When the City of Brookings received Azalea Park from the state of Oregon, a group of dedicated volunteers, mostly seniors, began clearing away years of accumulated debris, freeing the native azaleas from its stranglehold of invasive berry vines and brush. From this grassroots effort, in November of 1994, came the idea of forming the Azalea Park Foundation in order to raise the funds necessary to create a three-acre garden for the benefit of the community and all the many visitors to the area. 

Contributions to the Azalea Park Foundation are gladly accepted.

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At their last annual membership meeting, the foundation stated in retrospect, it was hard to visualize what Azalea Park looked like during that initial year. "When Bill and Shirley Henry started pruning the old native azaleas, those who went up to help them suddenly realized how neglected the park was. It was then, when they started clearing out debris, old tires, and batteries, cans and bottles, that they thought that it could, with a lot of hard work, become instead a place of beauty and a place we could all be proud of. This, then, has been the goal of the Azalea Park Foundation," stated Elmo and Lorraine Williams. After gathering up and disposing of many years accumulation of trash, they pruned the trees in the designated areas and freed the ancient native Azaleas from the vines and undergrowth that was smothering them. They burned all the accumulated pruning in huge bonfires and then went to work on a garden.

Since that time, an 8,800 square foot sod lawn with an automatic watering system was installed in the upper garden area. 1,420 linear feet of five foot wide, wheelchair accessible cement walks were installed. 47 ornamental trees, including flowering cherry, flowering apple, liquid amber, golden chain, dogwood, and a variety of Japanese maples were planted. 260 rhododendron, selected from various blooming times and differing heights at maturity have been planted. 2,800 bulbs including daffodils, iris, tulips, dahlias, and gladiolas were scattered throughout the garden. There are now many other shrubs and perennials too numerous to count, including 82 tree fuchsias.       

A derelict old stone shed, used by the CCC camp as a kitchen, was refurbished.  However, it  was destroyed in a fire and it has now been replaced with a new larger building with the help of the Navy Seabees doing most of the construction.

One summer, students from the Azalea Middle School assisted the foundation in planting 2,200 marigolds and petunias that had been raised from seeds by the Fifth Grade students. The previous year the youngsters had planted 1,400 marigolds, and with the enthusiasm of children, it’s obvious the students will continue to be an important part of “their” Azalea Park garden.

Happily, from time to time groups of volunteers from the Azalea Middle School or various churches have brought large work parties to help with special projects, approved by the City. We hope to be able to encourage more such participation in the future.

The foundation hires a qualified gardener one day per week throughout the year to help with the heavy duty work, such as trenching, installing water lines, and drains and maintaining the various systems and installations and plantings. The foundation has been extremely fortunate to be able to utilize the many skills and dedication of Greg Shinn for this purpose, and the support of the City of Brookings Public Works Department. The Public Works employees have always been willing to pitch in when needed.

The Parks and Recreation Commission has been very supportive of the foundation.  

The foundation became and still remains a non-profit organization, so all gifts and donations are tax-exempt. They remain dedicated to continuing the enhancement and maintenance of our three-acres of garden and to that end they have established an Endowment Fund. This fund is designated for the perpetuation of the garden and only the interest generated by it will be used to maintain the garden. As many of the volunteers find they can no longer physically work as they used to, it will become necessary for others to carry on and so the funds accumulated in the Endowment Fund will become one of the most important projects for the future of the garden. To that end, they continue with an annual fund-raising campaign and rely on the continuing generosity of all of us that enjoy and support the Azalea park garden.

For more information about the foundation, write the foundation at Azalea Park Foundation, P.O. Box 6876, Brookings, Oregon 97415, or contact the City Manager at 469-1100.