Pop-Up Park Brings Greenspace To Deep Ellum Neighborhood
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DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - A "pop-up" park is coming to Dallas's Deep Ellum neighborhood later this month.
Neighborhood advocates hope, the temporary installation could be a visual for a permanent addition in the future.
The park – complete with turf, trees, music venue space and park benches – will occupy a 150 foot block of Crowdus Street between Elm and Main.
The Crowdus park will be open morning through night, with hours TBD, from April 29th through May 2nd.
Twelve public parking spots will be taken over for the event.
Brandon Castillo and Rik Adamski, work at Deep Ellum-based Ash&Lime Strategies. The pair is leading the effort to attain permits for the park, and organize volunteers for setup.
A crowd-funding effort is set up through Tilt.
They've met with city council members and have several architects—including landscape designers—on board to help.
"It's going to be some work but the wonderful thing is that we have a lot of backing," said Adamski.
They've got the support of the Deep Ellum Community Association as well. President Sean Fitgerald says the idea of an urban park in Deep Ellum has been in the conversation for a while, but this pop-up park would create a visual like never before.
"In terms of parks, we've got very little. This gets it off the imagination and drawing board, and into something people can visualize," said Fitzgerald.
For the last couple of years, this once nightlife-only neighborhood has become more of a daytime destination, thanks to a revitalization effort.
Old warehouses are renovated, and new breweries and shops are opening up.
"The neighborhood is pretty much on the come-up," said Darius Harper, who manages a pizza restaurant in Deep Ellum.
Community advocates see greenspace as a free outdoor gathering place for visitors, workers and residents.
"I think green is pretty, and there's not enough out here, is there?" said Andrea Bass, a food vendor who works in Deep Ellum.
The pop-up park coincides with the 23rd annual meeting of the Congress for New Urbanism (or CNU). CNU brings together leaders in urban planning and architecture – some 2,000 people are expected at this year's event.
You can learn more about the CNU here.
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