We’re honored by the event and hope you can make it out to join in the discussion.

Event Details

Saturday, June 8, 3pm
Main Library, 300 N. Roxboro Street

Free and open to the public

More Info

Contact either:

Alice Sharpe
(919) 560-0193
asharpe@dconc.gov

Joanne Abel
(919) 560-0268
jabel@dconc.gov

The post Durham County Library Celebrates Durham Central Park appeared first on Durham Central Park.

Each DCP area adoption is different and has its own story.  What we informally call the ‘Prudential Garden’ is a great example of how things happen around  the Park.  It started as a way to commemorate the loss of a friend and has become a showcase garden as well as an ongoing teambuilding project for a community minded business.

Tracey Goetz explains why the realtors at Prudential Carolinas Realty love working in their garden at DCP.

“Over nine years ago we made a decision to do our part in Durham Central Park. Being in the real estate business, we know the importance of making Durham beautiful. By creating and maintaining a garden in Durham Central Park we help to accomplish that goal. And by doing it as a collective team, we see immediate results and have watched it grow over the years.

 

As a company, we give back to the community in many other ways but the garden in Durham Central Park is one we helped to create  so we have taken personal ownership year after year because we love seeing the results. There is a lot of pride when you work hard together, create a vision together, get your hands dirty together, and then can stand back and celebrate together!!! I highly recommend it!!”

When this project first began, there are stories of the realtors taking turns coming over to the park throughout the summer to water the garden.  That was no easy job as all the water had to be hauled up the hill from the Pavilion below which meant lots of hoses stuck together, watering the garden and then replacing all the hoses below….Lots of heavy lifting.  We were all happy when about five years ago, Prudential and other DCP supporters raised the money to put in an irrigation system at the park that now waters the gardens during the summer.

Every year the realtors who work for Prudential Carolinas Realty get together for a work day at the garden that starts with a meeting to learn something about this area of Durham.  One year I led a walk throughout the five acre park to tell them a few of the stories that make up the history of Durham Central Park.  Other the years they have had other folks from the area educate them on the Central Park District.

Then they roll up their sleeves and get to work planting, mulching and lots of weeding!  And they raise the money every year to supply the garden with new plants, mulch and hardscape.  This year one of the Meals From the Market dinners (DCP’s main yearly fundraiser) was a Square Dance at the Pavilion that raised some money for the maintenance of the garden.

The wonderful thing about Durham Central Park is that it is truly a community effort.  Lots of people throughout our community take personal ownership of the park and really consider it ‘their’ park – which it is!   If you have a group/company that needs a good teambuilding focus, let me know…we have a few more areas that need adopting.  You’ll be helping Durham Central Park get even better …and have lots of fun along the way!

The post Community Building at DCP appeared first on Durham Central Park.

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In 2008, Measurement Durham LLC, in preparation for building The Measurement Building, was informed that, legally, Roney Street had never been closed and any development at the Hunt and Roney intersection would need to include “site triangles” to assist traffic pulling out of the long since closed Roney Street.  This news prompted Measurement Durham LLC to conduct further research and determined 300 feet of Roney had been voted closed by City Council, but never recorded as such and a 60 feet section of Roney (the section bordered by Measurement Durham LLC and Durham Central Park) was never part of the original closing.  Measurement Durham LLC then re-started the road closing procedures and Roney was officially closed by late 2009.

During this process, Dr. Henry Scherich, President and Founder of Measurement Durham LLC’s parent company Measurement Inc., held a series of conversations with Durham Central Park Board as to how the road closing and Measurement Building construction could assist the development of the Park.  Eventually, the need to soften the severe slope from the former Roney St. roadbed up to the gardens in the western section of the park was identified as a high priority.

Due to utility easements, Roney Street could not be completely removed, but it could be narrowed from a two lane street down to one lane.  This, combined with excess dirt and topsoil left over from The Measurement Building excavation formed a great opportunity to enhance the Park’s western edge.  Measurement Durham and some of its partners agreed to pay for half of the removal of Roney Street and the re-landscaping of the bank above the street, in addition to the in-kind donations of design, project management and the excess topsoil.  Durham Central Park Board agreed to raise the other half of funds needed for construction.

