DC's contribution to Park(ing) DAY, Friday Sept. 16th (Casey Trees)

Port-a-park: A temporary park was set up in a parking space on Mission Street by Rebar, an art collective. The group Rebar declared Sept. 21 [2006] "Park(ing) Day" and installed this temporary park in a parking space on Mission St. in downtown San Francisco, CA. The group moved the park to several different parking spaces throughout the day. Port-a-park: A temporary park was set up in a parking space on Mission Street by Rebar, an art collective. The park was moved several times that day. Chronicle photo by Laura Morton.

Park(ing) Day was created by the San Francisco urban space/performance collective Re:bar to illustrate that more creative uses of "public space," especially that space used as storage for vehicles, were possible. See "Drop a coin in the meter and enjoy the park" from the San Francisco Chronicle, which discusses the first day in 2006.

Since then the Trust for Public Lands has taken on the project and supports activities on a national basis.

-- Parking Day website

In DC, Casey Trees will be doing an event this coming Friday as part of National Park(ing) Day.

From Casey Trees:

Casey Trees brings Park(ing) Day to D.C.

Dupont Circle metered street parking to be transformed into temporary green space for one day.

On Friday, Sept. 16, Casey Trees will transform impervious street parking into an instant park to promote the environmental, social and financial benefits of trees as part of Park(ing) Day 2011.

PARK(ing) Day is an annual event that brings together activists, artists and citizens to temporarily transform metered parking spaces into public parks and other social spaces all over the world. In 2010, more than 800 “PARK” installations in more than 80 cities in 30 countries were created. Casey Trees’ temporary park at the intersection of New Hampshire Avenue and Q Street NW is slated to be the only officially recognized Park(ing) Day site in Washington, D.C.

“We are excited to take part in such a large, international effort to get people thinking about the environment,” said Mark Buscaino, Executive Director of Casey Trees. “This event provides us with a great opportunity to discuss the benefits of trees and the urban forest.”

Casey Trees’ park design will replace 320 square feet of impervious surface normally off limits to pedestrians with an abstract forest open to the public. Oversized tags will be attached to each tree touting the financial and environmental value trees bring to D.C. residents. Casey Trees staff will be onsite from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. to answer tree related questions and distribute literature.

To locate Casey Trees’ PARK(ing) Day location along with all other temporary parks, visit Park(ing) Day’s official website map. On the map, zoom in on the Washington, D.C. area and click on the blue flag.