A new park at the Enos Ranch development will honor the Santa Maria Valley’s farming history and highlight the role of the community’s early Japanese immigrants in the agricultural industry.
During the Santa Maria City Council meeting Tuesday, the Santa Maria Japanese Community Center provided $300,000 for the new park that will include a barnlike community center with a Japanese garden at its entrance, along with the restored Smith-Enos House and a lawn area.
Recreation and Parks Director Alex Posada unveiled the conceptual plan for the new park, which includes restoring the old farmhouse that had been relocated several years ago to make way for a shopping center and building a new community center.
The Japanese Community Center, with about 65 members, had operated from a building on North Western Avenue since 1926 until its sale four years. Members are excited to be part of the new park’s future, according to Wes Koyama, president of the organization.
“We also look forward to the opportunity of memorializing the importance of the ‘issei,’ which was the first generation of Japanese immigrants,” Koyama said. “We must never forget their contributions to the growth, success and vitality of the Santa Maria Valley.”
As Recreation and Parks officials looked to develop the park, they reached out to local groups, Posada said.
“The idea was to find a community group that had an interest in preserving the agricultural history of the valley,” Posada said.
The Japanese Community Center stepped up amid a desire to preserve the history of the issei, who overcame hurdles as they worked in the sugar beet industry related to the Union Sugar Plant west of Santa Maria.
“They overcame those obstacles and became leaders in the ag community and business community and remain such today,” Posada said.
A proclamation read by Mayor Alice Patino noted that the Santa Maria Japanese Community Center incorporated in 1925 to preserve and educate people about culture and traditions.
The first Japanese immigrants arrived in the early 1900s and eventually experimented with growing vegetables and shipping them to other states. Over the years, future generations with the names of Minami, Koyama, Furakawa and more farmed broccoli, strawberries and other crops, Koyama said.
“Life was very hard for these early pioneers with low pay, substandard living conditions, poor nutrition and sickness,” Koyama said. “Communication barriers and discrimination added to their problems. But through their hard work and perseverance, many ventured into farming on their own.”
During World War II, members of the local Japanese community were uprooted from their lives in the Santa Maria Valley and forced into internment camps, with some returning to experience racism. Local efforts focused on helping them eventually receive their American citizenship.
Linking the project to some aspect of Santa Maria’s history has long been a goal as they looked to envision the new park and facilities, Posada said, adding that the design process has not been finished.
The opening date remains uncertain — “obviously, it will depend on funding,” Posada said.
He estimated that the entire project will cost about $4 million, with some funding coming from park development funds along with donations and other sources such as possible grants.
The historic Smith-Enos House, now undergoing some key structural repairs as the first step in restoration, sits on the east side of the 7-acre park property along Bradley Road.
Plans call for the community center to be placed toward the west side of the site. Between the two structures, the design envisions “a great lawn” that could be used for outdoor events.
The new facility will have open beams at the ceiling and will seat roughly 300 people. Offices, restrooms, a kitchen and display space also are planned. Near the entrace to the barnlike community center will be a Japanese garden.
“It doesn’t look Japanese to me,” Councilwoman Etta Waterfield said of the building’s barnlike exterior.
“We had a really good discussion about that. We tried to make sure we kept the historic nature of the Smith-Enos barn that some of you will remember was in the back,” Posada said.
“So you’re marrying both cultures together, which I think is beautiful,” Waterfield added.
— Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at jscully@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.