hydrated.

Rosedale is lucky to be represented by two of Austin’s 10 district council members and both representatives Pool and Gallo were on hand to help out. Council member Pool took shovel in hand to help spread the mountains of mulch to encourage the growth of the newly planted trees and those installed in the other recent plantings.   This picture shows representative Pool, and another volunteer, dwarfed by one of the two large White/Monterrey Oaks planted on the 21st.

The event started at 9am and continued for more than three hours. Many Rosedale residents, heeding the call, showed up with gloves on, ready to dig. Others hadn’t heard of the planned event but saw the activity while out walking and rushed home to grab their gloves to pitch in. The city had publicized the volunteer opportunity and organizations from the University of Texas and even Texas A&M in College Station showed up. All this help made possible something that would have been much harder, if not impossible, without the generous assistance of the significant number of selfless volunteers.

In addition to tacos, coffee, and drinks provided by RNA, volunteers received thanks in the form of coupons from Chipotle good for free burritos, guacamole and chips. Austin Mayor Steve Adler even recognized the event by issuing an official proclamation declaring Saturday, November 21st as Ramsey Park Tree Planting Day. Council Member Sheri Gallo gave up time on her Saturday to read the proclamation and personally thank all the volunteers. She also attended the RNA’s annual meeting the following Monday to personally present the proclamation to Alison Alter, the chair of the RNA’s Parks Committee.

Nature even smiled on the event, delivering soaking rain within the following week, but even before the rains, the city was out again with their reclaimed water, ensuring every new tree got a big drink to help them on their way to a long and shady future. The city has been watering all the young trees in the park regularly with reclaimed water and plans to continue, as appropriate, until the trees are fully established.

Ramsey Park is the jewel of the Rosedale Neighborhood but its amenities and natural beauty don’t happen by themselves. So a huge Thanksgiving thanks to the city, the volunteers from the neighborhood and beyond, the members of the Rosedale Neighborhood Association, and all who continue to improve the park for the citizens to enjoy today and for generations to come.

Earth Mother, a cheerful painted female head, has emerged from the earth at Ramsey Park. She is planted with plumbago, autumn sage, myoporum, and Mexican feather grass and is sited to watch over all who come to enjoy the park. The artist is Yuliya Lanina. Her work, along with ten other local artists, was selected for 2015 TEMPO, a temporary public art project sponsored by the City of Austin.

Earth Mother will be on display in Ramsey Park through November 30. Other 2015 TEMPO installations can be found all over Austin. Temporary public art plays an important role in attracting new and emerging artists to the City’s public art program.

If you’ve been to Rosedale’s recently improved Ramsey Park, you may have noticed City of Austin signs. We’re being asked to take a short survey about the park. The short seven question survey can be found at surveymonkey.com/s/RamseyNP. The more the city knows about the wishes of the users of the park, the more they can defend spending money to make improvements. Questions include how you use the park and your top three priorities for future improvements, park safety and cleanliness, and more.  Please take a minute and let Austin know your wishes for this jewel of the Rosedale neighborhood.