In 2011, Choate Construction Company, Davis Landscaping, and CSSI performed the actual construction of the new, softer embankments and immediately the gardens above became easier to access.  Roney Street, which once were a barrier to the gardens from the rest of Durham Central Park, now links the gardens and DCP together creating a safe and pleasant walkway for all to enjoy.

The post Park Story: Roney Street appeared first on Durham Central Park.

The gardens at Durham Central Park are beginning to burst with color, texture, smells and also some yummy items! At the southwest side of the park on Hunt Street is the Garden of Eatin’, an edible garden managed and maintained by SEEDS (South Eastern Efforts Developing Sustainable Spaces, Inc).  This is another creative relationship that DCP has with  a community partner to sustain the park and develop interesting gardens throughout.

The way that SEEDS got involved with DCP is a typical story of how things happen at the park.  Someone comes up with the germ of an idea; folks take it and mold it into something exciting; and then Durham Central Park just gets better and better!  It all began with the creation of the Durham Farmer’s Market in the early 2000’s. Brenda Brodie, one of the original founders of SEEDS had the idea for a farmer’s market.  They started small on Orange Street in downtown Durham  and eventually the DFM became its own entity.

The DFM moved around to various locations early on but really needed a permanent home.  That’s when Durham Central Park got involved as a possible permanent location for the farmers to sell their goods.  At that point, SEEDS, the DFM and DCP, with the help of Malcolm White from Self-Help Credit Union, all combined forces with the City of Durham to raise money to build the Pavilion at Durham Central Park.   The Pavilion is now rented to the Durham Farmer’s Market as their permanent home every Saturday during the years and Wednesdays during the warm months.  DCP also rents the Pavilion to organizations and individuals for many other events throughout the year (check out upcoming events!).

After the Pavilion was built in in 2006 and DFM had a new home, SEEDS decided they wanted to continue to be part of DCP by offering a community garden at the park.  One of their Americore volunteers got a grant to establish the Garden of Eatin’ and it is still in existence today.

The Garden of Eatin’ is a free-pick, public edible garden by SEEDS and its collaborators.  The focus is on organic edibles- fruit trees and shrubs, herbs, medicinals and veggies. On any given day during the warmer months, you can harvest some rosemary, basil or thyme.  One of my favorites in the summer is when the fig tree is in season…mmmm good…and the peach tree offers some mighty tasty bites as well!

Hilary Nichols, the garden manager for SEEDS, is very busy this spring organizing the Garden of Eatin’ and the gardeners that have offered to volunteer to maintain a certain part of the garden.  The Garden Volunteers are:

• Bountiful Backyards 
• Cottage Garden Landscaping, Frank Hyman 
• DeRose Garden and Landscape, Michele DeRose 
• Interfaith Food Shuttle – Lindsay Perry 
• Svara Restoration Carpentry – Kevin Svara 
• Tributary Land Design and Build – Katherine Gill 

These volunteer organizations design and plant each section of the garden, and Hilary says there are a few more spots available for new groups to adopt.  Contact Hilary at SEEDS if you are involved in an organization/business that would like to adopt a section of the Garden of Eatin’.

Hilary also welcomes volunteer drop-ins! “If you’d just like to help out every once in a while, please drop by the Garden of Eatin’ to weed, prune, and mulch the garden on Wednesday evenings during Durham Farmers Market hours, or whenever you have a moment.  Visit on Wednesday evenings between 3:30-6:30pm year-round to volunteer, hang out, taste, share ideas about gardening, and garden the free-pick Garden of Eatin’ together.  This garden is for all to enjoy!”

“The Garden of Eatin’ was created as a partnership to cultivate a truly public garden, one that would nourish both mind and body and help to educate and cultivate community, “  Executive Director of SEEDS, Emily Egge, explains.  “ This is a rare interactive public space – so many “public” spaces have limited hours, or “don’t pick/don’t walk here” signs.  At the Garden of Eatin’ we welcome folks to help themselves and enjoy!”

