Riverwalk designer Rick Hitchcock told the story Friday of how community willpower transformed a gasoline station into the Dandelion Fountain.

The same investment in their city led others to plant flowers where Naperville used to park its squad cars, and installed red- brick paths where the city stored its yard refuse.

"This is what $1.2 million buys you," Hitchcock said. "It buys an acre and a half of really fabulous riverfront park."

And that was just the first year. Since 1981, the Riverwalk has grown to 75 acres and four miles of paths, becoming "the centerpiece of Naperville," said Hitchcock, who has guided the landscape design of the Riverwalk since its inception 20 years ago.

In May, Hitchcock's landscape architecture firm took over as lead design consultant for the Riverwalk. He was the featured speaker Friday at the Riverwalk Foundation's "Founders to the Future" fund-raising breakfast at the Judd Kendall VFW Post 3873.

The foundation is planning a series of Riverwalk events timed around the four seasons. Roughly 245 people bought tickets for Friday's fall equinox breakfast, which raised more than $8,000.

The money will help pay for Riverwalk enhancements over and above the projects funded by the city and park district, foundation President Ruth Fawell said.

When the east extension was finished earlier this year, the Riverwalk reached its final boundaries. But its caretakers still have a wish list of improvements.

The park needs new maps, Hitchcock said. The canoe launch consists of a muddy riverbank. The vehicular bridges could use remodeling, and structural failure in the concrete near the Gregory Gazebo must be fixed.

"This is not the most flattering part of the Riverwalk," Hitchcock said, gesturing to a photo of the gazebo, enclosed in chain-link fence. "We don't want to be making apologies to our kids for the way this is looking."

Next week, Hitchcock and the Riverwalk Commission will make a pitch for the biggest project on the list, the $1.7 million development of Fredenhagen Park on Washington Street.

Hitchcock's design features a clock tower serving as a gateway at the edge of the street, leading to boulevard-style paths that direct pedestrians toward a central fountain. Plans also call for arbors, gardens and a building that could house restrooms, a scarce amenity on the Riverwalk.

The city council is due to consider the proposal at a workshop Tuesday.

Hitchcock likens Fredenhagen Park to the very first part of the Riverwalk around the Dandelion Fountain, dedicated on Labor Day 1981. The two are roughly the same size, hold similarly prominent positions in the neighborhood and require comparable investments from the community, he said.

He called on the city to continue its support of "one of our most valuable assets," a park that serves both as a rallying point for the community and as a economic catalyst.