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Armando Mejorado, left, and Gary Desmond own one of the houses on the Saturday Koi Pond tour.
The artist who designed the Fantasy Fountain’s new look will provide a chance to learn about and see his inspiration Saturday.
Armando Mejorado’s koi pond will be part of the 2013 Shasta Koi and Water Garden Club’s annual tour. The owners of eight koi water gardens, which are filled with koi or goldfish and typically resemble tiny lakes, will show their creations and take questions during the tour Saturday, said Karlene Stoker, with the club.
They range from a cattle cistern filled with fish to Mejorado’s 8,500 gallon pond that contains 28 koi.
“They’re like living art,” said Mejorado.
He said he had just put in a 1,500-gallon Koi pond at his home when he was told to come up with a design for Enterprise Park’s Fantasy Fountain, which was being redone.
The colorful fish quickly became his favorite animal as he learned of, and added, more colorful varieties.
“We kept buying more and more. Pretty soon it got overcrowded,” he said.
So, Mejorado said he replaced the pond with a new one with more than five times the original’s capacity. The additional gallons also provide room for up to 80 fish.
One side of the pond is nearly 25 feet long and the pond is almost five feet deep in one spot. “People that keep looking at it, they think the new pond looks like a swimming pool compared to a round fountain that you’d see in a courtyard,” he said.
Stoker said Mejorado isn’t alone in his desire to expand his pond.
“Once you get a pond, the only thing you wish you did differently is (that) you made it bigger,” Stoker said.
Mejorado said his pond features a fountain and grasses around the water to create a scene reminiscent of nature. The landscaping has transformed his yard into another part of his home.
“We are out there everyday,” he said. “Before, it was a regular lawn you walk through to get to the door.”
It’s the first year his pond has been featured on the biennial tour, which has served as a fundraiser for the club since the 1980s.
Tour tour tickets, which come with guidebooks, cost $10. They are available at Axner Excavating, Sunset Koi, Jose Antonio’s, Wyntour Gardens and Vic Hannon Landscaping in Redding. They can be purchased at Blue Iris Quilt Shop in Palo Cedro and Kirk’s Body Shop in Red Bluff.
For more information, visit www.shastakoiclub.com.
If you go
Who: Adults, children
What: 2013 Koi pond and water garden tour
When: Saturday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Where: Eight properties in the north state. Directions available with tickets, which cost $10 for adults. Children 12 and under free.
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