Feed the Meter: Tomorrow is National Park(ing) Day

Seattle's known already for its pocket-sized parks tucked away on unlikely vistas, but local volunteers in conjunction with the Trust for Public Land have coordinated an event called Park(ing) Day to bring more awareness to the need for community green space. And that's a good thing. Tomorrow, eight close to thirty metered parking spots around the city (click here for locations) will transform into public park land for the day. A few of the sites are offering free yoga, dance, and tea; two of the mini-parks are across from Vivace espresso locations, so you can fuel up while chatting with your neighbors. According to local organizer Isaac Cohen, most mini-parks will open around 9 a.m. and close by 4 p.m.

Over 400 parking space parks will be created and then dismantled over the course of the day across the country. That's twice the number of parks created last year, and it's clear that National Park(ing) Day is picking up steam! The first National Park(ing) Day was in 2006, created by REBAR (an art collective in San Francisco) as a "global exploration of the creative potential of streets." Tomorrow's Park(ing) Day will be the second held in Seattle, in partnership with the Seattle Parks Foundation as well as other companies and organizations like Weber Thompson.

This sounds like a great way to meet some people and celebrate the importance of park land! It's also a plain old good idea to hang out in the street for a day to reclaim concrete for a good cause--at least for one day. Happy National Park(ing) Day, in advance.

"Expiring Limits" by Seattlest Flickr Pool contributor EdgarDiazRocks. So grungy!