The Franklin Park Coalition presents Winter Festival 2024 on Saturday, February 3 from 1 – 4. This is a free indoor/outdoor event. It there is snow, dress to play outside. The address is the Franklin Park Clubhouse, 1 Circuit Drive in Boston. For more information visit https://franklinparkcoalition.org/ or email admin@franklinparkcoalition.org. Bragging rights go to people who find the typo in the poster.
On Saturday September 6, 2014, the Boston Public Health Commission, community stakeholders and over 300 volunteers will come together for the City of Boston’s first Parks Count.
Parks Count will track park usage to better understand who is using Boston’s parks, what features the parks are being used for, and establish measures for new community programs and health initiatives. Each park will have its own designated meeting space.
Parks Count volunteers will team up at entrances to each of the 10 selected parks and keep a running tally of visitors. As people leave the park, they will be invited to take a quick survey about park assets, interests and personal demographics. This information helps city and community officials understand why residents are using certain parks over others. Through this information, BPHC hopes to make a strong case to allocate more resources, initiatives and programs for Boston parks serving low-income and multi-ethnic residents.
Help us make this first ever Boston Parks Count a success by volunteering! Please contact: Jose Masso at jmasso@bphc.org or visit www.bostoncares.org/parkscount to sign up. You do not have to be a Boston Cares member to volunteer.
Volunteers will be paired up and will work in 2.5 hour shifts at select park entrances.
Volunteers can choose for the following parks:
1. Walker Playground (Mattapan)
2. Ramsay Park (South End)
3. Noyes Playground (East Boston)
4. Healy Playground (Roslindale)
5. Roberts Playground (Dorchester)
6. Ringer Playground (Brighton)
7. Smith Playground (Allston)
8. Ross Playground (Hyde Park)
9. Malcolm X (Roxbury)
10. Billings Field (West Roxbury)
To pick a park and sign up for a specific time, please visit www.bostoncares.org/parkscount. Shifts run from 7:30 am – 6 pm, and the project is co-sponsored by the Boston Public Health Commission, the Franklin Park Coalition, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, REACH Coalition, and the Harvard School of Public Health.
On Saturday, May 17, bike to the Franklin Park Playstead Ballfields, Pierpont Road, Boston, or you can get a free bike “rental†of any size to ride on paved park paths. Kites that are easy to fly will be for sale starting at just a few dollars up to big, fancy ones. Bring a picnic lunch or enjoy fare from local food trucks. Sponsored by the Franklin Park Coalition, Discover Roxbury, the Boston Parks Department, and Boston Bikes. The event runs from 11 – 4, and you can find directions and more information at www.franklinparkcoalition.org.
We have received a letter from our good friends at Boston Park Advocates which we wish to share with our readers:
Help make parks and open spaces a priority for Boston’s candidates. The Boston Park Advocates is a network of people and organizations who champion our city’s parks and open spaces. You may have been involved in the past, attending a workshop, as sponsor of a candidates’ forum, or by testifying at a city budget hearing.
We’re jumping into this exciting campaign season. Will you join us? Here’s what’s happening:
Mayoral Candidates’ Forum on Thursday, August 15th 7-9pm at the Franklin Park Golf Clubhouse.
Survey on parks & open space sent to all the candidates.
Updated www.bostonparks.org – check it out!
Follow Twitter and facebook activity to get the candidates talking about greenspace.
Calendar of events so park advocates can make sure candidates hear about open space issues.
What can you do?
First, join. Go to the sponsorship link on the website to add your organization to the growing list of groups that care about parks and open space. Let’s show candidates that Boston park advocates are from many disciplines: youth, sports, public safety, arts, bikes, health, CDC, and more.
Second, link to www.bostonparks.org from your organization’s website to get more people educated about parks and open space.
Third, get involved, go to candidate events, ask about their experiences with parks and let them know what you think is needed from a new mayor to make our greenspace even more spectacular. There are lots of ways to get involved, look at www.bostonparks.org to learn how.
We’re not supporting a candidate, we’re supporting parks! Please join us.
For Boston Park Advocates,
Christine Poff, Franklin Park Coalition
Valerie Burns, Boston Natural Areas Network
Julie Crockford, Emerald Necklace Conservancy
Liz Vizza, Friends of the Public Garden
Circle The City will feature a car-free corridor on Sunday, August 5, between 10 – 1, along the Rose Kennedy Greenway downtown. Come out and walk, bike, roll and play on Open Streets. All Circle The City events will include free live performances, outdoor fitness, dance and yoga classes, Farmer’s Markets, bike clinics, children’s activities, culinary demonstrations, roller skating, hula hooping, and countless other opportunities to have fun on the streets and in the parks. A 2012 Urban Signature Project of the America’s Great Outdoors Initiative, Circle The City is a collaborative venture of the Emerald Necklace Conservancy, the Boston Collaborative for Food and Fitness, LivableStreets Alliance, Franklin Park Coalition and the City of Boston. Demonstrating an innovative model connecting conservation and recreation, Circle The City will serve as a national leader for exemplifying healthy living in the city and improved accessibility to urban green spaces. For more information, visit www.emeraldnecklace.org/circle-the-city/.
