Kugel Ball, Town Square Park, Kent, WA - Kugel Balls on Waymarking.com

This wonderful Kugel Ball in the Town Square Plaza has an interesting story behind it. According to Jeff Watling , the Director of Kent’s Parks, Recreation & Community Services, “Town Square Plaza was originally designed as the third phase of a development to include a hotel, condos and a parking garage. Several months before work was set to begin on our plaza, the developer for the rest of the project went bankrupt, leaving the project with a half-constructed parking garage. The City of Kent forged ahead and followed through on our commitments.”

A favorite feature in the park is the large Kugel Ball, a 6-1/2 ton polished sphere that was fashioned from a 20-ton quarry block of green granite from India, and a granite base that was quarried in China, and took 2 years to create. The sphere was donated by the Rotary Clubs of Kent to celebrate the Rotary International’s 100th anniversary and is valued at over $500,000. A major contributor to the Kugel Ball project was Stuart Kendall of Seattle Solstice, the company that fabricated the ball and the base that it rests on. Kendall made a large in-kind contribution to honor his uncle and grandfather, who were lifelong Rotarians. Visit this website to see a story and photos of the block of granite being converted into a sphere: (visit link)

Special equipment was used by Seattle Solstice to fabricate the granite base and the sphere. This special Kugel Ball is the largest west of the Mississippi, and operates on 15 pounds per inch of water, or about the volume of water that comes from an ordinary garden hose.


Interestingly, the park, which faced many obstacles before being finished, was awarded the The Washington Recreation & Park Association “Best Park in its class (population 35,000+)” in 2006. As Parks Director Jeff Watling , says, “This award is particularly gratifying in light of the issues we overcame.”


Sourses:
(visit link)

(visit link)
(visit link)

Where is this ball located: Town Square Park, Kent, Washington In use?: Yes Material: Granite Can you push it around?: Yes

Visit Instructions:
Describe your experience at the Kugel. Attempt to include a photograph of it.

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   12/12/2020 Rock Chalk visited it 05/21/2015 AndrewsDK visited it 09/15/2012 ornith visited it 02/04/2012 Evolutionmb5 visited it 07/16/2011 Queens Blessing visited it

View all visits/logs