Mayfield Park/Community Project

the Mayfield Council

September 2015

I can report that it has been another busy year inside the walls at Mayfield. On Saturday 7 March we participated in the Citywide annual “It’s My Park Day” sponsored by the Austin Parks Foundation. This year the fine folks from Randall’s Grocery came to Mayfield and helped spread hard wood mulch on the garden paths. We held our annual fundraiser, Trowel & Error, on Saturday 11 April-entertaining and knowledgeable speakers and around 100 enthusiasts of the park and the natural world made it once again something special. A big “Thank You!” to both those who gave their time to speak to us and to those who came to learn and to support the park. Our over 30 individual volunteer gardeners have been diligent, their patch garden plots reflect their efforts, and our general volunteer workday the second Saturday of each month has been well attended. We have had thousands of visitors to the park and we have shared our experiences with them and tried to make them welcome. Our peafowls are in fine shape; their ornamental tail feathers are beginning to grow out in anticipation of springtime romance.

We have been spending some monies you have entrusted with us also. In conjunction with the City’s Parks and Recreation Department (PARD), the Historic Landscape Treatment Plan under the guidance of noted historic landscape architect Catherine O’Conner continues going forward. This commission by the Mayfield Council for an estimated cost of $18,000 is being partially funded from an individual grant of $10,000 through the Austin Community Foundation. In anticipation of the study, the Mayfield Council also commissioned a detailed topographic survey of the cottage grounds and gardens costing $7,500. This summer we commissioned and paid $15,000 to Ash Masonry Masterworks to do a partial reconstruction in the southeast section of the perimeter rock wall, an expense we were hoping to avoid but that became necessary when the wall collapsed and became a danger to visitors to the park. We had hoped that the wall could become stabilized through injections of slurried concrete, but the lack of a foundation beam proved insurmountable in some sections. The section of wall just south of the bell gate has likewise collapsed and we are actively seeking grant funding to continue this rehabilitation. More recently we are bringing in Certified Arborist Guy LeBlanc to clean up the trees on site, a commission costing just over $14,000.

We can always use your financial help. For tax purposes, contributions to the Mayfield Park/Community Project are channeled through an IRS § 501(c)(3) entity (Austin Community Foundation, MP/CP Fund) and can be sent to:

Mayfield Park/Community Project
2704 Macken
Austin, Texas 78703

or

Austin Community Foundation
Mayfield Park/Community Project Fund
4315 Guadalupe Street
Austin, Texas 78751

We also have an endowment fund with the Austin Community Foundation that we opened this year with a donation of $20,000 from the Mayfield Council. Our goal is a million dollars (maybe not in my lifetime) with the long-range well being of the cottage and grounds in mind.

The Mayfield Council wants to thank those who have given their money, but especially those who have given their time, to the preservation and maintenance of this true gem in the City’s parks system. The Mayfield Cottage and Grounds, a City of Austin historic landmark and a National Registered District, would not be what it is today without these volunteer efforts.

Keep us in mind and come visit the park. We are expecting you.

Blake Tollett, Chair
Mayfield Council
3701 Bonnie Road 78703
blake.tollett@earthlink.net

The Mayfield Council

Karen Cannatti
Rick Chance
Janice Brown
Tom Kidd
Tricia Ziegler
Barbara Watt
Sharon Lamb
Shirley Koeller