Village in West Michigan to open state's smallest park
(CBS DETROIT) - The village of Spring Lake released its plans to open the smallest park in Michigan and is giving residents and visitors a chance to help name it.
The Downtown Development Authority in Spring Lake was looking for the opportunity to create more community spaces and started researching small parks throughout the United States.
"Placemaking is one of our main objectives as a DDA, and we are always looking for new opportunities to create gathering spaces within the Village," said Stefanie Herder, director of the Village's Downtown Development Authority. "We've been looking at ways to create more common spaces within our Social District, and we have a few spaces in mind that we are focusing on."
As Herder was researching small parks, she learned that Mills Ends Park in Portland, Oregon, holds the record for the smallest park in the world at a total area of 452 square inches.
According to Herder, she couldn't find anything about there being the smallest park in Michigan, so she decided to create a new common space and make it the smallest park in the state.
The park will be located on the east side of South Jackson Street, including seating, plants & planters, shade and more.
"During the pandemic, the Village was awarded a grant to purchase a concrete cornhole set for our social district," said Herder. "We placed the cornhole game in this location along South Jackson Street for folks to enjoy. I kept looking at this area and thinking about how else we can enhance that space to encourage more people to use it."
Herder says there will also be two parallel parking spots that will work for food trucks or an event setup.
While this park will create another common space for residents, Herder hopes that the park will draw in new visitors to the area.
"We have over 20,000 cars that drive through the Village every day," said Herder. "The biggest question for decades has been 'How do we get them to stop in the Village?'. The new developments in the Village over the past 5 years have been a big help. I'd love to see visitors stop to visit the new park, take a selfie, grab a bite to eat, enjoy a social district drink, or shop."
Work on the park will begin this summer. Village officials are seeking suggestions from visitors and residents to name the new park.
Anyone who wants to contribute can submit their name idea here.