Smart City: How to do PARK(ing) Day right

The return of the global event PARK(ing) Day to Baton Rouge this Friday will create temporary mini-parks at 16 sites across the city—and will probably cause countless double takes from confused passersby.

Billed as a way to get people to rethink how we use streets, infrastructure and public space in an urban landscape, PARK(ing) Day had its first local run last September with just six locations. Center for Planning Excellence spearheaded the initiative, taking over metered parking spaces along Third Street and elsewhere, and turning them into pop-up parks with benches, landscaping and even lawn games.

This year looks to be a much bigger demonstration, with several sites along Government Street, Capital Heights Avenue, Jefferson Highway and Perkins Road also hosting the daylong makeshift parks. Downtown Development District, Garden District Nursery, La Carreta, Studio C, Visit Baton Rouge, The Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge, Radio Bar, Gourmet Girls and others are all participating, in some cases taking over much of a parking lot for their mini-parks.

See our map below for all the locations:

View PARK(ing) Day locations in a larger map

The event is scheduled to run 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Friday, though some locations will continue into the early evening. Find more information about local PARK(ing) Day sites here.

Just to help you get your weekend started right, we came up with a list of things you could do at one of these mini-parks on Friday. Some of these will really be happening (where noted), the rest is up to you:
• Read a book.
• Bring your work outside.
• Bring your lunch outside.
• Do yoga.
• Meditate in a zen garden (on Third Street).
• Partake in some people-watching.
• Play a piano (Arts Council location).
• Picnic.
• Munch on something from a food truck (Pronto at the Gourmet Girls location, for instance).
• Eat a slice of pie (at Elizabethan Gallery and Huey’s locations).
• Play cards.
• Talk to a stranger.
• Talk to Mayor Kip Holden (odds are he probably just stopped by).
• Nap.
• Sketch a blueprint of your ideal park.
• Sketch whatever.
• Visit with a friend.
• Sit quietly and think.
• Sit quietly and think, while your friend is talking.
• Collaborate on an art project.
• Take a selfie.
• Play giant pick-up-sticks or bocce ball (for real).
• Start a game of “I Spy.”
• Reenact a scene from Portlandia, because this seems like an appropriate place to do that.
• Listen to some music on your iPhone (preferably via headphones).
• Listen to the sounds of the neighborhood.
• Write a free-verse poem about smart growth and urban planning.
• Commence with happy hour (Radio Bar location).

At the top of the page: A staff photo from last year’s PARK(ing) Day in front of Main Street Market downtown.