JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC

The sun was shining on Kansas City’s fountains Tuesday, and the waters flowing from them never looked more sparkling.

For those of you who don’t know much about Fountain Day, it’s an annual event in mid-April when all the working, city-maintained fountains are turned on.

Each year, the Parks and Recreation Department, in conjunction with the nonprofit City of Fountains Foundation, holds a Fountain Day event at a different fountain. Yesterday it was at the Haff Circle Fountain, at the east end of Meyer Boulevard, at the main entrance to Swope Park.

The scene yesterday at Haff Circle Fountain

I’ve always loved to see the fountains go on in the spring, but it meant more to me this year because it was my first Fountain Day as a board member of the City of Fountains Foundation. I was invited to be on the board late last year, primarily because two years ago I was a leader in the drive to raise funds to renovate and establish an endowment fund for the Sea Horse Fountain at Meyer Circle.

That fountain, one of the most iconic, along with the J.C. Nichols Fountain, was out of commission for more than a year because of a variety of serious problems. Our fund-raising drive was very successful, to the point that the fountains foundation now maintains an endowment fund of several hundred thousand dollars for use in case of major, unexpected problems.

During the time I was helping raise money for the Sea Horse Fountain, I became aware of and concerned about the plight of the Haff Circle Fountain, which, like the Sea Horse Fountain, had given way to time and the elements and was, so to speak, dead in the water.

Bust of Delbert Haff at the west end of Haff Circle Fountain

I felt confident we at the west end of Meyer Boulevard, adjacent to Mission Hills, could raise enough money to repair our fountain, but I knew the Haff Circle Fountain had very few wealthy benefactors in the immediate area. As a result, the prospects for renovating Haff Circle Fountain — named for Delbert Haff, a lawyer and park board member in the early 1900s — were not promising for many months.

The first major donor to step forward was mortgage banker James B. Nutter Sr., who several years ago pledged $300,000 toward the renovation. Before he died in July 2017, Nutter would badger Pat O’Neill, then president of the City of Fountains Foundation, asking him when restoration work was going to begin. O’Neill would tell Nutter — to his chagrin — that work could not start until all funding was in place and a contract could be awarded.

And so the fountain, which neighborhood children had used as a wading pool of sorts, sat dry.

But three months before Nutter died, Kansas City voters approved $800 million in general obligation bonds for a variety of uses, and later City Manager Troy Schulte earmarked several hundred thousand dollars each for renovation of the Haff Circle Fountain and the Spirit of Freedom Fountain adjacent to Brush Creek.

After plans were drawn up and the JE Dunn Co. offered to undertake the renovation at cost, serious work began last year at Haff Circle.

The final price tag was $1,445,572. Of that $462,784 was privately donated money, $636,021 came from general obligation bond funds, and $348,767 came from other city sources.

So yesterday, about 100 people gathered at the east end of the fountain for the culmination of several years of fund-raising and work. After a 10-second countdown, the jets were turned on, and water shot upward, triggering applause and cheers from the crowd.

Among those who spoke at the re-dedication were park board member Mary Jane Judy, City Council members Alissia Canaday and Lee Barnes, James B. Nutter Jr., former park board president Anita Gorman and two great-granddaughters of Delbert Haff.

Anita Gorman, at yesterday’s rededication of Haff Circle Fountain

One of the great-granddaughters, Anne Salisbury, talked about how it had been passed down to her how much her great-grandfather cherished open spaces and the nascent parks system. Nutter Jr. talked about his father’s love for Kansas City’s east side. Anita Gorman spoke about Haff’s successful efforts to clear a legal path for the park board to obtain thousands of acres that set the stage for development of the city’s extensive park system.

For parks officials, the City of Fountains Foundation, Kansas City’s east side and, truly, all of Kansas City, it was a grand and gratifying day.