Yuba City’s big new park named after Didar Bains

The name for the planned new park off Harter Parkway in Yuba City was officially chosen on Tuesday during a city council meeting.

In honor of his contribution to the community, the Yuba City City Council under its consent agenda adopted a resolution for the name of the new park to be Harter Parkway Didar S. Bains Park.

In its staff report, the city said Bains, the founder of the Tierra Buena Sikh Temple and the annual Sikh Parade, is a “significant figure” in Yuba City.

“As a board member of the California Canning Peach Association, Mr. Bains has had a direct impact on California’s

agricultural policies, establishing a long list of benefits to local growers and farmers,” the staff report said. “Mr. Bains meets the criteria for candidacy per the newly adopted City Parks and Facilities Naming Policy.”

With an estimated total cost of $3,257,029.77, Harter Parkway Didar S. Bains Park will have features that include 42 parking spots, two pavilion areas with shade structures, bathroom facilities, a bike park, a well-lit walking path around the park, an exercise and fitness area, a full-court basketball court, and a playground area for children.

In a letter to the city requesting that the park be named for Bains, several family, friends and community leaders offered their support for the decision. They included Karm Bains, Harpreet B. Bains, Kash Gill, John Cassidy,

Rory Ramirez, Gayle Barkhouse, Karen Cartoscelli, and Kary Hauck.

“The land where the new park at Harter Parkway will be built, was donated by Didar S. Bains and his partners in business, making the development of the public park possible,” the letter to the city said. “A prolific farmer, the land for which this park will sit was just one of the orchards that Mr. Bains farmed, which makes the naming of the park in his honor fitting.”

In the letter, Bains’ experience in this country can best be described as the prototypical American dream that so many immigrants who come to the United States hope to achieve.

“Didar Singh Bains arrived in the US in 1958 with $8 to his name and the belief that money could grow on trees,” the letter said. “A young Sikh farmer, Didar believed that farming is close to Godliness. When he took a whiff of the prime Columbian loam lining the fields of Yuba City, he knew he’d found paradise and home.”

The letter said that during Bains’ peak farming days, he farmed thousands of acres of land in 13 counties and three different countries. He also served on the Board of Directors for the California Canning Peach Association for more than 30 years, helping to establish prices and negotiating sales that continue to benefit peach growers.

Bains is also recognized, the letter said, as a worldwide religious leader and the founder of the World Sikh Organization.

“By naming the park at Harter Parkway in honor of Didar S. Bains, the City of Yuba City is honoring Didar Bains’ tireless commitment, fearless leadership and generous spirit which has given hope to thousands of people both here and abroad while honoring Didar’s priceless local contributions,” the letter concluded.

Public comment

While the resolution naming the new park was on the consent agenda, typically a portion of government meetings that isn’t met with much resistance from the public and is often noncontroversial, there was one voice speaking out to offer an alternative name.

Manny Cardoza, a former Yuba City

City Council member, suggested that the park be named after former Yuba City Mayor Bob Barkhouse.

Barkhouse, who died in 2019, was a former member of several local, state and national committees and organizations over the years, the Appeal previously reported. Locally, he served on planning commissions and was a longtime

Yuba City City Council member, having served as mayor on three separate occasions.

“When he first got onto the city council, he pushed for a third bridge because of the growing traffic problems. When that wasn’t going to happen, he started pushing to get a bigger Fifth Street Bridge. He also helped with the Plumas Street revitalization project,” Gayle Barkhouse, Bob Barkhouse’s wife of 56 years, said in 2019. “We didn’t think we’d be alive to see the Fifth Street Bridge completed, so he was really proud to be there and cut the ribbon during the opening ceremony.”

Cardoza said Councilman Shon

Harris previously said that a park should be named after the former councilman.

“Four years ago, at that time it was Mayor Harris (who) made a nice speech at Mr. Barkhouse’s service and made a comment that we were gonna name a park after him,” Cardoza said. “And myself and the remaining three council members up here … we all agreed upon it and said, ‘Yes, that’d be a great thing to do, name a park after Mr. Barkhouse after everything he’s done for our community.’ Now, this would be the perfect time to do this. … It’s very difficult to change a park’s name. We have a new park without a name on it and this would have been the time to name it after Mr. Barkhouse. Now, I have nothing against Didar Bains. He’s a wonderful man. He’s done wonderful things for our community, as much as Mr. Barkhouse has, but Mr. Barkhouse has done great things for the city of Yuba City.”

Meghan Bains, the granddaughter of Didar Bains, said she didn’t expect to comment on the action, but decided to speak up in support of her grandfather after Cardoza made his suggestion.

“I believe everything that my grandfather has done for this community should be recognized and he has done so much,” Meghan Bains said. “... Highlighting some of the things that he’s done, he’s brought in so much to the city of Yuba City. … The original Walmart to the Super Walmart, Sam’s Club, Lowe’s, the whole development in that general area was done by Didar Singh Bains and the city has been collecting tax revenue and all sorts of money from that original development that happened years and years ago.”

As suggested in the letter sent to the city, Meghan Bains said

Didar Bains has been a “really significant symbol of what the American dream” is.

“Living in this community, growing up here, I aspire to see people that come into our community and get the chance that he got,” Meghan Bains said. “I think whenever you say Didar Singh Bains and you think of the American dream, you can almost say them synonymously. … Also given the fact that the location of the park will be on land that he will be donating is quite monumental and significant in that sense as well.”

Lee Jones, owner of The Harkey House bed and breakfast in Yuba City, also spoke in support of naming the park after Didar Bains.

“I have a little bit of history of the Bains family and what she (Meghan Bains) said is absolutely true, they’re (an) American dream,” Jones said. “We had a film crew in a few months ago, the film is called, ‘From the land of milk and honey,’ and they were in Yuba City to honor the Bains family, film the Bains family, tell the story. … The

Bains family, I know for decades and decades, I’ve only been here 50-some years, but they truly had a lot in the development of the city of Yuba City in a very positive manner.”