History of Rizal Park and Bridge Preservation Society
The Rizal Park and Bridge Preservation Society (RPBPS) was established on August 21, 1980 by Zenaida Guerzon https://opencorpdata.com/us-wa/604468350. She was the Vice Chair together with Vic Bacho as Chairman and other Filipino American activists who rallied to name the park and bridge in the 1970’s.
Zenaida and Vic Bacho worked closely together to get this park & bridge named after Dr Jose Rizal in the 1970’s. Vic had the vision but Zenaida had the know how. She secured the funding and it was officially named on June 7, 1981.
The Rizal Park & Bridge was one Zenaida’s many civic projects for the community. Zenaida died suddenly of a heart attack on August 11, 2005.
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/teacher-zenaida-guerzons-forte-was-community-service/
Her daughter Theresa (Tess) knows the park very well as a teenager. She would always accompany her mom to many events at the park and even went to the Philippines to meet the sculptor Anastacio Caedo.
After Zenaida died, Tess decided to host the first music festival in August of 2009. The festival went on for 4 years and then took a hiatus due to her young son. In 2018, the Filipino community rallied to get it back and in 2019 the Rizal Park Music and Arts Festival became the Rizal Park Jazz Festival. A planning committee was formed and its been going on ever since and getting bigger and better every year.
Organized to raise awareness to this historic park to honor those Filipinos that made this huge impact in the Seattle community, RPBPS was formed to bring assistance, enhancement & preservation of the park and promote cultural use. RPBPS is also involved in fundraising activities to finance their preservation efforts. RPBPS has had the support of many of organizations like Filipino American Political Action Group (FAPAGOW), Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS), Filipino Chamber of Commerce of the PNW (FCCPNW), Filipino American CIVIC Employees (FACES), Marpac COnsturction (MARPAC) PINOY BROWNBOX/KULTURA ARTS and most recently Beacon Arts, Seattle Public Utilities and Office of Arts and culture.
There are only 3 parks named after Dr Jose RIzal in the US and one of them is here in Seattle. The bridge is the only bridge in the nation named after Dr Jose Rizal.
.
You can read more about the history of the park in these documents:
Rizal Park a symbol of Filipino Identity written by the late Fred Cordova.
https://depts.washington.edu/civilr/images/rizal/RizalPark_Symbol.pdf
Filipino Americans and the Making of Seattle’s Dr. Jose P. Rizal Bridge and Park, University of Washington Seattle Civil Rights & Labor History Project.
https://depts.washington.edu/civilr/rizal_report.htm
Rizal Park and Bridge Preservation Society (RPBPS) 