Jolly Roger Street Booty Traditional Cache
piratesRreal: This cache is being archived because it was on private property that has new owners and they have removed it. I may find a new location for the cache. We'll see!
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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This cache is in the City of Okanogan.
J.C. Park is a bit of land donated by the Earnest Allender family during the years following WWI. During WWII the city, lacking workers because of the war, couldn’t continue to maintain the park. For the next 10 years the park fell into disrepair and became overgrown with brush and debris from fallen tree limbs. It was said that a person couldn’t walk across the park without climbing over fallen limbs. The city was on the verge of losing the park with it reverting back to the Allender family since part of the agreement with the family was that the park would be maintained. Around 1954 the Jaycee’s of Okanogan decided to adopt the park as a project led by Jaycee president, Art Lucas. He and the park neighbors and other volunteers (many of them veterans) volunteered their labor, donated funds and using discarded irrigation pipe for watering worked to restore the park. Since that time the park has been cared for by the City of Okanogan and the people living around it. Art and Jane Lucas were prime custodians of the restoration and maintenance of the park. When they moved into town from their ranch they settled into a house by the park. The redbud tree in the park is from their ranch and originally came here from Missouri. During the late 70's until now, some of the original volunteers took on the project of replacing the trees in the park. The original trees were locust trees that weren’t particularly suited for a park because of the debris that continuously dropped from them and they were placed too closely to the road. The volunteers worked with the city and developed a plan for replacing the trees, once again giving many hours to keep the park in good repair. For over fifty years Art has kept a sharp eye on the park, tending the trees, moving sprinklers around and making it the center piece of one of the nicest neighborhoods in Okanogan. Our joke has been that Omak has an Art in the Park event each June but we have Art in the park everyday! Some interesting side notes: Hazel Oaks, who wrote a column in the Omak Chronicle for years, lived by the park. Her daughter was mayor of Okanogan and another neighbor, Ralph Matson, was mayor too. Two houses in the neighborhood were a school and post office in Okanogan. Also, the original park had a cement pool that was 4 feet deep where the swings are today. The neighborhood kids would come to the park and swim. There was no life guard and the kids looked out for each other. We’ve also been told that the trees in the park and around the Oaks’ house were definitely for climbing! This is a great little corner of Okanogan that attracts a lot of wildlife from all the different kinds of birds to the deer that have been spotted passing through. Feel free to picnic in the park! Update September 2019: Art Lucas passed away in 2010 and his wife Jane has moved away but they are remembered fondly by the neighborhood and the whole community. The park is as lovely as ever and a great place to pass some time and picnic! The redbud tree is gone, by the way, but the other trees are thriving.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Lrf, gur pnpur vf ba cevingr cebcregl!
Ohg gur arvtuobeubbq xabjf guvf pnpur vf urer naq nyy ner jrypbzr! K znexf gur fcbg.