Navigation

Celebration Planned for Sturgeon Bay’s Newest Park

Destination Sturgeon Bay and the City of Sturgeon Bay will celebrate the official opening of Graham Park, 10 Pennsylvania St., with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday, June 3, 11 am.

The Graham Park project broke ground in June 2020 and has been funded entirely by private donations.

Located adjacent to the Oregon Street Bridge on a portion of the former Peterson Builders (PBI) Shipyard, Graham Park now includes ping-pong tables, chess and checkers tables, and corn hole games that are all available for free to residents and visitors. It also has amphitheater-style seating that’s part of an intimate performance space designed for acoustic music performances, small events or relaxation. 

The future site of Graham Park when it was just a vacant, grassy lot during the groundbreaking ceremony in June 2020. Peninsula Pulse file photo by D.A. Fitzgerald.

Most notably, Graham Park is now home to Door County’s only water feature, titled “Confluence.” It’s the original design of local artist Robert L. Soukup, and it was produced entirely by the staff of Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding. “Confluence” celebrates the merging of the working and recreational waterfronts in Sturgeon Bay and their capacity to work symbiotically.

Bay Engineering and Tim Graul provided engineering assistance, and Lars and Rebecca Braschnewitz and the staff of Sterling Landscape Services donated the landscaping master plan and have “adopted” Graham Park for a total of five years. The company will maintain the park and oversee its maintenance before officially handing off those duties to the City of Sturgeon Bay in 2026.

Major donors included the Raibrook Foundation, the Dwight and Linda Davis Foundation, the Rick and Nancy Jeanquart family, Door County Medical Center, the Ellsworth and Carla Peterson Charitable Foundation, the Jandu family, Sterling Landscape Services, Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding and Hi Tec Fabrication. 

In addition, numerous donors supported the sale of benches, trees and brick pavers to enhance the park’s beauty.

“The Graham Park project is an impressive addition to ‘Walkable Sturgeon Bay’ and its miles of accessible public waterfront,” said Pam Seiler, Destination Sturgeon Bay’s retired executive director, who ushered the project through from start to finish. “This park project truly shows how many people have a deep love and commitment to Sturgeon Bay, and it will certainly be a destination for generations to come.”