Farmed since 1929, the last private owners of this 53-acre piece of property were Lars and Gina Berg who, along with their son Lloyd, ran Berg’s Blueberry Farm from 1952 until 1968. In that year the property was purchased by Tacoma School District #10 for the future site of a new high school.

An active neighborhood group opposed the construction of a new school on this property as well as another proposal for a housing development. The school district’s plans were abandoned and in 1994 the district traded 23 acres at the northern end of the property to Parks Tacoma for a portion of Manitou Park to be used for the construction of a new Manitou Elementary School.

Rather than have the park developed with sports fields and play equipment, the neighbors again organized, wrote grants, and made plans to clear the land of unwanted vegetation and save the blueberry plants. In 1997 Parks Tacoma officially named this new park Blueberry Park. Volunteers continue to meet monthly to weed, prune and care for the over 4,000 blueberry plants in the park.

In 2010 The Parks Tacoma Board of Park Commissioners unanimously voted to change the name of this park to Charlotte’s Blueberry Park in honor of long-time Blueberry Park advocate and founder of Friends of Blueberry Park, Charlotte Valbert. Our organization and staff were blessed to be among the many lives touched by Charlotte’s generous spirit and civic leadership.

Today five varieties of blueberries are grown at Charlotte’s Blueberry Park. Picking time runs from June through October each year. The berries are free to anyone willing to pick and hopefully pull out a weed or two while they are there.

Charlotte’s Blueberry Park is an urban oasis. This ‘greenspace park’ contains fields, wetlands, meadows, and woods that benefit people and nature in many different ways.

Of the 20 acres in Charlotte’s Blueberry Park, 10 acres are wetlands that help cleanse the water of pollutants and recharge our city’s wells that provide us drinking water. Its green plants remove pollutants from the air and help keep us cool on a hot summer day. The diverse habitats that are found here sustain a wide variety of wildlife including birds and small animals.

The Parks Tacoma Board of Park Commissioners unanimously voted to change the name of this park to Charlotte’s Blueberry Park on August 23, 2010 in honor of long-time Blueberry Park advocate and founder of Friends of Blueberry Park, Charlotte Valbert. Our organization and staff were blessed to be among the many lives touched by Charlotte’s generous spirit and civic leadership.

(July 4, 1928- August 16, 2010)

Now more than 3,372 bushes, representing five varieties of blueberry, produce fruit. Picking season typically runs from July through September each year.

Parks Tacoma does not use any pesticides or fertilizers on the blueberry plants and there is no fee to pick the blueberries which are first-come-first-serve during picking season.

This neighborhood park covers 20 acres and is owned by Parks Tacoma. More than 10 of the park’s acres are wetlands and cannot be disturbed.

New Community Garden – 2018

Parks Tacoma opened its eighth community gardening site where neighbors share the love of cultivating vegetables, fruit, and flowers.

The newest plot at the north end of Charlotte’s Blueberry Park, 7402 E. D St., is among many Parks Tacoma capital projects funded in whole or in part by the $198 million, 20-year bond approved by voters in 2014.

The Pierce Conservation District oversees it and Parks Tacoma’ Proctor garden and those at Franklin, Kandle, McCarver, Neighbors, Rogers and Swan Creek parks.

The garden at Charlotte’s Blueberry Park includes:

• More than 600 square feet of in-ground planting beds
• 6 above-ground 4-by-8 foot planter boxes
• 5 handicapped-accessible, above-ground 2 ½ -by-8 foot planter boxes

New Playground – 2019

Thanks to community engagement and design planning completed in partnership with The Trust for Public Land, the playground was completed in summer 2019.

It is situated next to a community garden and has slides, a small climbing structure, balance beams, music play and more. An elevated lookout lets children see over the blueberry bushes. Subdued colors help the play area blend in with its surroundings. This project was possible thanks to a generous grant from Kaiser Permanente.