Obituary: Jack Wallin, the force behind Garden Grove’s Strawberry Festival, was 88

GARDEN GROVE – Jack Wallin left his fingerprints on every park in Garden Grove. So it’s only fitting that his memorial will take place at KiwanisLand.

Wallin, 88, died Friday, Sept. 21, after a brief bout of pneumonia. He leaves a legacy grounded in playgrounds – and in fun.

As the city’s first superintendent of parks, Wallin co-founded the Strawberry Festival. Celebrating its 60th anniversary this past May, Wallin rode in the parade as grand marshal.

Among more traditional parks, Wallin helped design and birth dreamlike Atlantis Play Center, which still retains its ’60s vibe. “We wanted something unique, something that nobody else had,” Wallin told the Orange County Register in 2013, the park’s half-century mark.

That 40-foot dragon slide and King Neptune sculpture? Wallin and his crew built them. “It’s not generally known, but back then we (recreation staff) made all the equipment in the park,” he said.

Wallin always had an eye toward compassion, said daughter Shannon Watermolen.

Decades back, he created a special day earmarked for children with disabilities to enjoy the Strawberry Festival – and continued to organize it every year forward, including 2018. As always, on the Thursday before opening day, Wallin welcomed almost 2,000 children with special needs for free carnival rides and ice cream.

“That was the one thing he was most proud of,” Watermolen said. “My dad had a huge heart.”

Wallin designed KiwanisLand, as well, with inclusion in mind. The three-acre park features campgrounds, a man-made mountain with a waterfall and a lake in which kids can paddle small rafts.

“He wanted a place where boys and girls from urban areas could camp and enjoy nature in a safe environment,” Watermolen said.

Until an illness left him weak earlier this year, Wallin visited KiwanisLand every day and helped out with maintenance as a volunteer.

“It was his special place,” Watermolen said.

Still, Wallin is best known as an instrumental force behind the Strawberry Festival. Over the years, the community fundraiser grew to attract around 250,000 attendees every Memorial Day weekend.

In its younger days, the festival’s parade attracted big-name participants including Jayne Mansfield, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Pat Boone, Jimmy Durante, Mel Blanc, Steve Martin, Jane Powell, Meredith MacRae, Debbie Reynolds, Lorne Green and Nancy Sinatra.

The most unforgettable guest of honor was Sen. Bobby Kennedy, who rode in the parade June 4, 1968 – the day before his assassination at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. “He was very nice to everybody, really charming,” Wallin recalled in a recent interview.

Wallin predicted that the Strawberry Festival would be around for another 60 years.

“I’ll be gone,” he said, “but it will still be here.”

Wallin is survived by his wife, Marge, three children and six grandchildren. His memorial service will be at 1 p.m. Friday, Sept. 28, at KiwanisLand, 9840 Larson Ave., Garden Grove.