PARK(ing) Day

I consider myself pretty lucky to live Fairfield. It's a nice, middle class town; we have great schools, 2 fabulous shopping districts with an abundance of stores--both chain and mom and pop--and a ton of parks and open space.

One thing Fairfield doesn't have--to my knowledge, anyway--is an active participant in PARK(ing) Day. What on earth is PARK(ing) Day, you ask?

Originally created by Rebar, San Francisco art and design collective, PARK(ing) Day is an annual, one-day, global event where artists, activists, and citizens collaborate to temporarily transform metered parking spots into “PARK(ing)” spaces: temporary public parks.

Anyone can participate in PARK(ing) Day, though it is strictly a non-commercial project, intended to promote creativity, civic engagement, critical thinking, unscripted social interactions, generosity and play.

When on earth is PARK(ing) Day? Tomorrow!



I wish I had the time and the resources to do something like this! Plaid, an agency in Danbury, does:

Employees with Plaid, an interactive firm based in the city, are planning to spruce up one of the parking spaces in front of their office at 155 Main St. as part of the international PARK(ing) Day.

The project, which includes more than 500 "PARK" installations on four continents, is aimed at challenging people to rethink the way streets are used and reinforces the need for broad-based changes to urban infrastructure.

Employees with Plaid are planning to line their parking space with a large rug, along with a couch and other chairs that residents passing by are welcome to use. There will also be free wi-fi access available -- many of the company employees plan to do their work from the parking space on Friday.

New York City has it's own PARK(ing) Day planned as well:

Park(ing) Day NYC is a New York City Streets Renaissance collaboration which supports the conversion of parking spots throughout New York City's 5 boroughs into human-friendly places for a single day. These small, temporary public spaces provide a breath of relief from the auto-clogged reality of New York City, and aim to spark dialogue about our valuable public space and how we choose to use it.

Awesome, awesome, awesome! Let me know if you come across any PARK(ing) Day displays, I'd love to see it!