Stamford Downtown to Celebrate PARK(ing) Day

On Friday, Sept.18, parking spaces around the world will be temporarily transformed into lively and people-friendly public spaces, and this year Stamford will be joining in.

PARK(ing) Day began in 2005 when a San Francisco art and design studio called Rebar turned a metered parking space into a parklet for two hours, which was the meter’s time limit, in an experiment to redesign public space. The event has grown into a global initiative to activate public space, and parklets pop up on the third Friday in September annually.

Among the ways parklets have been designed around the world include an art gallery, a recycling station, a meditation room, a chess tournament, a wedding, a dance party and an urban garden.

Last year, a group of Stamford residents activated one parking space in front of Lorca, an independently owned coffeeshop downtown, with seating, tables, potted plants, board games and free treats donated by Lorca. It was a successful pilot project that proved to attract and engage passersby into the park let.

This year, Stamford Downtown Special Services District and the City of Stamford are partnering with volunteers from People Friendly Stamford and eleven downtown businesses and organizations to host PARK(ing) Day.

The goals of the PARK(ing) Day event in Stamford are to increase public space in the downtown, provide high quality amenities such as seating and landscaping to the streetscape, and enhance the livability of the downtown.

This event also seeks to inspire the public to think about how urban space is used. Streets comprise roughly 25% of the downtown land area. This event demonstrates how a fraction of the space used as on-street parking can be transformed into parks for public use.

Parklets are small, but they can make a BIG impact on the vibrancy and the livability of the downtown. They foster community simply by providing residents and visitors functional and flexible space to rest, interact, work, play or create.

Stamford Downtown and the City of Stamford offered this voluntary program to downtown businesses and organizations at no cost, but participation was limited. Eleven participants were selected based on the description of how they would furnish and activate their parklet: Lorca, Downtown Golf, The Ferguson Library, The Palace, Stamford Street Smart Initiative, Harmony Yoga, The Center for Sexual Assault Crisis Counseling & Education, Tacos Guadalajara, UFC Gym, Rippowam Labs and Franklin Street Works.

Stamford Downtown and the City will evaluate the program’s impact on the potential to provide additional public space and amenities to the streetscape and improve the livability of the downtown.

The Ferguson Library will have parking space on Bedford Street near the corner of Broad from 4 to 9 p.m. The Library will also have give-aways for people who stop by the space. Live music will be provided from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Ferguson’s ‘parklet’ by Barbara’s Serenade (BarbaraEntertains.com). Cuban vocalist Barbara Espinosa Occhino and her trio will perform a variety of jazz, Latin/international, pop, oldies and swing music. In the event of rain, the program will move inside the Library.

Contributed photos.