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July 10, 2004 - Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels July 3, 2004 Much more than a duck pond By Vickie Aldous Ashland Daily Tidings Lithia Park will be thronged with local residents and tourists on the Fourth of July, but Ashland's premier park also offers myriad activities throughout the summer. Events are scheduled from the entrance to the swimming reservoir deep inside the 93-acre park - and everywhere in between. Commercial activities are not allowed in Lithia Park, so free activities include regularly Ashland Creek is a popular cooling-off place as summer heats up in Lithia Park. File photos | Ashland Daily Tidings scheduled ballet performances, concerts to please every musical taste, educational tours and dinners. Facilities like tennis and sand volleyball courts, walking trails and a popular children's playground provide numerous opportunities for unstructured, drop-in fun. At the gateway Just outside Lithia Park proper, the Lithia Artisans Market offers art, jewelry, clothing, wood and leather creations, body care products and other hand-crafted items for sale from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays and from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays, May through October. The market is located behind downtown plaza businesses, along the Calle Guanajuato - a pedestrian pathway that follows Ashland Creek. To learn about the history, flora, fauna and special features of Lithia Park, take a free guided Lithia Park Nature Walk. Meet at the park entrance at 10 a.m. on any Sunday, Wednesday or Friday from May through September. A short sign marks the meeting point. (There will be no nature walk on the Fourth of July.) The 1 1/2-hour tours are led by trained volunteers who have taken more than 10,000 tourists and residents through the park since the program began 16 years ago, according to Tom Foster, a long-time guide. "It's a great park and it's a lot of fun to show it off to people," he said. "People are surprised we have such a lovely park in the middle of our town." Most tours draw 10 to 15 people, although Foster remembers being swarmed by a crowd of 54 one Sunday. "We cover a variety of subjects, not just trees and plants and wildlife," he said. "We give a history of Ashland and how the park got its start, and we talk about geology, water issues and the water supply and the history of different parts of the park." The popular Lower Duck Pond also lies near the entrance to the park. Although duck-food dispensers are available, visitors are encouraged not to feed the waterfowl in order to keep the population to a size that is appropriate to the size of the pond. Farther into the park lies a children's playground that features slides, swings and a restroom, along with a wading area in Ashland Creek. Parents should closely supervise kids in the water since the current can be deceptively strong and sweep small children off their feet, especially during spring run-off. At the playground area and along other stretches of Ashland Creek, kids of all ages enjoy wading and the primordial satisfaction of stacking smooth, water-worn rocks into towers. Dinner for all The Christian Church of Ashland offers a free dinner of food donated by the Red Lion Hotel and pizza baked by volunteers on-site in Dutch ovens at the Lithia Fountain Gazebo. The God in the G.O.D. (great outdoors) dinners are held year-round every Sunday at 4 p.m., except this Fourth of July, and typically attract 50 to 80 people. Many of the diners have fallen on hard times, but the event also attracts a broad cross-section of the community, according to Pastor Jim Larsen. While the dinner is sponsored by the church and usually includes a prayer, there is no traditional sermon by a religious leader. Instead, participants might listen to songs accompanied by guitar or be asked to share some brief thoughts of their own, Larsen said. "We feed people and listen to them. There are a lot of people who just need to talk," he said. "I tell people I go to college every Sunday night - and I have about 60 professors." At the bandshell Various bands and the State Ballet of Oregon put on free performances at the Butler Bandshell throughout the summer. The Ashland City Band performs from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Thursdays until August 5, with a special noon performance on the Fourth of July. The regular Thursday concerts are preceded by special hour-long performances by such guest bands as the Dixieland Band, Licorice & Chrome and the Swing Kings Band. The 234th Army Band is featured at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, July 27. Pyramid Classic Rock Concerts will perform classic rock from the 1960s through the 1990s from 6:30 to 8 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 22. Fans of folk, country and blues will enjoy the Southern Oregon Song Writers Association concerts from 6:30 to 8 p.m. each Thursday, beginning Aug. 19 and running until Sept. 9. The State Ballet of Oregon will perform from 7 to 9 p.m. on Mondays from July 19 to Aug. 2. Children's ballet classes are offered on the stage from 11 a.m. until noon on those Mondays. The bandshell also is used by a variety of people for unscheduled activities. Park visitors might see T'ai Chi adherents practicing their graceful moves, or the agile thrusts of fencing enthusiasts. Other offerings Still higher in the park lie the tennis courts and a volleyball court. Lawn areas throughout the park are used for sunbathing and Frisbee, and numerous trails traverse the Ashland Creek canyon. "The creek is a major attraction," Foster said. "Because it's a linear park that straddles the creek, that adds to the interest and attractiveness of the park. There are great walking routes and you can vary the route. You can go one way and take one bridge, and then come back using another bridge. It's a different perspective either way." Located at the top of the park just below the intersection of Granite Street and Glenview Drive, the Swimming Reservoir remains unseen by most tourists but is a favorite with Rogue Valley residents seeking relief from summer's heat. The swimming area is open from dawn to dusk. Detailed maps of Lithia Park are available at the Ashland Parks and Recreation Department office, 340 S. Pioneer St. To reach the cabin-like office, travel on Winburn Way past the Y with Granite Street, and then turn left onto Pioneer Street. DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams