Zanjero Park is 2 months from completion

Gilbert’s nearly completed Zanjero Park at Lindsay Road and Loop 202’s Santan Freeway overpass is still a while away from opening.

“We’re still a couple of months away,” town spokesman Greg Svelund said.

The park is named after the zanjeros, early settlers who traveled along area canals on horseback.

“A zanjero was somebody who worked on the canals to get irrigation to the farmers,” Svelund said. “We’ve been, for the last couple of years, taking a closer look at our heritage.”

By watering the farms, zanjeros helped Gilbert establish its farming industry and thus brought more people to town, he said.

The name comes from the Spanish words “zanja” — a deep ditch or irrigation ditch — and “zanjon” — a ditch or irrigation overseer. The 11-acre park is costing about $12.8 million to construct.

The park includes covered ramadas with picnic tables and barbecues as well as watering troughs and hitching posts for horses.

The park is one of three that the town, along with the Arizona Department of Transportation, has built on Gilbert’s section of the Santan Freeway.

Cosmo Park, Gilbert’s nationally acclaimed dog park at Ray Road and the freeway, opened in 2006. And Discovery Park, near Pecos and Greenfield roads, opened that same year.