Thumbnail photo: The canoe node will be one of the first interpretive elements to be constructed as part of the Tolowa Cultural Trail feature at Beachfront Park. | Image courtesy of Crescent City As construction begins on the Tolowa Cultural Trail, Jason Greenough invoked the three industries that “basically made Crescent City” and insisted that “all of our history is important, not just one side.” The city councilor said he loved the redwood, burden basket and canoe replicas that will be included in the Tolowa Cultural Trail feature. But he pressed his colleagues for consensus on expanding the historical collection of kiosks that will dot Beachfront Park's perimeter to include information about the lumber, fishing and mining industries. Crescent City could highlight its historical buildings, bring back the hollow redwood log kids played in before it decomposed and caved in on itself and highlight the importance of the Hmong community in the area, he said. “If you’re going to walk the entire Tolowa trail and then walk all the way around and look at all the kiosks, that can provide quite a bit of time for people to be outside, to get exercise, to be healthy, to be out there with their families and encourage people to promote a better family life, and education,” Greenough said. “It feels like this checks all those different boxes.” Greenough shared his idea before he and his colleagues unanimously approved the latest phase in the Cultural Gateway and Beautification Project, though it received a little push back. City Manager Eric Wier said GreenWorks P.C. and SeaReach Ltd. had initially included information about Crescent City’s economic foundation in with the story of its original inhabitants. But it became apparent that the Tolowa Interpretive Trail needed a dedicated space and the story needed to be told by the Tolowa people. “It’s going to be pretty special,” Wier told Redwood Voice Community News on Thursday. “They’re starting to build it now. They set the rings for the redwood tree yesterday.” Greeough’s colleague Candace Tinkler, retired chief of interpretation for Redwood National and State Parks, also cautioned against trying to “do all things for all people in a small park.” She advocated for a monument acknowledging the bravery and sacrifices of Crescent City’s fishing fleet and said an outdoor museum may be in the works for the Mill Creek area. “We don’t have to do it all at Beachfront Park,” she said. “Sometimes if there’s too much information… people won’t read any of it.” Greenough, Tinkler and the rest of the City Council approved the plans and specifications for improvements to Front Street from Play to L as well as the first four interpretive nodes that will be included with the Tolowa Cultural Trail. They authorized Wier to enter into a contract with Tidewater Contractors Inc. for about $5.25 million to construct the improvements and approved a change order related to the design of an irrigation system that will be included in the project. Finally, they also authorized Wier to ask the Measure S Oversight Committee to commit $300,850 in Measure S dollars for contingency costs since there are few grant dollars to cover that potential expense. Wier said staff would ask the Measure S Oversight Committee to use a portion of funding that’s set aside for a street project scheduled for fall 2026 to be allocated to the gateway project. “At this point we’d be asking the Measure S committee to authorize this $300,000 out of that project and we’ll see what it comes out [to],” he said. “In a perfect world, we don’t need it and we can return it. Construction doesn’t always work in a perfect world and you have to be thinking about your contingencies and what are your options.” According to Wier, the substantial item councilors approved has to do with the reconstruction of the final block of Front Street, from Play Street and U.S. 101, as well as the reconstruction of K Street. This project includes replacing the storm drain system as well as the water mains, fire hydrants and valving. A new sewer main will be installed and a gas line will be relocated. There will also be new curbs, gutters, sidewalks and pedestrian crossings and a reconstructed road section. The other portion of the Council’s approval includes demolition, earthwork and grading around the Cultural Center to improve accessibility. There will be new concrete pathways leading to the building as well as first few nodes of the Tolowa Cultural Trail. This includes a welcome station, a redwood tree, burden basket and fish canoe kiosks all of which are under construction currently. “As you come down the California Coastal Trail, that’ll lead you [to the] pebble mosaic,” Wier said, referring to the lithomosaic artwork Crescent City contracted with T.B. Penick & Sons Inc. to fabricate. “You’ll see 10,000 pebbles as you come in, representing the pre-contact population. And after you learn about that and understand what that means, there will be 504 pebbles on the right hand side as you’re leaving, representing the population of the Tolowa people in 1905 per the documents that we have.” T.B. Penick & Sons Inc. is also installing a lithomosaic Tolowa basket pattern. The overall project is being paid for through a $3.3 million Community Development Block Grant, which is paying for the road reconstruction project, and a $3 million Clean California Grant, which is paying for the pedestrian improvements. Roughly $309,000 in Proposition 68 Statewide Park Development and per capita grant dollars will go toward the Tolowa Cultural Trail project. About $195,000 and $225,000 in capital improvement project dollars from the water and sewer funds will go toward installing the water and sewer infrastructure as part of the Front Street reconstruction. Wier spoke to an area city staff felt went over budget, which includes the landscaping and irrigation portion of the projects. Dave Yeager, the city’s public works director had estimated the cost for the irrigation system to be about $250,000, however the bids came back at more than $400,000. “As Director Yeager talked to the contractor and subcontractor about this, they feel that they can come up with a slightly different design that can take away some of the different assumptions they made and kick that price down to where we thought it should be, in that $250,000 range,” the city manager told councilors. “Part of your action tonight would be to approve a deductive change order of $417,600 and then we’re looking at a future date of an irrigation [system] add once that’s designed.” When asked if Crescent City staff will look at how to incorporate Greenough’s request that other aspects of the area’s history be included in the Beachfront Park design, Wier said that the initial thinking had been to have that information in kiosks along Front Street. “As you’re walking back and you’re more between the downtown [area] and the park, that’s the space most conducive for other components of the industries and buildings that shaped Crescent City as it grew through those early days,” he said. “That’s when you might have a kiosk on what the Surf Hotel is or other aspects of town, along Front Street.” Crescent City began working with the Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation, Elk Valley Rancheria, the Tolowa Nation and the Del Norte County Cultural Society in 2022 on Tolowa Interpretive Trail. Their goal was to create an immersive experience that includes public art and the opportunity to hear Tolowa spoken. The various nodes include QR codes people can scan to hear from Tolowa elders about their culture and experiences. In June, Crescent City received a $2 million grant from the Mellon Foundation to extend the trial to Battery Point in the west where many Tolowa were imprisoned in the 1850s. On Monday, in addition to calling for the expansion of the park’s collection of historical kiosks, Greenough asked city staff to install a flag pole or poles in front of the Cultural Center. “The new Discovery Center will be a partnership between national and state parks and the City of Crescent City and the visitors bureau,” he said, referring to plans to bring those agencies under one roof. “Being that all of those entities — both the federal, state and us — all have flags, it just seems like it would make sense if we had a flag pole out front.” Yeager said that a flag pole would probably cost between $7,500 and $10,000. He said he’d like to have agreements between the city and National and State Parks in place before he determines how many poles should be installed in the front.