COEUR d'ALENE - After being closed for more than a year, the east side of McEuen Park will open to the public on Friday.

The soft opening of the new park will allow the public to access some of the major amenities of the park.

According to Keith Erickson, spokesman for the city, the playground, basketball courts, tennis courts and dog park will be opened.

The splash pad area will be open too, but the water will not be turned on yet, said interim Parks Director Bill Greenwood.

"We don't usually turn any of our splash pads on or charge them until after Memorial Day," Greenwood said. "The temperatures are usually too low and we don't want to waste the water."

Erickson said two of the stairwells to the parking garage will also be opened.

"We will have one at Fourth Street and one at Fifth Street opened," he said, adding the Centennial Trail should be paved next week.

On Friday, crews were finishing the boardwalk that sticks out over the lake on the southwest corner of the park near the Harbor House.

Erickson said a portion of that area will be opened on May 2 as well, and that will restore the western entrance to Tubbs Hill.

The grand pavilion will remain closed except for the family bathroom area, which will be opened Friday, he said.

Most of the area that will remain closed to the public is the amphitheater area, which has yet to be hydro-seeded.

The Harbor House will also remain closed while contractors put the finishing touches on that building and the pavilion.

Greenwood said the rest of the park should be complete by the grand opening celebration on May 24. That event is still being planned, but it will include a ribbon-cutting as well as food, drink and music.

"All of the softscape areas will be installed by the grand opening," he said. "But we will still want to keep people off those areas until the grass has had enough time to mature."

The artwork will also be phased in at different times, but Greenwood said he believes it should all be in place by the Park Day celebration on July 12.

"That will be an all-day party starting with a pancake feed in the morning," he said, adding there will be events all day and into the evening.

"We will also have a beer and wine garden," he said. "And the Rhythm Dawgs will play later in the day. It should last until 9 or 10 in the evening."