If you’ve walked between Kilwin’s Chocolates and Pangea Pizza from the parking lot to the 100 block of East Front Street, you’ve gone through Traverse City’s smallest park. What’s more, you’ve also passed Grandpa’s Fountain.

Yes, the pass-through connecting a parking lot with Front Street is indeed a park. And the Jay Smith Walkway, named for a former Traverse City Record-Eagle editor, is home to the city’s only fountain, which is occasionally used as a wishing well by passersby.

“It’s a pocket park,” says Linda Smyka, who was serving as Traverse City’s mayor when the fountain was created 11 years ago. “My recollection is that staff brought it (the idea of a fountain) to the city commission. I thought it was a genius thing for the city and staff to do.”

She admits she had concerns about people abusing or trashing it, which is what led at least in part to its name. “We thought calling it Grandfather’s Fountain might deter the vandals,” Smyka says.

Though he isn’t sure if that’s the reason, Dave Weston, the planning and zoning administrator for the city, says the park is typically in pretty good shape. Weston has taken responsibility for maintaining it. “Over the years I’ve been taking care of it. I do it on my own time before I come in to work,” he says.

Weston says funding for the fountain came from a number of sources, including a grant from Traverse City Light and Power, the DDA, the city’s general fund and private donations. It provides a sort of centerpiece for the park. “That was the whole idea,” says Smyka.

The park includes outdoor tables and chairs, where people sometimes stop to eat, play games or simply pass the time. It’s also often a home for buskers. Its visibility and surroundings make it appealing for troubadors and instrumentalists alike.

It’s also a popular place for public art projects. It’s hosted ice-carving demonstrations and been the site of a “yarn bomb” with the trees, plants and furnishings wrapped in colorful yarn (it also boasts one of seven downtown drinking fountains).

On occasion, some have found it amusing to put soap in Grandpa’s Fountain, resulting in a cascade of foam and bubbles, which Weston says prompts a shutdown while city workers drain, clean, and refill the fountain.

Those with long memories might recall a similar, larger fountain located in what used to be an open space between NBT/NBD (now Chase Bank) and the building to the west. That space is now a construction zone for a new four-story building. City Treasurer Bill Twietmeyer says there also used to be a wishing well at (former) Clinch Park Zoo. Today, Grandpa’s Fountain is the only one where kids can make a wish.

Funds collected from the fountain help to pay for its maintenance. “At the end of the season when it is drained and turned off, someone from Park Service will collect the coins,” says Twietmeyer. “They go into city’s general fund as ‘other income. It’s no more than $100. It helps cover the cost of running it.”