PARK(ing) Day to showcase pop-up parks in Dallas
Friday, September 20th has been declared International PARK(ing) Day, and for the third year Dallas area citizens will celebrate by transforming downtown’s parking spaces into miniature parks. The event is intended to promote social interaction, civic engagement, critical thinking, and creativity through individual generosity and play. Utilizing permitted on-street parking spaces, citizens are challenged to create welcoming parks that propose or demonstrate non-commercial ideas for the City’s smaller public spaces. Temporary in nature, these colorful spaces revert back to vehicle parking after several hours. In 2012 Dallas participated with over 50 parks including a yoga space, dog park, outdoor art gallery and reading lounge. This year PARK(ing) Day will take place in over 35 countries worldwide on the same day.
PARK(ing) Day Dallas 2013 focuses on parking space transformations along Main Street between Field Street and St Paul Street, along with other areas of downtown Dallas. Activities will begin with a ribbon cutting at 11:00am at Pegasus Plaza and continue until 7:00pm. A PARK(ing) Day after-party for participants and guests will continue activities at centrally-located City Tavern from 7:00–9:00pm.
A popular component of the event is free entertainment showcasing local musicians througout the day. Organized by Deep Dallas Music, scheduled entertainers include Sugarfoote & Company, The BoomBachs, Eddie Lott, Pearl Street Riot, Joel Wells, Mike Freiley, Mary Harvey, Tony Rey and Ann Stover. Musicians wanting to be involved can send an email to [email protected].
There is no charge to participate and local businesses, organizations and individuals are encouraged to complete online registration by Tuesday, September 10th. The event is completely organized by volunteers
and relies on sponsorships from the community. A full list of sponsors, participants and event details can be found here.