Can special events help activate parks?

Welcome booth, Art in the Park 2024
(My brain overheated in 2025 so I took no pictures)

Sunday's exuberant Art in the Park at Redmond Park had possibly the biggest turnout yet, with the park full of people thumbing their nose at the steamy weather (while respecting it by staying hydrated). Big events like Art in the Park, Marion's Thursday night Uptown Getdown, Lisbon's Sauerkraut Days, and downtown farmers' markets can bring big crowds to parks or wherever in town they're held. For those who take the lead in planning, they are a lot of work, with the hope of a lot of reward in seeing your event pop in real time. Sophia Joseph of the Wellington Heights Neighborhood Association, who had a big hand in planning the event, posted on Facebook:

It's a lot of work, a lot of heart, a lot of community, and a lot of joy. I'm tired. After we rest up, we are excited for our 5th annual event next year, which is sure to be our biggest and best yet.

2024 Sidewalk chalk competition on 3rd Avenue

For one day last weekend, Art in the Park brought the crowds and the fun and the sidewalk chalk to Redmond Park in the Wellington Heights neighborhood. Marion's Uptown Getdown and Cedar Rapids's Summer on the Square do it for several summer evenings. What about the many other days in the year? A successful park is a place for neighbors to gather and play all year around. The presence of a natural gathering place, whether a park or a town square, is one element of the Strong Towns Strength Test, asked provocatively: If there were a revolution in your town, would people instinctively know where to gather to participate? More to the point: If you can't envision your neighbors gathering together in a central location, it's hard to envision coming together to solve day to day problems and build strong towns--much less demonstrating publicly for a common goal. (Strong Towns 2017)

But first, play time: Packing the Redmond Park playground
after the 2024 Easter Egg hunt

As space that includes some natural elements, parks in particular provide other benefits. Nadina Galle, in her book The Nature of Our Cities--not to mention all the other aspects of her public work--commends natural spaces for providing individuals with awareness of "the extraordinary richness of life that surrounds us" (2024: 133) as well as "restoring the ability to concentrate and triggering a physiological response that lowers stress levels" (2024: 185). 

But they can't do that if we're not there. And that means that park spaces large and small must be interesting and feel safe (Jacobs 1961 ch 5, Kaplan, Kaplan and Ryan 1998), as well as providing for our toileting needs, and maybe so comfortable that one could grab a nap (Sucher 2016: 144, 219). Jacobs (1961: 135-145) talks about connection to a vibrant neighborhood outside the park, internal intricacy (appropriate for multiple uses), centering (one clear climactic point), sunshine (and shade), enclosure, and demand goods. 

Redmond Park splashpad in operation, 2014

Jane Jacobs is focused on large city parks, but the Reimagining the Civic Commons folk argue in their latest post (Reimagining the Civic Commons 2025) that the same considerations apply to small neighborhood parks as well, like River Garden in Memphis and Akron's Summit Lake Beachhead. River Garden, they note, "layers different uses within close proximity to each other to promote connection and casual conversation." Some of the places they profile offer ongoing programming; others rely on a diverse set of demand goods. 

Do big events like Art in the Park help with any of this?

I think they can, under certain circumstances.

1. The park is connected to a successful (or potentially successful neighborhood). There should be, in short, a ready set of nearby people who could populate the park. There should be sidewalks connecting the park to its surroundings, and infrastructure (street lighting, street trees, narrow driving area) conducive to getting to the park. Ben Kaplan's 2019 photo essay on Viola Gibson Park in Cedar Rapids shows what happens when these elements are neglected.

   

   Chicago's Walsh Park is accessible by street or the 606 Trail

   
   
2. The park has a reasonable set of demand goods. Walsh Park on Chicago's north side (pictured above) has a dog park as well as a big play area. Redmond Park in CR has playground equipment, a splash pad, and picnic benches for public use, although they could use some more trees. Our city's biggest parks have a greater variety of features, including swimming pools, ball diamonds, and wooded trails.

   

   walking trail at Bever Park

3. The special events serve the purpose of bringing people into contact with the park's everyday uses. Come for the chalk art, stay for the swingset. If people come to the park for a municipal band concert, and are inspired to return on their own some day soon, that's good. That's why I'm cool even with closing streets for Art in the Park and the downtown farmers market, but think having a NASCAR race in downtown Chicago is grotesque. Auto racing, whatever its attractions, prevents rather than promotes everyday public use.
4. Commitment to regular programming. San Francisco's Noe Valley Town Square, cited by Reimagining the Civic Commons, "serves as the neighborhood's 'living room,' hosting weekly farmers' markets, concerts, yoga and dance classes, family events and more" That's great, if there are the staff and resources for it, but not necessary for successful public space.

What you need is a reason, preferably multiple reasons, for people to be there, and easy access so they can get there without great effort. Urbanism is mostly about daily life, about creating spaces that can be enjoyed in community every day. As such big special events are more of a distraction than a feature. But they too have their place, when the uniquely special contributes to the routinely special.

On the other hand...
Redmond Park on an ordinary Sunday afternoon

PRINT SOURCES

Nadina Galle, The Nature of Our Cities: Harnessing the Power of the Natural World to Survive a Changing Planet (Mariner, 2024)

Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities (Modern Library, 1961)

Rachel Kaplan, Steven Kaplan, and Robert L. Ryan, With People in Mind: Design and Management of Everyday Nature (Island Press, 1998)

David Sucher, City Comforts: How to Build an Urban Village (City Comfort Inc, rev ed, 2016)