The Chicago Tribune describes the nearly crazed demand for the Chicago Park District’s recreational programming. Th article indicates that a rush to get into classes was happening in “thousands of homes across the city Monday, as parents frantically attempted to get their children into the 10-week spring classes including gymnastics ($47), basketball ($20) and children’s [...]
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With snow falling everywhere east of the Missouri River, we thought it a good time to further mention some things that make parks lighten the load of winter’s cold and ice. Most of this actually involves embracing it. One example is the Winter Carnival or Festival. Whether it be St. Paul’s Winter Carnival, Ottawa’s Winterlude [...]
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Andrew Turco of the Regional Plan Association has some good thoughts on accommodating soccer as it rises in popularity in the U.S.: Not only does this new population of soccer players put a certain type of new demand on grassy public space, but even within this diverse group of players, different sub-groups place different demands [...]
Filed under: facilities, programming | Tagged: soccer | 4 Comments »
What if your office was a park? That’s essentially what the Breakout! Festival in New York City is trying to foster by setting up temporary workspaces in parks, plazas and other public spaces throughout the city. Breakout! is essentially an on-line networking tool that helps people and teams locate stimulating, serene and serendipitous places to [...]
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Winter does not have to be a time for cold weather parks to shut down. Often, a lively winter park can help bring vibrancy to the city around it. Here are five items (especially for center city parks) worth considering for the cold: 1. Ice Skating. Detroit’s Campus Martius Park is a prime example of [...]
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The Boston Globe visited Houston’s Discovery Green wondering why that park is being used so much and its own Rose Kennedy Greenway so little given its high profile location. The article points out that the Greenway has not yet instituted the types of features and programming to bring more people in — there are no [...]
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The Labor Day picnic is a common event to city parks across the country. eHow actually brings us a five step plan for doing so: Step 1. Don’t stress over the preparations. Make it easy on yourself by buying pre-made food or putting together simple snacks and drinks. Since it’s Labor Day, try to honor [...]
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EPA administrator Lisa Jackson urged in the Huffington Post recently that environmentalism and climate change efforts ought to connect with a more diverse audience. She writes: Over the years, environmentalism has largely been seen as an enclave of the privileged. The term “environmentalism” brings to mind pristine wilderness and wide-open landscapes. What doesn’t come to [...]
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The New York Times reports on a program in New York City to get more kids golfing. The City Parks Foundation expanded this program to include a new kid-oriented golf course in Brooklyn but the article also offers some insight into how programming ball fields as driving ranges can get kids playing where courses are [...]
Filed under: partnerships, programming | Tagged: golf, new york city | 2 Comments »
As we enter the Independence Day weekend, we will see streams of Americans enter their city parks to see this: And eat these: And listen to this: Over a half million people regularly attend fireworks on the National Mall and city parks across the country will see people attending music festivals, parades, picnics and other [...]
Filed under: programming | Tagged: usership | 2 Comments »