So come by Durham Central Park soon and check out the beautiful bounty at the Garden of Eatin’!  And if you’d like to learn more about SEEDS check out their website at www.seedsnc.org.  Also plan on coming to DCP on May 19, 2013 from 1-5PM for the 5^th Annual SEEDS Pie Social to taste offerings from local bakers at a fundraiser for SEEDS!  Check out their website for details!

The post Park Story: SEEDS’ Garden of Eatin’ appeared first on Durham Central Park.

In 2003, Durham Central Park was a five-acre area full of bramble bushes, weeds and trash.

On the east side of Foster Street, South Ellerbe Creek ran through the park but was so overgrown with kudzu and bushes you couldn’t even see it.

The area which is now the DCP Pavilion, home of the Durham Farmer’s Market and many other events throughout the year, was a wasteland that needed lots of love.  The only part of the park that had been developed was the Grace Garden in the northwest corner of the park.  The rest of the five acres was pretty much a mess.

That same year Dan Jewel, a new DCP board member and local landscape architect, knew that with very little money to spare in the DCP bank account, we needed some volunteer help with some serious clean-up duties.  And besides, the DCP’s vision of the park was that of a community park – “Durham’s own big back yard” – so the idea of getting the larger community involved to help clean it up and get things rolling was a great idea waiting to happen.

About that same time, Mary Brown, a leader of the Immaculate Conception Youth Group, was looking for a service project for her middle school and high school age kids.  She was looking for an outside group activity that could help the community but also give the kids a chance to work together and get to know each other better outside the church environment.  So when Mary saw the plea for help that Dan put in the newspaper for some volunteer help at the Durham Central Park, she contacted him and the rest is history.

For each of the past 10 years, the Immaculate Conception Youth Group has taken part in at least two volunteer workdays each spring and fall.  Working at DCP four times every year is one of the highlights of the youth group’s yearly activities.  Several families have had one or more kids working on DCP projects for all of the past 10 years.  They consider DCP “their” park…and that it is!

One of Mary Brown’s finest memories of the work done at DCP over the past decade was the day Jewell got the group together and said that the job of the day was to clean up the South Ellerbe Creek area.  Mary remembers looking at the brambles with stickers, the kudzu and trash and thinking,  ‘Is there really a creek down there?  Is Dan crazy?  We’ll never be able to clean this up!”

To her surprise, three hours later the creek appeared and most of the overgrown invasives were gone!  A true miracle!  Other memories include seeing true friendships grow during the workdays at the park between awkward young folks who blossom when they are outside with work to do together.

Jewell, who initiated the relationship between Immaculate Conception and Durham Central Park, is still a DCP board member and he still organizes the Volunteer Workdays that typically happen the first Saturday morning between March and  November from 9 a.m. to noon (check the www.DurhamCentralPark.org website for details).

“Knowing we have a very dependable workforce of at least 20 hard-working Immaculate Conception kids to help maintain the garden in the spring and fall has been invaluable to DCP over the past decade,” Jewell says. “We can be sure that the mulching and planting will be done in the spring as well as leaf clean up in the fall.  These two important jobs keep the park looking good all year round.”

On the morning of March 2, DCP dedicated a picnic table and plaque to Immaculate Conception.  It’s the round, red picnic table at the end of the walkway between the Grace Garden and our new beautiful railings that lead to the parking lot on Washington Street.   It is a small token of our appreciation for their consistent hard work at the park over the past 10 years.

It is relationships like the one between DCP and the Immaculate Conception Youth Group that make Durham such a wonderful place to live and make DCP a special place to visit…it really is a community park and Durham’s ‘big back yard’!

Come join the fun and help out at the park for one of our monthly DCP Volunteer Workdays.   We welcome individuals or groups who want to help make our park the best in Durham.  We are also looking for groups to adopt a few sections of the park to keep tidy and develop into even more beautiful gardens.

Come be part of the team at DCP!

The post Park Story: The Immaculate Conception Church Table appeared first on Durham Central Park.

