BU Bikes

If there’s one thing BU forgot to include in its Comm. Ave. beautification project last summer, it’s green space that isn’t just nice to look at, but nice for people to walk and sit on. So on Friday, as people all over the world transformed car parking spots into parks for PARK(ing) Day 2009, we, BU Bikes, took the opportunity with the help of Livable Street and Walk Boston to organize our very own PARK(ing) Day on Comm. Ave. These two parking spots outside Tsai Performance Center, instead of being filled with empty cars:

were filled with grass, bicycles, music, coffee, and people:

for Comm. Ave’s very own Public Park.

Which looked like this from above:

We invited friends, strangers, and student groups to come outside, relax, and enjoy the fresh outdoor air, and Amanda of BU Outdoors Club contributed her tent:

We set up a free coffee lounge with a couch and table:

Had our bike tools out for guest bike mechanic Dave Enos to do free tune ups and teach people about bikes:

BU Juggling Association juggled and taught others how to juggle:

Every hour a class let out, providing a steady stream of curious onlookers:

Alex, a unicyclist, rolled through our park on his way to class:

Dave decided he had just about enough with his shoes on the grass, so off they came:

Happily setting a trend for the rest of us:

This passerby sat for a while to read a book:

Tony took the opportunity to repair a flat tire:

We recycled an old cardboard box into a doodle box for anyone to draw on:

Which Nathan’s son couldn’t resist:

Just as he couldn’t resist going down the slide:

As the day went by and the grass filled up with people, several rounds of Apples to Apples followed:


Just Add Water, a student Jazz Trio from Berklee College of Music, came to serenade the park:

a BU cellist who stumbled upon our park:

joined in on the fun:

Japanese Public Television came to cover the entire event:

Later, Chordially Yours, BU’s all-female A Capella group, came to sing:

And our final musical guests, Cambridge-based The Big Drift began their performance just as the last Friday afternoon classes let out.

Not only did our grassy park fill with new faces happy to spend the start of their weekend outside listening to music:

but so did the steps with more BU students, faculty, and staff:

Six o’clock rolled around, and BU Park(ing) Day 2009 wound down. Even as we packed up, I was still overwhelmed with joy at the beauty of the sadly unusual event that had just taken place. From a simple idea we toyed with in our heads a year ago, we had created something tangible and truly wonderful for everyone to enjoy. And as we cleared our PARK(ing) space, the outbound sky turned a magnificent violet and the cool September breeze began to wisp away the warmth of the daytime sun. I couldn’t help but smile as I thought about all the people I talked to who stopped by and wondered why PARK(ing) Day didn’t happen more often.

Here’s a slideshow of all the photos from Boston/BU PARK(ing) Day:

Created with flickr slideshow.
If you have any photos, please feel free add them to the Flickr pool.

Lastly, but certainly not least, a special thanks to some non-BU Bikes organizations, businesses, and people, without whom BU PARK(ing) Day (or any other of the five Boston spots) wouldn’t have been made possible:

• Jackie Douglas of Livable Streets and Rosa of Walk Boston for coordination all the Boston PARK(ing) Day spots and obtaining permits
• Dave Enos of REI
• Gold Star farm for donating a total of 300 sq/ft of sod to PARK(ing) Day Boston, 50 of which came to us.
• Seth Peichert for driving all the way out to New Hampshire to pick up sod for everyone
• Espresso Royale Caffe for providing complementary coffee for Park guests.
• Musical Performers Just Add Water, The Big Drift, and Chordially Yours
• BU Womens Resource Center, BU Juggling, BU Organic Gardening Club,
• Friends and Strangers

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 20th, 2009 at 3:36 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.