Riverlife yesterday urged Pittsburghers to donate to the renovation of the broken fountain at Point State Park before a matching grant pledge expires Tuesday.

The fountain has been shut off for more than a year except for special occasions because it needs $6 million in repairs, part of an overall $42 million overhaul of the park.

Riverlife's Friends of the Fountain campaign has raised $564,000 from corporations, which will be matched dollar-for-dollar by a grant from the Colcom Foundation.

But the foundation pledged up to $1 million in matching funds, so Riverlife is asking for public donations to come up with the remaining $436,000 to get the full match before the challenge expires.

The fountain has been a symbol of Pittsburgh since the mid-1970s and Riverlife said the restoration will make it better than it's ever been.

"We can't imagine the Point without the fountain," said Lisa Schroeder, executive director.

Donations are being accepted at www.riverlifepgh.org.

In addition, Friends of the Fountain will set up a booth for donations near the Clemente Bridge during Light-Up Night tomorrow. Volunteers also will be selling $20 "Fountain Ducks" at the booth. People who buy the rubber duckies are encouraged to bring them to the fountain dedication in 2011, where they will be placed in the fountain pool.

All the money from the purchases is going to the campaign, Riverlife said.

Even without the full match from Colcom, Ms. Schroeder said the campaign will continue. She said the Point looked bare without the fountain spouting during the last Steelers game and that Pittsburghers need to rally to get it working.

"We're going to keep pushing," she said.

Organizations and individuals that give $10,000 or more to the project will have their names engraved on a plaque that is part of the design.

The fountain is the last piece of the master plan for the park put together by the state, the Allegheny Conference on Community Development and Riverlife, formerly the Riverlife Task Force. About $25 million of the total cost comes from the state.

The fountain has never really been all it could be, Riverlife said.

Many of the ideas for Point State Park, designed by landscape architects Stotz and Griswald in 1954, were never realized by the time the project was finished in 1974 because there wasn't enough money.

But the reconstruction is supposed to restore the original design.

The restoration of the fountain includes relocating the pumps to higher ground, so they're above the flood plain; upgrading the lighting; raising the plaza area so that the fountain rim becomes a comfortable seating area; and installing an inner rim to raise the water elevation.

In addition, there will be an area for children to get wet.

"Kids of all ages will be able to splash around in the fountain," said Ms. Schroeder.

Torsten Ove can be reached at tove@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1510.

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