Downtown Grants Pass Finally Has a Plaza, and It Kept Its Parking on Purpose

"It is a hybrid space, so it is going to continue to serve as public parking, but will also be able to be used for various events," Community Development Director Bradley Clark told KOBI when construction started in March.

That one sentence is the whole design of Owl Plaza. The new space at 5th Street between G and H is a parking lot designed to turn into a room. It sits under the faded Owl cigar mural, and the city put $1.6 million of urban renewal money into it. The plan keeps public parking for ordinary days. On the evenings Grants Pass already gathers downtown, the same pavement becomes where it gathers.

The lot was already the town square

Long before any pavers went in, this city-owned lot a block off Highway 99 was where downtown held its biggest nights. KOBI described it as a longtime informal community hub. It hosted the annual Art Along the Rogue festival and the city's Christmas tree lighting before the project began.

Clark said the idea of a downtown gathering space had been "brewing for decades" in Grants Pass. The plan that finally moved forward rebuilds the place people were already using and leaves the parking in.

Residents asked to keep the parking

The design came out of public input collected through 2023. The city set up booths at local festivals, Porch Fest among them, and got more than 1,000 responses to a community survey.

The message Clark heard most often was direct.

"A lot of the feedback we got was keep some parking. They think that's important for downtown, but also have it be useful and have it be utilized."

So the plan kept the stalls and added the things a parking lot usually lacks. According to KOBI's construction report, the requested features in the final plans include:

• A "sail" shade structure
• String lighting strung over 5th Street
• New benches
• A curbless edge, so the plaza runs straight into the street with no step down
• Rebuilt intersections at 5th and G and at 5th and H, with new streetlights, trees and decorative pavers

The curbless edge does more than anything else on that list. A raised curb divides a lot from a street. Take it away, and closing 5th Street for an event turns the lot and the road into one continuous surface under the string lights. The design keeps the parking for everyday use and lets the plaza get much bigger on the nights it's needed.

Clark also mentioned a third use beyond parking and city events. He said the space could "potentially" be rented for "hosting other kinds of community festivals and things like that."

The owl stayed exactly where it was

The plaza is named for the painted Owl cigar advertisement that overlooks the lot. KOBI reported that the mural dates to the 1930s and spent decades hidden behind a neighboring building. It came back into view after a fire in the 1970s. It was painted with lead-based paint and has weathered naturally ever since.

"We're very intentional about preserving and keeping this historic mural for Grants Pass and not disturbing it in any way," Clark said. Builders usually clean up or replace what they find on a site. Here, the faded owl was something to work around and keep as it is.

Room for about 470 names in the patio

The City of Grants Pass also ran an Owl Plaza Brick Campaign that sold engraved paving bricks for the patio foundation near the sidewalks at 5th and H.

The Grants Pass Tribune laid out the rules in May:

1. About 470 bricks were expected to be available.
2. Each one cost $250 and came with a brass plaque.
3. Plaques had room for three lines of up to 18 characters each, spaces included.
4. Engravings were limited to names. Slogans, quotations, business taglines and personal phrases weren't allowed.
5. Josephine County businesses and civic groups could take part along with families.

Orders closed at 5 p.m. on June 1, 2026. The names-only rule was set up to keep the installation visually consistent. The Tribune reported that families were reserving bricks with household names, couples, children and multigenerational listings for the patio at 5th and H.

From first closure to first festival

The build took longer than planned. Here's the timeline from the public record:

The June 30 target passed with work still going. In its September highlights, posted October 1, the city said streetlights were being installed and electrical work was being finished on that block. No reason for the delay has been made public.

Downtown stayed open through the construction. KOBI reported that the sidewalks were kept clear for businesses like Dassh Bakery, which still had steady foot traffic on the first week of work. Clark encouraged people to "come down and still frequent the shops."

Opening day was planned around the hybrid idea. According to the Grants Pass Tribune, the ribbon-cutting was set for 3 p.m. on Friday, October 2, at the corner of Fifth and H. A Josephine Jukebox performance would follow later that afternoon to kick off the 23rd Art Along the Rogue chalk art and music festival. The city didn't schedule a separate unveiling. It scheduled the opening for the same afternoon as an event the lot had always hosted.

Visit Grants Pass placed the 2026 festival, October 2 through 4, around 5th Street between G and I. Its guide pointed festivalgoers to nearby stops including Cafe Nada Bar, Chilly Goose, Don's Bike Shop and Indie Jo. The city's October 9 recap said 40 artists took part over three days in the Historic District.

The first holiday season on the new pavement

Next up is the tree lighting, the other event that always used this lot. Visit Grants Pass lists the City of Grants Pass Tree Lighting Ceremony for Friday, December 4, 2026. It features a regional tree more than 40 feet tall in the center of 5th Street, a first-Friday holiday atmosphere downtown, and Santa's arrival. No start time had been posted as of the listing. The city's community events page is where city-sponsored event details are posted.

The tree stands in the middle of 5th Street, so this is the first year it goes up beside the new string lights, benches and curbless edge. The Grants Pass Christmas Parade on Saturday, December 12, runs a different route, along 6th Street from C Street to L Street from 6 to 8 p.m. Owl Plaza's first big December night is the tree lighting on the 4th.

If you're thinking about what a plaza like this means for the blocks around 5th and H, or you just want to compare notes on how downtown Grants Pass is changing, I'd love to hear from you. I'm happy to talk in English or Spanish about the streets you know best. Let's Connect with Mayra Valencia.