Perhaps you saw them scattered about the hill last year, parking spaces transformed into small parks for a day in September.  I saw one if front of Rudy’s and Stumptown; Unpaving Paradise set up on Broadway.  What was the occasion, I wondered?

Turns out it was Park(ing) Day.  Created in 2005 by the San Francisco Art and Design Collective Rebar, in response to a dearth of public spaces in their city, Park(ing) Day is now an international event.  This year, on September 18, folks from Brisbane to New York City, from Los Angeles to Florence, will transform spaces normally reserved for automobiles into parks.

Everyone and anyone is invited to participate, whether you’re a landscape architect, hairstylist, visual artist, an accountant or barista: it doesn’t matter.  No professional status as a designer, urbanist, or activist is required.

Want to learn more about the event?  Feet First, the pedestrian advocacy group and Seattle organizer of Park(ing) Day, is hosting a training and informational event on Thursday, from 6:30 to 7:30 in the Officer’s Club in the Armory at South Lake Union.  If you’d like to attend, please RSVP with Elaine Boy at elaine (at) feetfirst (dot) info.

You might also like to know that we will be transforming the People’s Parking Lot into a central park for the day.  So far, we have eight parks confirmed for the space and have plenty of room for more.  We are planning to include acoustic and mobile–electronic music, a design charrette (or at least an informational booth) about the plan for Seattle’s HUB, sodas from a local seltzer start-up, and hopefully some street food at lunchtime.  Please visit the PPL website to make suggestions for events or sign up to host a park.