Residents check out the improved field at King Park in the North Central neighborhood in San Mateo.
King Park, a San Mateo landmark with a history that reaches back to 1902 when 4 acres were sold to the city for $5,000, celebrates additions with a reopening Saturday.
“It looks great,” San Mateo Councilwoman Amourence Lee said.
A synthetic turf athletic field is among work undertaken at 725 Monte Diablo Ave.
Activities for the 3 p.m. celebration include a soccer penalty kick contest and testing a baseball radar gun.
Former San Mateo mayor Claire Mack talked Friday about the site that’s a block from her home.
“I love that park,” she said.
Mack is not a fan of synthetic turf but acknowledged the change.
“Modern times say you do modern things,” Mack said.
Moreover, she doesn’t expect to be on the field.
“I’m 83,” she said. “I won’t be playing on it.”
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First named East Park, the site was renamed for Martin Luther King after the 1968 assassination of the civil rights leader.
Councilwoman Lee recounted the history of the renaming, which included the South San Mateo Homeowners Association proposing the name of Abraham Lincoln or Lincoln Park.
“I don’t take it for granted that our park is named for Dr. King,” Lee said.
She spoke about the many things King said that inspired her — including his statement that “the time is always right to do what is right.”
An essay and poetry contest in its 37th year by an association for the North Central neighborhood allows youths to note what Dr. King has taught them, Lee said.
“Every year the kids say something really powerful,” Lee said.
The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Community Center opened 52 years ago in the North Central neighborhood of San Mateo.
The park has grown beyond the 4-acre site sold to the city at the start of the 20th century.
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