If you were walking or biking on the Chehalis Western Trail in Tenino, Washington, there’s a good chance you’d notice the Monarch Sculpture Park, a 5-acre contemporary sculpture park and center for the arts. The park is kind of hard to miss with its pieces of sculpture along the trail coming from either direction. Appropriately so, visitors to the park are invited at its entry by a bicycle arch made with bits and pieces of bicycle parts welded to the arch.

The creation of the Monarch Sculpture Park started in 1994 when the founder, artist Myrna Orsini and retired federal judge, Doris Coonrod, formed a board of directors and established its non-profit status. Land was purchased for the gardens as well as for the three buildings – an office, living quarters, and ceramic and sculpting studios.

In 1998 Monarch held its first Open House, attended by over 300 people, with demonstrations in metal, wood, stone and ceramic.  Later, visiting artists workshops, an Artist Residency Program and the Student Mentoring Project were held. That summer Monarch hosted artists from 9 different countries who participated in an International Stone Symposia for Professional Sculptors. The sculptures created at the symposia were a large part of the permanent collection.

The park has an Annual Sculpture Exhibit every year with new works added periodically throughout the year. During the summer the park hosts outdoor art classes for families and small groups. Efforts are made to sell the works for the artists and to assist the artists and keep the cost of the art as reasonable as possible. Select pieces of art are offered for sale to help finance the programs.

Ms. Orsini has been managing the park from its inception with help from a caretaker and volunteer coordinator.  She overcame a variety of financial to structural challenges which almost resulted in the park’s sale in 2011. But a group of civic leaders and the Woodland Trail Greenway Association provided temporary funding for the park’s liability insurance and provided help managing the volunteers that assist with landscaping.

Over 110 contemporary sculptures are featured on the five acre park,, some created by local artists, including the founder Myrna Orsini as well as other location, national and international artists. The area is a combination of wide-open fields and groupings of sculptures of common categories, some of which are interactive. There is a Sound Garden, a Fantasy Garden, a Japanese Garden, a Bird and Butterfly Garden and a Butterfly Shaped Hedge Maze currently being restored.

To say the Monarch Sculpture Garden is interesting and unique would be an understatement. It is entertaining and fun. My favorite piece is a huge set of pick-up sticks, in the grasp of an equally large hand. Etana had a wonderful time interacting and playing with sculptures. In the Sound Garden she played on a stringless harp and on two different sets of chimes. In the Fantasy Garden she and Amu played ring toss, croquet, and Amu successfully caught the bean bag before it entered its hole. Dogs are allowed in the park on leashes.

In the way the sculpture is laid out, the park felt much larger than its only five acres. Every time I moved in a different direction, I saw things I had missed. Although this was a weekend, the park was not crowded. As we were returning to the car, parked next to the Chehalis Western Trail, the sky quickly transitioned from gray to black and from drizzling to a downpour. I suddenly realized that my phone was not in the jacket pocket where I had placed it. We looked all around and realized that we’d have to go back and duplicate our steps throughout the park. Just as we started to retrace our steps, a family was walking toward us. A young boy, approximately 10 years old, was reaching out toward me with my bright red phone that he had found lying on the soaking wet ground in the Fantasy Garden. At that point, nothing mattered but the appreciation I felt for that boy.