In crowded cities around the U.S. and the world, Open Streets initiatives are drawing people out of their homes and cars and onto miles of safe, car-free streets to celebrate active urban living in our most public space. With community-building, healthy lifestyles and park accessibility at the heart of these events, Open Streets engage participants of every age and background. The goals of Circle The City focus on encouraging healthy engagement with our parks by all residents of Boston, and include:
Improving neighborhood accessibility to parks and open space.
Gathering the community for free activities and performances on safe, car-free streets.
Increasing the involvement of youth in our parks through summer employment programs and regularly scheduled activities for children.
Circle The City is not a parade, nor is it a race. Rather it is a unique opportunity to safely enjoy the streets and explore new neighborhoods and parks.
Circle The City will feature a car-free corridor on Sunday, July 15, between 11 – 4, between Franklin Park and Jamaica Pond. Come out and walk, bike, roll and play on Open Streets. All Circle The City events will include free live performances, outdoor fitness, dance and yoga classes, Farmer’s Markets, bike clinics, children’s activities, culinary demonstrations, roller skating, hula hooping, and countless other opportunities to have fun on the streets and in the parks. A 2012 Urban Signature Project of the America’s Great Outdoors Initiative, Circle The City is a collaborative venture of the Emerald Necklace Conservancy, the Boston Collaborative for Food and Fitness, LivableStreets Alliance, Franklin Park Coalition and the City of Boston. Demonstrating an innovative model connecting conservation and recreation, Circle The City will serve as a national leader for exemplifying healthy living in the city and improved accessibility to urban green spaces. For more information, visit www.emeraldnecklace.org/circle-the-city/.
Several local green space organizations have joined together to present the following educational program about tick awareness and tick bite prevention. More Ticks in More Places: How the ever-changing ecology of tick-borne diseases in the Northeastern US affects you! will be presented by Thomas N. Mather, Ph.D, Director, The University of Rhode Island Tick Encounter Resource Center, on Thursday, May 17, 6:30–8:00pm in the Hunnewell Building, Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston.
In New England, 2011 was an exceptionally “ticky†year, and there are predictions for a possible 20% increase in the tick population in 2012. Dr. Thomas Mather will discuss current trends in tick encounter risk as well as his efforts to help individuals and communities prevent tick bites and Lyme disease. Learn about tick life cycles, environmental factors contributing to Lyme disease, and what you can do to protect yourself so that you can continue to enjoy the green spaces in and around Boston. Reserve now. Space is limited.
Free, but registration requested.
Register online at http://my.arboretum.harvard.edu or by phone at 617-384-5277.
Sponsored by Boston Natural Areas Network; Mass Audubon’s Boston Nature Center; Brookline Parks & Open Space; Emerald Necklace Conservancy; Franklin Park Coalition; Friends of the Blue Hills; New England Mountain Bike Association; Olmsted National Historic Site, NPS; and Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University.
Believe it or not, there’s important woodlands restoration work to be done during the coldest months! An invasive vine that wraps itself around trees and kills them is easiest to cut in the winter (see bittersweet, below.) The Franklin Park Coalition sponsors its annual Winter Volunteer Day Saturday, January 21, from 10 – 12. Wear old clothes and layers, heavy cotton or wool is best, nylon will snag on branches. If you have cold hands bring liners for under leather gloves. Meet at Valley Gates Parking Lot midway along the main park road. RSVP and Questions? www.franklinparkcoalition.org or 617-442-4141.
Join Franklin Park neighbors and volunteers on a crisp fall day as they rake leaves and spruce the park up. Feel free to bring your favorite gloves or an extra rake, although we’ll have plenty on hand for those without. Perhaps you should also bring your favorite spouse or partner, since the more the merrier. Meet at Valley Gates parking lot (midway down the main park road across from the golf course and near Pierpont Rd.) Call to RSVP at 617-442-4141 or email: RSVP@franklinparkcoalition.org.
Bring your kite or make one in the park, “rent” a bike (at no cost), play games, and have a spring picnic at the Franklin Park Kite & Bike Festival, to be held Saturday, May 14, from 1 – 4 at The Playstead. An event for all ages, all activities are free. For directions, email rsvp@franklinparkcoalition.org. Cell phone contact number on the day of the event is 617-908-4002.
