Sertoma Park

Sporting a Japanese Garden and accessible "boundless" playground amongst several walking and biking trails, Sertoma Park has something for everyone. As part of Grand Forks' sister city relationship with Awano, Japan, the Japanese Garden found in the park was gifted to the city in 2003. Later, in 2006, aiming for more accessibility in Parks, Ali Karpenko entered an essay contest in order to create an accessible playground in Seroma Park. Although she did not win, three years later she was still able to celebrate the opening of Ali's Boundless Playground after the community raised enough funds to make her dream become a reality.

Sertoma Park hosts a large range of activities for people of all age groups to enjoy. Some general activities people enjoy in the park include biking and walking along the many trails. Guests are able to take paved trails that cross the Coulee using a bridge or they may choose dirt paths that enter into the woodier areas towards the back of the park. One of the more unique activities found in the park is bird watching. As the park hosts a wide range of habitats within the city for the birds, it is an ideal spot to watch diverse bird species. Sertoma Park also hosts a pollinator garden to promote native flora and pollinators in the area, which may also interest bug catching enthusiasts. Some other bigger attractions hosted within the park’s limits include the Japanese garden and Ali’s Boundless Playground. 

The Japanese Garden seen in Sertoma Park is one of its unique features compared to other playgrounds in the Grand Forks area as it represents its history and relationship with Japan. Grand Forks formed a sister city relationship with Awano, Japan from 1998 until 2006. During this relationship many gifts and donations were exchanged between these two cities. This included flood relief donations for Grand Forks during the 1997 flood as well as donations for the creation of Sertoma Park, and in order to show Awano its gratitude Grand Forks sent them a bronze bison statue. The two cities also offered student exchange programs such that their communities were able to better understand and experience each other’s culture. As time went on however, Awano become annexed by Kanuma, Japan, marking the end of the sister city relationship. Although they are no longer considered sister cities, Kanuma and Grand Forks still have a good relationship and students are still able to participate in exchange programs every other year. 

Ali’s Boundless Playground was built in 2009 out of the dream of Ali Karpenko. As an individual with spina bifida, Ali was passionate about helping Grand Forks obtain an accessible playground such that everyone would be able to enjoy playing outside in the park. She entered a Boundless Playgrounds essay contest in the hopes to bring her dream to life. She was selected as one of the finalists for the grand prize of a $300,000 playground in 2007. In the end she did not get selected as the final winner of the prize, however, she was awarded discounts on specialized accessible playground equipment. With this in mind she helped rally her community by forming a playground committee who gathered community members together to earn roughly $200,000 to create this Boundless Playground.^[1]  Grand Forks is the first place in the state of North Dakota to have a playground that is accessible to individuals with all disabilities, certifying it officially as a “boundless” playground. 

Sertoma Park hosts a wide range of activities and cultural history from the area. One is able to walk along trails and learn more about Japanese culture from observing the Japanese Gardens in one area and children of all ranges of ability are encouraged to have fun and play on the boundless playground in another. Sertoma park hosts a range of migrating bird species as well as native flora and pollinators in its pollinator garden. There is truly something for everyone in Sertoma park and the more one looks around and reads the plaques that are scattered throughout the park, the more one learns about the history and cultural background of Grand Forks. 

^[1] Johnson, R. (2009, Aug 19). Ali's boundless playground opens: Wednesday's grand opening celebrates three years of hard work by 15-year-old GF girl. McClatchy - Tribune Business News Retrieved from https://ezproxy.library.und.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/wire-feeds/alis-boundless-playground-opens-wednesdays-grand/docview/457689652/se-2

Bieri, C. (2012, Jun 30). Japanese ambassador to visit grand forks. McClatchy - Tribune Business News Retrieved from https://ezproxy.library.und.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/wire-feeds/japanese-ambassador-visit-grand-forks/docview/1022698563/se-2

Bieri, C. (2012, Jul 31). Japanese ambassador scheduled to visit grand forks. McClatchy – Tribune Business News Retrieved from https://ezproxy.library.und.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/wire-feeds/japanese-ambassador-scheduled-visit-grand-forks/docview/1030180373/se-2

Dokken, B. (2019, May 26). WATCH: Finding birds in grand forks is a walk in the park for local birdwatching enthusiasts. TCA Regional News Retrieved from https://ezproxy.library.und.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/wire-feeds/watch-finding-birds-grand-forks-is-walk-park/docview/2230175631/se-2

GF CITY HALL: GF's family gets smaller: Sister city, Awano, annexed out of existence. (2006, February 19). Grand Forks Herald [Grand Forks, ND]. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A142270648/STND?u=ndacad_58202zund&sid=bookmark-STND&xid=7802caaa

Sertoma / Japanese Garden Park. Grand Forks Park District. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.gfparks.org/parks-facilities/parks/sertoma-japanese-garden/