Rainbow Lake -- the saga continues

After two days of pumping, the lake was empty at the end of the workday yesterday. Then the storms swept through, so they're pumping this morning. Again. But today it's workers picking up trash wading around in the half-empty lake, instead of zoo workers and volunteers catching fish. As one of those former volunteers, I was happy to be standing clean and dry on the sidewalk watching the work for a change.

The shallow end of the lake, the one that usually backs up with leaf debris, is dry, so a crew of workers is shovelling out muck. The lake should be much, much nicer when they're done.

Good News Coverage for Lake Rescue

The CA (photo above by Jim Weber) ran a great story on the Local News front page about the first day of fish rescue. That publicity brought out a few more volunteers for the second day of work yesterday, and there was a follow up paragraph this morning about the most unusual find, the Oscar. The zoo curators were quite excited about the Oscar, and he went into his own tank at the zoo immediately. He will be a permanent resident there.

Action News 5 also did a story, with anchor Nick Kenney actually standing out in the middle of the lake. They got some great footage of turtles and highlighted the hardworking volunteers that Park Friends is so grateful to.

Thanks again to all who turned out to splash around in mud and who managed to save more than 10,000 fish -- a great couple of days' worth of work! The park is better for all of you.

Day Two of Rainbow Lake Cleanup

Dedicated zoo staff and, even more impressively, dedicated park volunteers and neighbors, showed up for a second consecutive day of netting fish, carrying heavy buckets, and (increasingly) wading in mud. The lake was down to a small, muddy pond today, thick with both fish and leaves, but the rescue effort really picked up steam. The zoo curators estimated that we saved more than 10,000 fish from dying as the lake was drained. That was "a conservative estimate" too. Many, many thanks to everyone who put their regular lives and work on hold to help out, esp. those who also a put in a second day's work. The zoo had the facilities to house the fish but not the manpower to save them, so volunteers really were the key to saving the fish.

My camera person couldn't make it today, but Josh Horton took some video for anyone curious to see the state of the lake on day two. The lake area will be under repairs for the rest of the week and hopefully filled up by early next week. The fish will be returned to their regular habitat a few days later, after the chlorine settles out and the water can support them.

OPJO Going Strong

The Overton Park Junior Open kicked off this morning, and it was great to see the golf course humming with the golfers of the future. It's a promising looking field and should be a fun week.

One more chance to come play in Rainbow Lake!

Rescuing fish in Rainbow Lake with nets.
Adding caught fish to the tanks in the truck.
Our first turtle rescue.

The Zoo-directed rescue effort in Rainbow Lake today netted 15 turtles and many mosquito fish as well as some sunfish, snails, and other shellfish. The pumping of the lake took a bit longer than originally thought, however, so we're having one more day of wading fun tomorrow starting at noon. Come out and join us if you can. Wear galoshes and bring a net if you have one. I just resurrected my grandfather's fishing net and will mend the holes tonight in preparation for tomorrow. We had a blast today -- come join the party tomorrow and see what else besides a rubber chicken we find on the bottom of the lake.

new Overton Square website

Josh Horton, our new PFI board member, is also taking a lively interest in the development possibilities of Overton Square. This was a thriving area when I was growing up, and it would benefit the park and Midtown in general if it could become so again. It would be amazing if the park and the square were two entertainment hubs people flowed back and forth between -- go to a movie, buy a picnic, walk up to the park to enjoy it, play some frisbee, head back to the square for a cocktail..... What else could you need on a fine Memphis Saturday?

Please visit the new Overton Square community discussion website to give feedback about what you'd like to see in the square. They're compiling ideas to try to influence the owners and developers.

Memphis parks not alone in craving TLC

The AP had a great article yesterday on how Congress is declining to fund maintenance and repairs for the National Mall. I keep saying that Overton Park is the park most seen by out of towners, given the zoo traffic (though Tom Lee also gets a lot of tourist traffic). Either park is an argument for putting a little more maintenance into the places that are the welcome mat for Memphis. Apparently, however, this problem is not confined to Memphis. You could argue that the National Mall is the welcome mat for our nation, and it, like Tom Lee, has damaged sod that is not fixed after large events. Like Overton Park, it is struggling for basic maintenance in these difficult budget times.

I'm thrilled that Rainbow Lake, unlike the Mall reflecting pool, will be cleaned up and repaired beginning today. Maybe we can make this a start on reclaiming the landscaping that George Kessler had in mind when he first laid out Overton Park. The grass has mostly stayed mowed this year, but a little more grooming and removal of both limbs and litter would make a vastly better impression in the mind of our visitors and raise the quality of life for daily park users.