May 14 | The Agony and the Ecstasy

Friends and neighbors: Happy spring! That was to be the gist of this post, which was simply going to urge you to take a stroll along Fountain Walk soon, to enjoy the amazing array of plants that neighbor Wendy Wells has painstakingly and lovingly installed and tended over the past several years along the lower walk. Many are in bloom...

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March 6 | Student volunteers join FOFW work day

Friends and neighbors: On Friday, March 3, Friends of the Fountain and Walk had its monthly work day on The Circle and Fountain Walk a day earlier than the usual first Saturday of the month. That’s because a group of young volunteers from neighboring Saint Mary’s College High School were able to come out that day and lend our usual...

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December 17 | Find the Fountain in Its Finery for 3 More Weeks

Friends and neighbors: Happy holidays! Just a note to remind you that for the next three weeks, the Fountain at The Circle will remain dressed for the season, with garlands of green around the perimeter of the center island and wreaths and kippahs adorning the fountain’s grizzly bear cubs. The lights come on about sundown and remain on for several...

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December 2 | Meet the Four(!) Northbrae Fountains

Friends and neighbors: A few pre-pandemic years back, we shared with you the news that an image of a long lost second Northbrae fountain had surfaced. The fellow who found it among several old photos he purchased at a flea market sent it our way. After some sleuthing and a major assist from a real estate agent who identified a...

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December 1 | Fountain at The Circle Flowing Again

Friends and neighbors: After a shutdown of about two weeks, the Fountain at The Circle is back up and running, The fountain had been emptied and shut off to allow for the installation of new LED lights in the main pool. The lights being replaced had begun developing issues that caused short circuits from time to time, and were ultimately...

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November 24 | Fountain-Themed Gifts for the Holidays

Friends and neighbors: The holidays are upon us. We hope that you and yours have been staying safe and well, and wish you a wonderful holiday season. If you are a fan of the Fountain at The Circle and looking for gifts for friends and loved ones, please take a look at the offerings on the ‘SHOP” page of our website....

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November 11 | To add new lighting, fountain will go dark

Friends and neighbors: If you’ve passed by the Fountain at The Circle on a recent evening, you may have noticed that some of the lights that illuminate it at night have not been on. That is due to an electrical problem with the lights in the main fountain basin. The fountain’s bear cubs and crown remain lit. To resolve the...

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October 31 | Join our monthly work crew!

Friends and neighbors: For nearly 30 years, community support has been essential to the work of Friends the Fountain and Walk, the all-volunteer neighborhood nonprofit that teams with the City of Berkeley to care for the Fountain at The Circle, Fountain Walk and the surrounding historic area.  That support shows up in a variety of ways, from generous donations from...

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August 13 | What a waste — of water and time

Friends and neighbors: The Fountain at The Circle is a marvel, not just esthetically but mechanically. With a little routine maintenance — clearing it of leaves and other debris, cleaning the filters of the pumping system, checking the water chemistry — it flows and flows, recycling the same 5,000-plus gallons of water day after day. Except, that is, when someone...

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August 3 | FOFW Featured in Local Magazine

Friends and neighbors: Please keep an eye out for the August issue of Berkeley Hills Living magazine. It features a cover story on Friends of the Fountain and Walk board member Jim Reynolds and his wife Ruth. Jim has been a board member of FOFW for several years now, and heads up our monthly workday volunteer crew with fellow board...

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