On Friday, September 11th, from around 8 a.m. through 4 or 5 p.m., the Great Falls Business Improvement District invites the community to take part in their annual Park(ing) Day.
For seven years now, the Great Falls BID has partnered with Tilleraas Landscaping to convert one or two parking spaces downtown into a small park. This year’s park will be set up at the corner of Central Ave and 2nd Street North.
Joan Redeen the community director for Great Falls BID, Joan Redeen, explained: “Parking Day was a national movement that began several years ago in the United States. It’s kind of fizzled out a little bit in the U.S. but we really like the tradition so we’re continuing it here in Great Falls.”
Great Falls community members not only like the tradition of Park(ing) Day but the meaning behind it: to get out into green spaces and create new ones.
“We’ve talked in the past about creating some green spaces downtown. We, of course, have the jewel with the Gibson Park and we have Margaret Park and Whittier Park on both sides of the Civic Center. But more green space is always a great thing to aspire toward,” Redeen said.
She added that while there is space to create more parks downtown, it would take community members voicing their desire for more parks to create change.
“There’s certainly opportunity and space for new park space downtown. But I'm not certain if The City would take that on or not...If that’s something the community wanted then that’s something we could certainly work towards,” Redeen said.
If you’d like to see more green spaces downtown, you can contact Redeen at info@greatfallsbid.com.
