A donation of property located south of the corner of Fourth Avenue and Buffalo Street will allow for the creation of a new, unique type of park for Holbrook.

Francie Payne recently donated the land for use as a memorial garden to her longtime partner Jennifer Good.

“After Jennifer died in 2011, I wanted to create something in her memory. She was a teacher, so we fund a scholarship in her memory each year, but she also loved to garden, so a park honoring her seemed a natural fit. I wanted it to be a permanent fixture in the neighborhood, so I offered to donate the lot to the city,” said Payne.

Payne’s vision for the garden was further inspired by an ambitious urban gardening project in Seattle, Wash., where the harvest is available for public consumption. Known as the Beacon Food Forest, this unique garden employs permaculture concepts, and has been an inspiration for people all around the world to rethink how communities can come together to better utilize urban places and grow healthy foods. Permaculture uses smart planting techniques to create a low maintenance, self-sustaining edible forest by planting perennials, vegetables, fruit and nut trees that produce crops year after year.

“It is my hope that the fruit will be enjoyed by all who visit the park,” said Payne. “I hope it will evolve into a peaceful place where people can literally stop and smell the roses or maybe the lemon verbena. It has been suggested that plots be made available for a community garden. That’s fine with me, but I hope that some of the park’s bounty will be available to anyone who visits. It’s really up to the city and the community now, but I’m sure it will be a nice place.”

Since the city has struggled to make revenue this year, projects like this that can be completed mostly through labor will still move forward in the coming year.

“The ordinance just went through and we will have to wait at least 30 days for the title search to be done, but, hopefully, we should be starting by sometime this spring,” reported Interim City Manager Randy Sullivan.

“One corner will be a memorial with a plaque on it and a concrete pad with a picnic table,” continued Sullivan, “and there will be fruit vines on the fences all around the park. We haven’t mapped it all out yet, but in the middle will be about three rows of things like fruit trees and berry bushes.”

“We would leave room between rows so other people can put in their own plants,” added Sullivan, explaining that once the park is established, it could also operate as a community garden space. The free space available for reservation would be handled by Parks and Recreation Department Supervisor John Guttery.

Payne has donated the memorial plaque and picnic table. Anyone interested in helping the project move forward by donating non-invasive edible plants and/or ornamentals can contact the city at 524-6225.