Event Tomorrow, June 4 at 11 AM to Turn On Henry Bowen Anthony Fountain at Lippitt Memorial Park

Mayor Taveras will join neighbors in turning on the fountain dry since 1982.

WHO: Mayor Angel Taveras; Councilman Kevin Jackson; Dean Weinberg of the Summit Neighborhood Association; Sheila Perlow, a park neighbor; Robert McMahon, Superintendent of Parks & Recreation;The Gordon School "G-Notes"; other friends and neighbors of Lippitt Memorial Park

WHAT: Press event to reopen Henry Bowen Anthony Fountain at Lippitt Memorial Park

WHEN: Tomorrow, Saturday, June 4 at 11 AM

WHERE: Fountain is located in Lippitt Park near the intersection of Hope Street and 12th Street

Mayor Angel Taveras will join the Summit Neighborhood Association, Ward 3 City Councilman Kevin Jackson, and other neighbors of Lippitt Memorial Park tomorrow, Saturday, June 4 at 11 AM to officially turn on the Henry Bowen Anthony Fountain in the park.

The Providence Parks & Recreation Department has recently completed a renovation of the historic fountain, one of the major amenities of Lippitt Park, located at the intersection of Hope Street and Blackstone Boulevard.

The fountain was installed in 1940 to honor the former Rhode Island U.S. Senator Henry Bowen Anthony who served from 1859 to 1884. After operating seasonally for 42 years, the fountain was turned off by the Parks Department in 1982 because it no longer met Providence Water Supply Board and Narragansett Bay Commission regulations or modern health codes.

Beginning in 2007, the Summit Neighborhood Association, aided by Councilman Jackson, and the Parks Department, spearheaded an effort to raise funds to restore the fountain. A grant of $58,000 was received in late 2009 from The Champlin Foundations and the SNA contributed $10,000 which, along with Parks & Recreation funding, enabled the $200,000 project to proceed. The firm of Searle and Searle of Providence designed the renovation. Work began on the fountain in October, 2010 and was completed by E.W. Burman, Inc. of Warwick and by the Providence Parks & Recreation Department.

The renovation work included:

• Installation of a small building which houses a water re-circulation system, filtration and chlorination units, and control panels
• New park benches, bike rack, landscaping ,and lighting around the fountain
• New pedestrian walkways to the fountain area
• Additional landscaping will be done in the fall