A crowd of neighbors, bigwigs, Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board commissioners (and a few who would like to be) gathered recently at the Woman’s Club to help raise funds to restore Loring Park’s iconic Berger Fountain, aka the Dandelion fountain.
Two other local icons, Dan Chouinard and Kevin Kling, opened the program with sublime music and words that celebrated the fountain and the maligned little flower that inspired it.
Due to the wear and tear of age, the fountain has run dry, but affection for it runs deep.
When it appeared that the fountain, inoperative since 2018, would have to be permanently shut down, neighbors stepped up and created the Berger Fountain Task Force, a coalition of representatives from Citizens for a Loring Park Community, Friends of Loring Park and the Loring Greenway Association, and formed a partnership with the Park Board.
Repairing a 50-year-old fountain is no small thing. For starters, an entirely new infrastructure is required to pump the water with enough force to create the magical rays of the dandelion, but with enough efficiency to conserve water, a concern not in play in 1975.
The task force has committed to raise $1.5 million of the $2.6 million that will be required to bring the fountain back to life. To date they have secured $1.2 million towards that goal.
As Kevin Kling noted in his tribute, the dandelion is a symbol of resilience, hope and love, and as Dan Chouinard reminded us in song, that’s the only thing that there’s just too little of.
