Approximately 20 years ago Sequim joined with Yamasaki, Japan, to form a Sister City alliance based on our similar weather, commerce and geography.

As a gesture of friendship, Yamasaki offered to establish a Friendship Garden in Sequim, which it funded. We were very excited about the opportunity and the city allowed us to use the area around the pond at Carrie Blake Park and the Friendship Garden became a reality.

During that period we had a large Sister City Association membership and finding volunteers to help was easy. We started clearing out around the pond and began to plan out the future of our garden.

We knew that we could not develop a typical Japanese Garden, nor did we have any Japanese Master Gardeners to help plan it. We decided that our garden would be a blend of both cultures of East and West, just like our friendship.

Our aim was to build an oasis of peace where people could stroll around and enjoy some quiet moments in their day.

Money from Yamasaki appeared yearly and it allowed us to continue developing our garden. We had volunteers appear once a week to work. Many of our local service groups pitched in for the larger projects. The pavilion was built, an arched bridge was added and the entrance and exit gates were built. Many cherry and gingko trees were planted along with many flowering plants.

The lantern on the island is a gift built by the owner of a Japanese gravel company from Yamasaki. It was shipped all the way to Sequim and two Japanese Master Gardeners came to supervise the proper placement. We rented a large boat crane — it was an exciting day to see it placed in the center of the pond.

A memorial stone is placed at the entrance to the garden showing the names of our Japanese friends who helped fund it.

The walkway around the garden was funded by a local donor and the pavilion recently has been refurbished, again with the generosity of private funds.

The Sunrise Rotary Club has helped us many times with service days and continuous upkeep.

Ten years ago Yamasaki became involved in a prefecture change, it is now known as Shiso City. With that change, we lost their generous annual funding. That has halted the changes we wanted to add and gardens do not weed themselves, plus our volunteers have dwindled.

There are now only four loyal garden volunteers who arrive once a week to keep up the garden. We also get occasional help from the City of Sequim.

In addition to the upkeep of the garden, the Sister City Association also sends our local students to Shiso City on a yearly exchange program and Shiso sends their students to us for a home stay experience.

We have a loyal number of members who continue to keep this exchange going. It is a great educational experience for our students and the community benefits from the beautiful garden at the entrance to the park.

If anyone reading this might have an interest in joining our association, would like to join us at the garden or perhaps donate funds to help us continue our project, please contact Jessie Rhude at 681-3818.

Jessie Rhude is a Sequim resident and member of the Friendship Garden committee.