Grandview Park begins its second century of service this week with a celebration that might not have been anticipated 25 years ago. After years of decline, its entrance was black with grime, vandals had tagged benches and concrete surfaces and erosion and fallen trees had ruined the hillside trails.

Many people didn't know where it was, even some residents of Mount Washington and Allentown, which it straddles. That's still true, said Diane Delmer, a founder of Friends of Grandview Park. She has had to tell people who want to attend the park's birthday party how to get there.

The public celebration, with artists, food vendors, music and children's entertainment, will be from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.

The park's formal entrance is at Bailey and Beltzhoover avenues, but there is also an entrance at McLain Street, beside Grandview Elementary School.

At its most visible, Grandview, at 40 acres, has never been more than a neighborhood park, even with world-class views of the city. But today, poised to anchor the city's fifth great park -- now called Grand View Scenic Byway -- Grandview Park is proof that it's always a few devoted people who pull the wagon.

The park's friends group is 10 years old and has six active members. Ms. Delmer is "the force" behind it all, said Ilyssa Manspeizer, the parks resource manager for the Mount Washington Community Development Corp.

Since forming, the group has lobbied the city and raised money to sandblast a hundred years of soot off the stone entrance; install lights and a safer surface at the playground; put in new picnic tables: repair the overlook; add signs; maintain the trails with help from the Student Conservation Association; plant trees and plants in the lawns; and establish a schedule of summer movies on the knoll overlooking the city.

The group, with support from the Allentown Community Development Corp., also has organized concerts and events for dog-owners and installed doggie-bag dispensers.

"We have had positive feedback from neighbors, more requests for weddings in the park, more people going through the park every day and more neighbors involved in volunteer events," said Ms. Delmer.

Several years ago, she successfully petitioned to keep the veteran caretaker, Donado Panella.

A city's public works employee assigned to Grandview Park, Mr. Panella was going to be shifted elsewhere when Ms. Delmer found out from a neighbor and immediately started a petition drive to keep him.

A resident of Hazelwood, Mr. Panella has been taking care of the park for more than 30 years, a labor of love that Ms. Delmer said accounts for its charm. "Don can name every tree in this park," she said.

Interrupted in his mowing, he demurred on that point with a shrug and a smile but allowed that "taking care of this park, I guess, keeps me young."

"Once I was sent here," he said, "I kind of fell in love with it."

On a tour of the hillside trails that day, Ms. Delmer and Ms. Manspeizer each scampered up or down a slope to retrieve a piece of litter. As the trail dipped into the woods, the city skyline disappeared. Only the sound of traffic washing over the valley below signified the city.

The trail passed a century-old stone wall, then proceeded across a footbridge built recently by a group from the Student Conservation Association.

Along the way, where a 1930s-era stairwell was crumbling, Ms. Manspeizer said the Mount Washington Community Development Corp. is conducting an inventory of trails to build a priority list of things that need to be done.

Ms. Delmer moved to Mount Washington in 1982 and began walking through the park. She began picking up litter, then she organized her neighbors to join Mr. Panella in his care-taking.

"A lot of people feel it's not up to them, it's up to the city, but that's not true. Unless you have a vocal group to take care of a park," the city doesn't initiate extras.

"I saw what a jewel Grandview Park could be," she said. "It just needed some tender loving care."

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