The Square on 21st, between Larimer and Lawrence streets, is downtown Denver's latest experimental innovation -- a new pop-up park designed to bring a little temporary life to the hot, boring pavement until August 15.
Everything about the pop-up park is temporary, from the dog park area to the planters with shady trees. Featuring bike ramps, turf seating, rotating food trucks and vendors, as well as a stage, the vibrantly-colored park stretches as long as the city block, welcoming residents and visitors from Denver's nature-lacking Ballpark neighborhood. “This neighborhood is one of the most underserved by [Parks and Recreation] in the entire city," Steven Chester, senior city planner for Denver, told 303 Magazine. "There’s no green.” [gallery size="large" ids="17868,17859,17867"] Open since June 15, the experimental park also includes a large, brightly-painted mural on what is usually the street pavement. The painted mural, which is a stylistic, floral version of the "C" from Colorado's state flag, will last even after the summer months are gone and the pop-up park has been packed away.
Until then, however, live concerts and the lure of lawn games and food trucks will draw community residents and workers throughout the summer, creating an oasis in an area that is usually void of opportunities to gather and congregate.
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“How cool is this?” Mayor Michael Hancock said at the park's opening. “The power of this moment is that, when it all goes well, we get a chance to take this model and move it to other parts of the city.”
The park is part of a larger collaborative Downtown Loop project between the City and County of Denver and the Downtown Denver Partnership.
For more information and a full map of the park's amenities, check out Denver's Community and Planning Development website.
Have you been to The Square on 21st Street yet? What did you think? Where do you think the next pop-up park should be? Tell us in the comments!
