(WSB photo, Wednesday evening)
That’s what remained of the 20+-year-old wooden-schooner sculpture Paragon at həʔapus Village Park by Wednesday night. As we reported Tuesday, a city contractor was hired to down the wood, leaving the supports for an expected replacement that Paragon artist Don Fels said he is planning. Fels had told WSB he planned to be on site for the demolition, so we asked him about that via email last night, and also about his timeline for the replacement:
I was there for the first 3 hours. I found it too emotional to stay any longer. I of course knew what was going to happen but that didn’t make it any easier. I don’t take personally what occurred, but nevertheless on a personal level it was very difficult to witness. The demo contractor was good to talk with and appreciated that it wasn’t easy to see something that had represented so much effort and community involvement disappear.
Here’s what he told us is ahead, after a “very hard” year of back-and-forth with the city about the replacement:
I’ve signed the contract with the City for the new iteration of the Paragon. I hope the design phase will be concluded in the next weeks and then we can submit the plan to the City. Once they approve it, fabrication at the Nucor mill will begin. I hope and expect we will install the new boat section in Spring 2026.
As we first reported a year ago, the city said it had to “de-accession” (disown) and then demolish the wooden bones-of-a-boat sculpture, a familiar sight to those who travel West Marginal Way SW south of the Duwamish Tribe Longhouse, because it had deteriorated and might collapse. Fels contended the city could have maintained it in a way that would have prevented major deterioration. More backstory is in our original report from last year.