She and photographer Amanda Berg also made a video about the experience. Check out the video below.

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If you are a regular visitor to Durham Central Park, you may have noticed that the plant beds along the west side of Foster Street and the Grace Garden (in the northwest corner of the park on Roney street) have become much more beautiful in the past few years.

That’s because Jonathan Nyberg and Rebecca Wellborn of Meadowsweet Gardens & Patios ( www.meadowsweet.biz) have informally adopted Durham Central Park as their latest community project.  And we are SO happy they have!

DCP is not the first project Rebecca and Jonathan have taken on in Durham.  Their first foray was planting and maintaining containers at the old Joe and Jo’s, now Bull McCabe’s, where they worked in exchange for food.  Then they installed and planted containers for Self-Help Credit Union on Main Street.

About 10 years ago they moved their efforts around the corner to the Durham Arts Council where they noticed the sorry state of the gardens outside.  Working on a plan with Edith Eddleman (a landscape designer), they installed a beautiful array of flowers and have maintained the plantings there ever since.

Their first project at DCP was a number of years ago when Rebecca installed and maintained a medicinal plant garden in the SEEDS garden at the south end of the park along Hunt Street.  In the past few years, SEEDS has taken over the maintenance of that garden at the park.

A few years ago while visiting DCP to go to the farmer’s market or come to an event, they began to notice the planters along the west side of Foster Street were looking a bit unkempt.  And another day they noticed that the woody plants in the Grace Garden needed some pruning and the liriope had taken over many of the plant beds.  That’s when they decided to move their efforts to DCP.

They now come regularly to tend the gardens, bringing extra plants from their personal garden, installing new beds, rearranging the plants — and doing most of the work pro bono.  When asked why they have a habit of adopting public gardens, Jonathan had this to say:

“From the beginning of Meadowsweet, Rebecca and I have always had the urge to improve public places with plantings.  Since we’ve never done any ‘real’ marketing, we look at these projects as our marketing and advertising.  Besides we just love Durham, especially the downtown area, and want to make a contribution to its beautification.”

If you happen to see some busy gardeners working on the beds on Foster or the Grace Garden, it’s probably the Meadowsweet gardeners, doing their magic in Durham Central Park.  Thank you, Jonathan and Rebecca!

Come see us at the park soon!

The post Meadowsweet Owners Just Can’t Help Themselves appeared first on Durham Central Park.

If you park in the Measurement, Inc lot to go to the Farmers Market, you already know there’s a new set of railings on the main stairs with an entry arch at the bottom.  It’s a collaboration between Liberty Artist Jackie MacLeod and Monkey Bottom Gallery owner and artist Joe Galas.

Turns out there’s an interesting story behind those railings…

For years Dale Evarts and his wife Betsy had brought Dale’s mother, Audrey to the Farmer’s Market Saturday mornings.  Audrey had both a hip and knee replacement, so it was hard for her to navigate the stairs, and every week she would say “It would really be good to have a railing there”.  And every week Dale would say “Yeah, Mom, someday we’ll have one”.
After Audrey died unexpectedly last fall, Dale and his sister began talking about it.
And one Saturday this summer when Dale saw the Durham Central Park booth, he went over and said “You know, those stairs over there need a railing and I would like to support that in memory of my mother.”

As it happens DCP had wanted to install hand rails ever since volunteers had built the three stairways down the hill.  They’d already enlisted Jackie and Joe to come up with a design, but had only been able to raise half the cost.

When Dale saw the drawings he knew immediately that Audrey would approve.  The reason for his enthusiasm was that for 20 years (1965-1985) Audrey had run Eastgate Hardware Store in Chapel Hill (most unusual for a woman at the time), and the recovered metal components in the design reminded Dale of the old hardware from factories and mills in the area.  He wrote a check for the balance on the spot.

Now Audrey’s legacy will become a permanent fixture at DCP.

Two more sets of railings on the other stairs will be installed over the next few months.

The post Park Story: Decorative Railings appeared first on Durham Central Park.

Check out the video below.

View on WTVD’s website

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