Five-acre park across from Vancouver’s major conference hotel
Photo courtesy Visit Vancouver USA
Vancouver
A roadway’s width from the Hilton Vancouver in downtown Vancouver, Wash., is a five-acre oasis, Esther Short Park. Groups that meet at the Hilton can wander over to the park for yoga breaks, picnics, short walks or evening gatherings.
Washington’s oldest city park, Esther Short Park (ESP) is as full of life as the spunky Esther Short herself, a pioneer woman who donated the land to the city in 1853.
Although its history is long, ESP’s status as Vancouver’s primary gathering place is short. Before the mid-1990s, ESP was desolate and crime-ridden; a determined mayor, generous private donors and government funding turned it around.
Today, visitors remark about the many good things packed into ESP’s relatively small space in this city that’s directly across the river from Portland, Ore.: a weekend farmer’s market, in season; movies and concerts in the summertime; a rose garden and tall evergreens; tumbling waters and a playground; and the park’s centerpiece, the 69-foot-tall Salmon Run Bell Tower, where a Glockenspiel diorama appears on schedule.
Vancouver, like all of Washington, is peppered by vineyards and wineries. Most of the dozen or so in the Vancouver area have outdoor venues for receptions, dinners and other functions.
And, for small groups that would rather join the party than organize their own, there’s Wood-fired Wednesdays or Friday Night Bites at Rusty Grape Vineyard in Battle Ground, Wash., or Friday night happy hour and live music at Gouger Cellars and Winery, Vancouver’s first downtown winery.
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www.visitvancouverusa.com
