Columbus locals gathered on a chilly Sunday afternoon to pull the plug on Goodale Park’s pond, which will take a week to drain.
The Friends of Goodale Park organized the drain into a circus-themed event to promote the installation of a new artistic fountain, which is sculpted by Malcolm Cochran, an art professor at Ohio State.
Stan Sells, president of Friends of Goodale Park, said the pond will drain in a week and “if weather permits, construction can begin in early November.”
Many local businesses sponsored the event; Fellini’s Deli brought elephant-shaped cookies for the public, and vitaminwater provided drinks. Other sponsors included
Black Olive Restaurant, Cookware Sorcerer, Eleni-Christina Bakery, Three Dog Bakery and Yankee Trader.
Activities around the pond included a dog costume show. Dog-owners paraded their poodles around the pond while enduring the early October drizzle.
“I heard of the event by an e-mail from Italian Village,” said Amy Adkins, owner of the first-place French Bulldog, which was dressed as a banana. Posh Pets Boutique provided prizes for the top three in the competition.
Volunteers from OSU’s Arts Scholars provided children’s activities, such as “pin the ring on the elephant.”
Many of the Arts Scholars students were involved with volunteering, said Tim Valentine, head of volunteers from the Arts Scholar Program.
Garrett Heysel, senior associate director of the Honors and Scholars Program at OSU, helped organize the event with Ben Fortman, manager of the Humanities Scholars Program.
“Contracts have all been signed and construction can soon begin,” Heysel said.
Before the plug was pulled, a surprise “splash mob” gathered and continued to grow as the music played on.
“There (were) around 40 people in the dance,” said Imani Gaston, a first-year in dance who was the choreographer.
“We started practicing last Saturday,” said Devon Jones, a first-year in dance and co-choreographer. “It all came together well.”
The group danced in sync adjacent to the pond’s green-grey body of water as the disc jockey, Ray Arébalo, played a Britney Spears tune.
A raffle decided the three winners to pull the pond’s plug. Nancy Fennessy, Terra Miller and Ben Fortman pulled the beaded chain at the countdown.
The new fountain is the largest project in the history of the Friends of Goodale Park. The non-profit group is in their final phase of fundraising for the project.
The Friends of Goodale are $50,000 away from having the project fully paid for.
“The jurassic lotus plants are going to be thrown away,” said Carmine Menduni, the stonemason of the fountain and president of Columbus Art Memorial Company.
“And then there are nine concrete pours that, if weather permits, will begin early November.”
After the pond drains, all debris will be cleared away to begin construction on the foundation for the new fountain.
