There is a new park on the Thea Foss Waterway in Tacoma opening in the spring of 2024. It is named Melanie’s Park, honoring the late Melanie Dressel (1952-2017), a local banker and community leader.
The park site, once home to a steam plant, is located between The Fish Peddler restaurant and Foss Harbor Marina, near the base of the 11th Street Bridge. The property improvements are part of the ongoing marine habitat restoration following more than a century of industrial use and environmentally insensitive practices. The Foss Waterway Development Authority coordinated fundraising from private parties, Washington State, Pierce County, and the City of Tacoma. Nearly half of the funding was provided by voter-approved bonds issued by Metro Parks Tacoma.
Melanie’s Park will include a Northwest-themed play area, pedestrian bridge, a walkway under the bridge leading to a viewing platform over the shoreline, lush landscaping, restrooms, and street parking. The park is compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, with appropriate accessibility for all. Interpretive signage will chronicle the historic use of the area, including the relationship of the Puyallup people to the waterfront. On the water side, the park will continue the 20-foot-wide Foss Waterway Esplanade and will feature a second promenade connecting Dock Street to the Esplanade.
Melanie Dressel was a Tacoma banker and community leader. In 1988 she helped found Columbia Bank, headquartered in Tacoma, as a full-service commercial bank. The bank grew organically and through acquisitions of other financial institutions, it became a prominent regional bank with an extensive branch network throughout the Pacific Northwest. Earlier this year, Columbia Bank and Umpqua Bank merged, combining the two premier banks in the Northwest to create one of the largest banking systems headquartered in the West. Melanie Dressel served on many community boards and received many awards for her business and community leadership.
Previously referred to as “Central Park”, in 2018 the Tacoma City Council formally renamed this newly planned neighborhood park to Melanie Jan LaPlant Dressel Park, aka Melanie’s Park, to recognize the contributions of their beloved community leader who passed away in 2017.
More information can be found at https://www.metroparkstacoma.org/project/melanies-park/.
Article by Dale Blackburn, Waggoner Field Correspondent
Image and Photo: Metro Parks Tacoma
