Story and photos by Jason Grotelueschen
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

A new West Seattle community park with an inspiring origin story was officially opened to the public in an emotional celebration ceremony and ribbon-cutting on Sunday.

The new park, at the south end of the West Seattle Church of the Nazarene property at 4201 SW Juneau St, is called Maarten Park, named after neighbor and congregation member Maarten Verburg, who passed away in 2023 after battling leukemia, and who was instrumental in helping to realize the vision of converting the space into a park.

More than a decade ago, the church began plans to revitalize and redevelop its property, which included building six townhomes, and utilizing the outdoor open space known informally as “the park” which has been used over the years for outdoor movies and gatherings and other events. Sunday’s ceremony, which we previewed earlier last week, represented an important step in officially establishing the park as a true community resource, according to church leaders. 

Here’s a video of the ribbon-cutting portion of the ceremony, with Verburg’s wife Marcy Mabry and son Jakob doing the honors, and with an introductory assist from pastor Shaun Mattson, as kids eagerly waited for the park to open: 

Prior to the service, the congregation held a “church service in the park,” during which Mattson talked about the history of the church property and the support and generosity of Verburg, whom he said “started as a neighbor, became a friend, and turned into a church member” and was a “gift to us all”:

As the service concluded, the congregation and visitors moved toward the south end of the property, for the park dedication ceremony:

Mattson (at center) invited Joe Paar (at left), a local developer who was instrumental in helping with the church’s property plans including the development of the park, to say a few words, with help from church family member Jayden (at right) who held the ribbon-cutting scissors:

The group also acknowledged the efforts of John Mullan and his team at PlayCreation for donating time and materials to help get the project completed.

Mabry (with her son) then shared that her husband “loved living in this neighborhood; he loved this community and this church,” and she said she’s thankful “for all of the great things to come from having this space for kids, neighbors and community to gather:” 

You may notice in the photos that both Mabry and Mattson were wearing Dutch wooden shoes, in honor of Verburg (who was born in the Netherlands, and famously wore the shoes often while working on the church grounds). Mattson joked that “You could always hear Maarten coming!” and Mabry said that she and Maarten even wore the shoes during their wedding):

After the ribbon was cut and the kids and their families happily ran into the park to play, the group prepared and enjoyed a BBQ lunch:

The park itself includes open play areas and playground equipment, in addition to toys for younger kids to enjoy: 

Maarten Park is open to the public, south of the church building at the southwest corner of 42nd Ave SW and Juneau St.