New archway welcomes Huntington Beach back to the Secret Garden
Volunteers with the Huntington Beach Tree Society celebrated the installation Friday of a new archway at the Secret Garden, a feature of Huntington Central Park they have been tending to for the past 10 years.
The improvement is the latest in an overhaul of the garden spurred largely by extreme winter storms in Southern California over the winter, said Tree Society volunteer Steve Engel. Gravel pathways winding through the green space were furrowed and stripped by heavy rains, creating numerous trip hazards. It had to be closed to the public in April.
The paths have since been resurfaced, thanks largely to fundraising by this year’s class of the Robert Mayer Leadership Academy. With the installation of the archway, the Tree Society hopes to have the garden reopened in about a week.
“People have been understanding, so I won’t say they’ve been upset,” Engel said. “But with the spring and part of the summer behind us, it would have been good to have for people. There will still be plenty of flowers here for a while longer though.”
The archway was built by Naddour’s Custom Metalwork in Santa Ana and paid for by a single donor. Engel declined to specify how much was paid for the piece or name the person who covered its cost. But he said it was possible she might come forward at some point in the future.
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