You are now free to lay around in the park

If it seems like years, it's no wonder

Oliver enjoys the feeling of Rye grass on his fur.

Birds chirped as people and pets set feet and paws on the perfect new carpet of grass Friday. The fence is finally down at the Fields Park after nearly two years, and people were happily capturing photos of their dogs in the sun to mark the occasion.

Fun fact. The lawn is a blend of perennial rye grass from Hubbard, Ore. It’s softer, greener and requires less watering than many other varieties.

PacificCorp managed the bulk of the long tunneling project, which required locking the park up behind a chainlink fence and keeping people out. Underground electrical lines now extend under the park and the Willamette River. The work is part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund clean-up of the long-ago industrial-polluted Willamette River bottom.

North Portland residents Nicco, and his mother, Haley, walked past on their way to visit Scoula Italiana, the immersion preschool in the nearby Ramona Apartments. Nicco, 2 1/2, ran zig-zags across the grass.

Oliver, a rotund French bulldog, was on his way to the pet store with his person, Leslie. He stretched out on his belly toward Centennial Mills to the east, and Leslie shared that she may get a tattoo of the mill before it’s eventually demolished for waterfront redevelopment.

The Fields Park is the third park in the 2002 River District Park System, which includes Tanner Springs Park and Jamison Square to the south along Northwest 10th Avenue.