November 8
Downtown Partners, the Sioux City Blue Zones Project, SIMPCO and the City of Sioux City are asking the community to participate in Sioux City’s first Park(ing) Day event on Friday, September 16 in downtown Sioux City from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Park(ing) Day is an international event held on the third Friday of September where parking stalls around the world are transformed into creative, interactive spaces for the day.
PARK(ing) Day originated in San Francisco in 2005 and has grown into a global experiment in reclaiming parking spaces for social exchange, artistic expression and recreation. The event prohibits use of parking stalls for vehicles and instead focuses on activities that promote meaningful interactions and experiences with the community. Previous PARK(ing) Day spaces have been turned into outdoor classrooms, interactive art studios, lawn games, public reading rooms, open poetry readings, back porches, yoga classes, dog parks, comfortable seating areas, outdoor playgrounds and life-size chess tournaments.
Ragen Cote, executive director of Downtown Partners explained, “By creating green spaces and fun centers on otherwise empty concrete, we get to interact and experience downtown in a different way, which inspires change. Be creative with the space!” Denise Salem, Sioux City Blue Zones Project’s community coordinator says “PARK(ing) Day is a day of experimentation and cultural expression; we look forward to seeing how groups design their own green space and what activities develop as a result. As the spaces are determined, we hope to have walking moais available to help show the community each space.”
We need you!
The project is seeking individuals, organizations and companies who want to creatively redefine an 8 x 16 foot vertical parking space in a way that encourages interaction with the community. Registration forms and Park(ing) Day guidelines can be found online at www.downtownsiouxcity.com and must be submitted electronically by Friday, July 29 in order to reserve a space. Registered groups will be contacted for their final designs and assigned an area by August 26, with set up beginning at 8 a.m. on Friday, September 16.
For more information, please contact Ragen Cote, Downtown Partners, at (712) 252-0014, or Denise Salem, Sioux City Blue Zones Project, (712) 577-4157. For inspiring images and history of the event, please visit my.parkingday.org.
To sign up: Please read the regulations below and fill out the registration form.
Press Release: ParkING Day 9 16 16
Online Form: Register Here
Regulations: Parking Day regulations