The expansion of Feriton Spur Park at 509 6th St. S in Kirkland has been unveiled. Google and partners Kirkland Downtown Association, SRM Development and City of Kirkland commemorated the occasion with an event on July 13.

The 2.8-acre park is more than double the size before renovations started in spring 2021. Recent updates include a Pacific Northwest Railway Caboose, occupied by local favorite Chainline Brewing.

Chainline’s newest location, Chainline Station, will serve coffee, beer, wine and snacks. Also new is a large vegetable and fruit garden managed by Seattle Urban Farm Company, which will donate harvests to local nonprofit Hopelink. The park now has a splash pad, a 44-foot pickleball court, a 16 foot-wide paved trail and an amphitheater.

Thanks to the park’s practices that protect ecosystems, the park is pursuing SITES certification and is targeting SITES Gold.

The amphitheater, known as the Kalakala Amphitheater, features pieces of the Kalakala ferry that debuted in 1935. William Thorniley, advertising manager for the Puget Sound Navigation Company, chose to name the vessel Kalakala – a Chinook word meaning flying bird. This began a tradition for Puget Sound ferries to be given Native American names. The boar was once used as a passenger ferry between Seattle and Bremerton, and later in life, she became a fish cannery in Alaska.

In addition to the amphitheater, pieces of the ferry are also used in the Kalaka Entry Sculpture. Amber Mikluscak, Lead Landscape Architect with The Watershed Company, designed the pieces.

The park renovation is the latest upgrade along the Cross Kirkland Corridor, which runs through Kirkland and connects to the larger Eastrail system. Google originally enhanced the section of the CKC running through its 6th Street campus in 2015 with public recreation areas including a sand volleyball court, children’s play structure, basketball court, Crossfit and TRX fitness section and zip line.

“This beautiful park along the Eastrail represents another part of a longstanding dream made reality for the people of Kirkland and all of King County,” said King County Council Chair Claudia Balducci. “Once again, we are proving that Eastrail-Cross-Kirkland Corridor is so much more than a trail. It is a place to gather, celebrate, create, exercise, and build community. I am deeply grateful for the vision and persistence of leaders from city and county government and the private sector who all came together to make this amazing space possible.”