(Images: Alex Garland for CHS)

A stretch of warm and sunny days ahead will make this weekend the perfect time to check out Seattle’s newest park. Mayor Ed Murray helped cut the ribbon at the 12th Ave Square Park on Thursday alongside his husband, Michael Shiosaki, planning director at Seattle Parks and Recreation. Thursday’s celebration also included music by a Garfield High School jazz trio.

The park sits on the corner of 12th Ave and E James Court, across from Seattle University’s sports complex. It had been an empty lot until the land was transformed into a plaza-like park which unofficially opened in February at a cost of about $1.06 million.

At about 7,300 square feet and wedged between mixed-use housing, a cafe, and a restaurant, it’s on the smaller end of the park spectrum. To make the park pop, artist Ellen Sollod created the “Cloud Veil” — an installation of metal mesh and mirrors that hangs over the park space. The opening was also a milestone for the 12th Avenue Stewards group, which had long advocated for the park.

Though only the width of one block, Seattle Parks says the park’s woonerf “provides pedestrians and cyclists priority on the street,” and say the “technique of shared spaces, traffic calming, and low speed limits contribute to improved pedestrian, bicycle, and automobile safety.”