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Friends and neighbors bid farewell to Eugene’s College Hill Reservoir

A couple hundred community members gathered Thursday to say goodbye to the College Hill Reservoir in Eugene, which will soon be demolished to make way for state-of-the-art water storage tanks.

Roller skaters, astronomers, friends and families enjoyed a sunny evening on the flat open concrete of the reservoir. Everyone had a story of how they appreciated the space over the years, including Kelsey Moore, who lives nearby.

“Every time there’s an event in the sky I come up here and I just know, like, 20 people I know are going to be up here already— I don’t have to plan," said Moore. "I loved when all my friends started having kids and then they would join our skate parties, and skate parties turned from young adult to older people with kids parties.”

Moore said there’s nowhere else like this in Eugene, and it’ll feel different after the construction.

Jerry Oltion of the Eugene Astronomy Society showed people sunspots and other effects through a daytime telescope. He said the group is looking at Dexter State Park and Dorris Ranch as new locations to hold their monthly star watch parties.

Eugene Water and Electric Board Senior Water Engineer Laura Farthing said work won’t start for a few weeks, and people will be given plenty of notice before the area is fenced off.

Karen Richards joined KLCC as a volunteer reporter in 2012, and became a freelance reporter at the station in 2015. In addition to news reporting, she’s contributed to several feature series for the station, earning multiple awards for her reporting.
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