Walking up the El Prado towards the bridge leading to the Inez Grant Parker Memorial Rose Garden, you’ll find a gorgeous fountain. The Bea Evenson Fountain is one of the most acclaimed landmarks of the park. Both children and adults gravitate towards it. You’ll often see performers in the vicinity with the fountain offering a calming atmosphere. Seats at the fountain allow you to watch up close the water spray that can shoot up as high as 25 feet.
From mid-February through about mid-March, the fountain becomes even more picturesque with the nearby ornamental pear trees in full bloom. The trees’ white blossoms resembles white lace and light pink pearls; the blossoms dress up the walkway leading to the fountain. It is a sight to behold. Even the normally blasé observer will appreciate the breath-taking view.
While Kate Sessions is known as the “Mother of Balboa Park,” Bea Evenson, the fountain’s namesake, was also a tireless and beloved civic volunteer. She strove to preserve and protect the Spanish Colonial architecture of Balboa Park. In 1967, she founded and became the leader of a civic group named The Committee of 100. In doing so, Evenson sparked community interest and raised funds to help preserve the original architecture of the 1915 Exposition buildings along the Prado in Balboa Park.
Bea Evenson died on October 31, 1981, at the age of 81. A small plaque to her memory was affixed to the west side of the Bea Evenson Fountain in the Plaza de Balboa in Balboa Park in 1981.
After Evenson’s death, the fountain debuted in May 1981, quickly becoming the centerpiece of the north El Prado area. With its enchanting display of waterworks inside a tiled, circular pool, the fountain has always attracted immediate attention with its lively water.
To the east of the fountain, you might notice a small wind gauge on top of a slim pole. This gauge controls the height of the fountain’s water spout. On windy days the spout is lowered to keep water from spraying into the air. The fountain shoots up with its full strength on days with no wind.
Often mirrored in the fountain waters is the Natural History Museum Building, affectionately called The Nat by locals. From the back steps of The Nat, you can enjoy another view of the fountain. The museum, founded in 1874 as the San Diego Society of Natural History, was given a major reconstruction in 2001. The remodeling of this oldest scientific institution in Southern California more than doubled the facility’s size. Watch for its new nature garden to blossom into being sometime in the summer.
Directly opposite The Nen, the Fleet Science Center offers outdoor seating at their Craveology Café, an excellent place to take in views of the iconic fountain and all the activity surrounding it. Hot dogs, grilled cheese, and slushies are just a few of the treats on the café’s menu. In the evening, pretty rainbow lights line the eaves of the Science Center; the colors frame the fountain spray, lending a mystical quality to the icy, white fountain water.
Balboa Park is a plethora of beauty, thanks to commitment and perseverance of people like Bea Evenson. She would be thrilled to know that today millions of people are now enjoying the fruits of her labor.
— Cynthia G. Robertson is an award-winning freelance writer and photographer, putting together interesting and informative articles for more than 30 years. Her stories, essays and poems have also been published in “Acorn Review” and several anthologies, including “Six Feet Apart…in the Time of Corona.” She blogs about her observations of nature and spirituality, and in 2019, she penned her first novel, “Where You See Forever.” Find out more at www.cynthiarobertson.com.
Women’s History Tour
A new tour focused on women’s history in Balboa Park and San Diego is available just in time for Women’s History Month. Free in the month of March, the public tour travels between treasured park landmarks and discusses the remarkable women who contributed to the park’s rich history.
The tour is hosted by the Balboa Park Visitors Center, and is the product of a collaboration between the Women’s Museum of California, San Diego History Center, and Forever Balboa Park. Tours meet at the Bea Evenson Fountain, in front of the Fleet Science Center, and run from 11 a.m.-12 p.m. on Sunday, March 3, Thursday, March 14, Wednesday March 20 and Saturday March 30. Sign up at eventbrite.com.
