Morgan Junction Park opened Saturday, June 13, on a formal note with speakers and a ribbon-cutting. The party quickly became informal as kids and dogs meandered on the lawn and sketched with jumbo-sized colored chalk onto a series of etched sidewalk frames.

Vendors set up in the parking area around the corner behind Zeeks Pizza and the Feedback Lounge. The Beverage Place, which shares the park's southern border on California Avenue, set up a bandstand for the Slags and other performers.

The event was produced by the Morgan Community Association.

Some neighborhood organizations petitioned for the park to be named Tim St. Clair Park in honor of the West Seattle Herald's longtime reporter who died of cancer just over one year ago, but it was not to be. According to Seattle Parks rules, one must be deceased for at least three years before being considered honored.

Pete Spalding, Delridge Council chair, and Sharonn Meeks and Steve Sindiong, Southwest Council co-chairs, hoped for an exception of the rule in St. Clair's case. Sindiong is also former president of Morgan Community Association.

Seattle Parks Superintendent Tim Gallagher explained, "The naming committee considered two or three dozen names and I'm sure there are probably a couple dozen other folks who felt their proposal was the one that should have been selected."

Gallagher said that the rules are "pretty strict" and state that you have to be deceased for at least three years and also to have "made a significant contribution towards Parks and Recreation in Seattle" and that St. Clair did not fit either criteria, and therefore the park's name will not change its name to Tim St. Cair Park in two years.