Who We Are

The mission of Volunteer Park Trust is to preserve and enhance this city and national landmark for today and for generations to come.

Centrally located on Seattle’s Capitol Hill, Volunteer Park represents the most complete and well-preserved example of the Olmsted Brothers’ design approach for Seattle city parks.

Volunteer Park incorporates one of Seattle’s first reservoirs, built in 1900, as the core of the city’s municipal supply system. The Park also includes a rustic, brick-clad water tower with observation deck, a Conservatory, the Seattle Asian Art Museum, the Volunteer Park Amphitheater, an historic shelter house, wading pool and play area, tennis courts, public art and memorials, and significant heritage trees.

Widely used and much loved, Volunteer Park serves as both a citywide destination and a neighborhood park in one of Seattle’s densest, most prominent neighborhoods.

Steering Committee

Members

  • Kyle Capizzi, Liaison — Friends of Seattle’s Olmsted Parks

  • Coryn Carson

  • Graham Golbuff, Landscape Committee Chair

  • Em Halladay Ptacek Choi, Liaison — Seattle Asian Art Museum

  • Steven Hamilton, Capital Projects Committee Chair

  • Owen Harrang, Emerging Leaders Committee Chair

Officers

  • John Flinn, Chair

  • Anna Smukowski, Vice Chair and Development Committee Chair

  • David Rosen, Treasurer

  • Cynthia Jones

  • Glen Kriekenbeck, Events Committee Chair

  • Orla McCaffrey, Marketing Chair

  • Erica Merchant, Liaison — Volunteer Park Conservatory

  • Mike Ong

  • Shannon Tyman, Liaison — Volunteer Park Conservatory

  • Gail Watts

Advisory Council

Formed in 2021, the Volunteer Park Trust Advisory Council serves in an advisory capacity to the Steering Committee, bridging connections to the greater community and serving as advocates for our work.

Members

  • Tom Brown

  • Ellen Evans

  • Brian Giddens

  • Roy Hamrick

  • Barb Herrington

  • Nancy Iannucci

  • David James

  • Brooks Kolb

  • Ellen Look

  • Jennifer Ott

  • Janice Sears, Summer Series Committee Chair

  • Jane Stonecipher

Our Organization Partners

  • The Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation maintains and manages the park. Volunteer Park Trust works closely with Seattle Parks and Recreation on capital projects, landscaping, and sustainability projects.

  • Volunteer Park Trust maintains non-profit status under the umbrella organization, Seattle Parks Foundation, our fiscal agent.

  • The Friends of the Conservatory is a non-profit that supports the historic Conservatory at Volunteer Park. The Trust collaborates with the Conservatory on events and park-wide sustainability initiatives.

  • Friends of Seattle’s Olmsted Parks works with the Trust to protect and restore the elements of the park’s plantings, structures, and circulation routes that are related to the plan developed by the Olmsted Brothers in 1909.

  • The Seattle Asian Art Museum occupies the original, renovated art deco Seattle Art Museum in the park. The Trust collaborates with SAAM on events, park-wide sustainability initiatives, and capital projects.