Details of $211,000 improvements at Rosa Parks Circle in Grand Rapids

An overhaul of downtown's bustling Rosa Parks Circle is expected to make the urban park less maintenance-intensive while preserving the look world-renowned artist Maya Lin intended when she designed it.

Crews contracted by Twin Lakes Nursery have spent the past few weeks removing the loose, gray gravel that made up paths within the park and replacing it with a similar-looking porous concrete material that will result in less dust and gravel migrating around the park and less maintenance to keep the paths groomed.

The new paths are part of a $211,000 renovation that also includes electrical improvements, new lighting posts and replacement of some damaged seatwalls. The work is being paid for out of an endowment fund set up when the park was renovated.

The improvements are slated to be completed in time for ice-skating season to begin along with the Dec. 2 lighting of the Christmas tree outside the Grand Rapids Art Museum.

For the holidays, thousands of LED lights are being hung on trees inside the park and at the nearby Louis Campau Promenade. The city's Downtown Development Authority recently agreed to pay Bazen Electric up to $22,262 for the purchase and installation of the lights, which have a "snowfall effect."

The lights are expected to last several years with future installations handled by the city's parks department.

Installation of the lights and modifications of the materials used on the park's paths required approval of Lin. Her design of the park, titled "Eclipic," was completed in 2001.

Celebrate Sunshine Coast Council's program of fun, family-friendly festive season activities and events.

Council starts the festive season by progressively flicking on the switches of 29 community Christmas trees as part of the annual Christmas Tree Trail.

The idea of the trail began more than two years ago when council began talking with communities across the region about how they celebrate Christmas and what they would like to see happen in their region to make this a special time of year in the future. Resoundingly, the answer was that locals wanted more lights and a signature tree of their own in a place where all could enjoy it.   

The festive tree in Pomona is a ficus fig tree.

The decorations installed include custom designed multicolour lit balls and small lit green spirals. The tree is crowned by a large lit white star at its peak and all the decorations have been designed and assembled in Queensland.

Environmentally friendly Light Emitting Diode (LED) lighting features across all of the trees this year, keeping with council's vision for the Sunshine Coast to be Australia's most sustainable region - vibrant, green and diverse.

Council is using the latest in technology to enable residents to view the history of each community tree simply by using smart phone scan codes at each site.

The community also has the opportunity to find out about community festive season celebrations in their area and how they can join in, simply by clicking on the various trees online at council's website.