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Among the changes Sombrero Festival Ltd. has proposed as part of a major capital improvement plan for Washington Park was replacement of the park’s fountain pool with a splash pad, while retaining the fountain portion itself.
The fountain and pool with its low octagonal wall and perimeter water jets, smack in the middle of the park with all walkways leading to it, make up the property’s central, unifying feature. The plaza was dedicated in 1850 on land gifted by Brownsville founder Charles Stillman, with the fountain being added in 1929.
The idea was included in a presentation by Sombrero Fest founder Danny Loff at the Jan. 20 regular meeting of the city commission. But since then, in light of public feedback mostly on the side of preserving the fountain/pool the way it is, Sombrero Fest is no longer seriously pursuing the idea as part of its larger plans for Washington Park, according to Roy De los Santos, long-time board member and past president of the organization’s board of directors.
The city commission voted during its April 7 regular meeting to approve a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Sombrero Fest for “contributions toward Washington Park renovations, including coordinated community fundraising efforts and the acceptance of funds to support park improvements.”
According to the MOU, the purpose of the agreement is to authorize Sombrero Fest to plan, fund, and implement renovations and/or public improvements at Washington Park … in connection with the annual Sombrero Fest held during Charro Days.
Sombrero Fest would be responsible for covering the entire cost of proposed changes, which also include a pavilion with restrooms, while the organization’s “use and occupancy” of the park for Sombrero Fest is governed by a separate license agreement in which Sombrero Fest pays the city $25,000 to use the park each year, the money going into the city’s general fund.
“It’s not going to the park necessarily. … And so what Sombrero Festival has proposed is taking over the upkeep of the park year round,” De los Santos said. “And rather than committing $25,000 a year, we’ve offered $30,000 a year. So that’s an extra $5,000 a year that would go into the park, but all for the upkeep and the maintenance, of keeping the water clear in the fountain, keeping the grass looking green year round.”
That would be in addition to the proposed capital improvements, which would also include burying electrical receptacles and “probably putting in better lighting,” he said.
Rough estimates for all improvements at this point range from $10 million to $30 million, though things are in “very early stages,” De los Santos said.
“Once we had the (MOU) agreement with the city commission to let Sombrero Festival take the lead on the project, now Sombrero Festival has committed $100,000 of funding for the architects, the civil engineers and everyone to come up with the design and give us cost projections so that Sombrero Festival can then go out and seek grants to fund it,” he said.
Among the Brownsville residents taking issue with the splash pad idea was Patricia Guillermo Williams, who maintained that the fountain is too historic, rare, and important for many residents, and that it shouldn’t be altered.
The fountain was designed by Brownsville architect Ben V. Proctor, who also designed the 1931 Pan American Airways terminal at the Brownsville South Padre Island International Airport, fire stations and a number of homes, she noted.
“It is something to preserve, because it is historic, and it is beautiful, and it is unique,” Williams told The Brownsville Herald. “Why would you touch it?”
De los Santos said “that was just something that was floated.” While the idea perhaps hasn’t been 100% abandoned, “there’s not a huge push for it,” he said.
He said the city commission was clear on the need for public input, which apparently leaned toward leaving it alone except for repair and maintenance.
“It’s never been a done deal, and I can tell you both the city commission and the Sombrero Festival board have been listening to the public and getting feedback, and I think the consensus is keeping it,” De los Santos said.
The idea of demolishing the Washington Park bandstand, gifted to the city by Frank and Mary Yturria in 1976, has also been floated, though that one is “up in the air,” he said.
“I know that (Loff) had spoken to Mary Yturria a couple of years ago before she passed (on Dec. 27, 2022), when he was starting with these ideas,” De los Santos said. “And even though the Yturria family had donated that to the city, she wasn’t big on that necessarily having to stay because it didn’t turn out to be used the way it was intended.
“There weren’t big events or anything happening there where that bandstand was put to use. It kind of just sits there idle (and) every now and then it gets utilized.”