Take a stroll around Auburn some time, and you’re bound to see plenty of great stuff familiar and new, and fun activities making every square centimeter of you itch all over to check ‘em out.
Like the Postmark Center for the Arts in the remodeled, former Auburn Post Office downtown, not to mention the Teen and Community Center in Les Gove Park, the latter the realization of a dream long held by Auburn residents.
And in the spring and summer months, festivals a-plenty to suit all tastes — from Petpalooza, the annual pet extravaganza that barks, meows, whinnies, oinks, grunts and flaps to life one day every May, attracting some 15,000 people to Game Farm Park. Then, there’s Kids Day and the Auburn International Farmers Market in Les Gove Park.
Even the new Columbarium at Mountain View Cemetery.
And that’s barely skimming the surface.
What all these recent and diverse additions to Auburn’s landscape have in common is that the fingerprints, elbow grease and sweat of Auburn Parks, Arts and Recreation Director Daryl Faber and his hardworking staff — the folks tasked with shepherding the projects through their earliest stages to opening day — are all over them.
Recently, taking a breather from a typically crowded day in his memento-packed office next to the Teen and Community Center in Les Gove Park, the affable Faber reflected on his incredibly productive, 22-year-long career with the City of Auburn.
“There’s been a lot of program growth and project growth,” Faber said. “It’s really diverse, which is one of the things I love about this department and this city. Adding the finished projects up, I think we’re talking about six different park sites and open space, the Community and Teen Center, a new Clubhouse at the Golf Course, and we’ve taken our special events to a new level with Petpalooza and the Santa Parade.”
“Things everywhere. It’s all a lot of work on staff’s part, but at the same time, it’s such a pleasure that we can bring it all to the community,” Faber added.
Perhaps all the more meaningful now that Faber intends to retire in 2025.
You will not a meet a soul more affable than Faber, who, despite the work and the pressure and the deadlines that come with making big things happen, is always ready with a funny line, a grin or laugh. And without a doubt, there’s a quiet pride there in all of the accomplishments, which he loves to talk about.
A favorite topic is the Postmark, a new downtown civic gathering space, which opened in 2023 in the former Auburn Post Office. After years of moving from place to place, Auburn’s artistic sorts now have a place to hang around, with painters to paint, poets to poeticize, teachers to teach. Not only that, but the community now has a place to appreciate the many works of art on display there.
“The Postmark Center is just an amazing new site, and should be done with the lower level there in the next month,” Faber said. “And we’re going to get a new theater adjoining that civic-gathering space. We’ve also added a lot of things to get people outdoors, like our new Bike Park (at Cedar Lanes Park). We’ve got huge, outdoor pursuits with snowshoeing and bicycling. We’ve really focused in the last few years that, no matter how much money you’ve got, you’ll have access to our programs, like at the senior center, and in our youth programs. Everyone should have a chance to explore the Northwest.”
Some projects Faber knows he will not be around to see to their conclusion include the theater and the future Jacobsen Tree Farm on Lea Hill, to which the Auburn City Council recently gave its approval in the six-year plan for parks, recreation and open space, which cities must have in hand in order to get matching funds.
“Now, we’ll be able to get matching funds for the Tree Farm Park,” Faber said, estimating three or four years will pass until the trucks start to roll.
“It will come and it’s a great site, just to the south of Jacobsen Elementary and Mountainview High School,” Faber said.
For all of it, Faber is quick to credit the foresight of the community, its leaders and his staff.
“I have been surrounded here by just great people in every arena. When we have jobs open, we really do draw good people to come and work here. That helps too. And the community and council have always been supportive. And it’s not like we’ve had great growth in our budget more than any other department,” Faber said, noting his department has had to do its own belt-tightening in recent years.
And, he added, “Auburn has a good name in the area for its arts and entertainment and events and spaces.”
