Blog

Vernal Equinox: a perfect day to take a walk through Durham Central Park

News

Wednesday, March 20 is the Vernal Equinox. Hello Spring! Take a walk through Durham Central Park today, or share this with a faraway friend. Here are some iconic daffodils, goumi berry, grape hyacinth, magnolia and peach blossoms, a crocus (from our Bulb Blitz) hellebore, hyacinth and more.

Some gardeners say blooming crocus are your cue to plant radishes, parsnips, and spinach. What are your favorite early spring flowers and flowering trees at Durham Central Park?

Durham Farmers’ Market

News
Durham Farmers’ Market has announced their Wednesday, Main Season and Pre-Thanksgiving Holiday Market dates:
  • Wednesday Market: April 17 through October 9 from 3:00-6:00 pm
  • Saturday Main Season Market: April 6 through November 23 from 8:00 am-Noon
  • Pre-Thanksgiving Holiday Market: Tuesday, November 26 from 3:00-5:00 pm

The Durham Farmers’ Market brings people together to celebrate the unique food and culture of downtown Durham and the farms that sustain it. We provide access to fresh food for all of our community, champion small farmers and artisans, and foster a thriving and participatory local economy. 

Shopping Tips

We are sure you’ll have a great time at the Durham Farmers’ Market and we thought we’d share a few tips that can help ensure the best possible experience:

  • Even though we have a roof over our heads, the market is an outdoor event, so you can expect all kinds of weather, from early-morning frost to blazing heat, so dress accordingly.
  • Want to use your SNAP/EBT card at the market? Come to the info table located in the center of the Pavilion and a staff member will happily assist you!
  • Don’t get dehydrated! There is always fresh water available in the Pavilion’s bathrooms. If you need a cup, don’t hesitate to ask for one at the info table.
  • On Saturdays, parking is available in the Measurement Inc. lot just above the market (where the market used to be held) as well as in the lots on Foster Street and on Corporation Street at the Old Ballpark.
  • Don’t forget to bring your bags! Sturdy shopping bags or baskets will help you carry your purchases.
  • No pets in the market, please! There is plenty of space outside the market area in Durham Central Park to socialize with your four-legged friends!

2019: will you help build on this success and sustain the park into the future?

News

Thanks to your generosity through the years, Durham Central Park has become a unique, welcoming gathering space in the heart of our growing city.

Just a little over 20 years ago, Durhamites worked together to envision an urban park to engage the community and be a place to enjoy natural beauty, public art, community events, and playing in nature. Durham Central Park is different from other city parks. The city owns the land, but the park is managed, developed, and programmed by DCP, Inc, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. We do not receive public funding. Friends of the park, like you, have generously supported the park every step of the way to transform five weedy, underused acres into this wonderful park.

As the skyline around the park continues to change, DCP, Inc. remains committed to our mission of Providing Space for Community. It is critical that Durham has a gathering space in the heart of the city where everyone can feel welcome. This year, along with the hard work of maintaining the park and continuing our free, inclusive programming, we have been able to make some great improvements. In November, we installed our new interactive pixel art wall where park-goers make new art every day. We planted 30 new trees. Moving into the winter, we will be installing a pollinator garden around the bee hotel, planting more trees, and adding several new benches.

In 2019, we will undertake the hard work of updating our strategic and master plans. In the park’s short history, with the constant support of the community, we have been able to build a great park. But, it is time to look towards the future and ensure that the park lives up to its full potential and becomes the jewel of downtown Durham that was envisioned from the start.

Will you help build on this success and sustain the park into the future? Your year-end gift, of any size, will help to safeguard this space and all that it means to you and your family.

·         Make a Year-End Gift by mailing a check or donating through our website

·         Become a Park Sustainer by making monthly, quarterly or annual gifts at durhamcentralpark.org/donate

We look forward to seeing you at the Park soon!

Erin Kauffman, Executive Director

Durham Central Park, Inc.

At #pixelwalldurham YOU’RE The Artist

News, Park Improvements

Pixel Wall Durham

On November 4, 2018 Durham Central Park’s Pixel Wall was installed. This is a space for community members and visitors to get creative and make art! Everyone is invited to join.

The Pixel Wall is located on the east side of Durham Central Park, on Liberty Warehouse Apartment’s brick wall overlooking the great lawn.

Here are a few things to remember when you visit:

  1. Make Art!
  2. Take a picture and tag it #pixelwalldurham
  3. Return unused pixels (blocks) to the wall

Photo credit: Ryan Moeller Photography

   

Interactive Pixel Wall Mural Coming November 4 to Durham Central Park

News, Park Improvements

DURHAM, N.C. – The Liberty Warehouse Wall at Durham Central Park will soon have new interactive public art on display and the Durham community is invited to the early November opening ceremony.

Hosted by the City of Durham and Durham Central Park, the opening ceremony will take place on the east side of park, which is located at 501 Foster St., on Sunday, November 4 at 2 p.m. At this event, community members will have the opportunity to meet the artist collective behind the mural, Pixel Patch Creative, and create pixel murals of their own. The Opening Ceremony will take place alongside the Durham Central Park Food Truck Rodeo, and marks the second major public art installation along the Durham SmART corridor.

The public art installation, titled A Story Goes On, was created to facilitate an interactive, engaging  artistic experience in the heart of downtown Durham in which visitors are encouraged to create murals using movable pixel blocks. To celebrate the region’s incredible artistic legacy, The Story Goes On, provides space for emerging creative visions and pays particular tribute to local visionaries and thought leaders who have used their craft to advance social change.

Durham Central Park, Inc., Liberty Warehouse Apartments, and the City of Durham Office of Economic and Workforce Development, General Services Department, Durham Parks and Recreation, Public Art Committee, and the Artist Selection Committee selected Pixel Patch Creative as the artist team to design and install public art for the Liberty Warehouse Wall. This selection followed a participatory review process of 104 artist applications from across the United States responding to a national call for qualifications released in September 2017.

For more information about this public art installation or its opening ceremony, contact Special Projects Manager Stacey Poston with the City’s General Services Department at (919) 560-4197, ext. 21254 or by email.

About Pixel Patch Creative

Pixel Patch Creative is an artist collective founded to promote inclusive community engagement. Their work is hosted in public spaces to support place-making, tactile interactions, and multi-layered dialogue. Pixel Patch Creative design simple tools so communities have accessible ways to express themselves creatively. For more information, follow on Twitter and Instagram.

About the SmART Vision Plan

In 2012, the City of Durham was selected as one of five cities in North Carolina to participate in the 2012 North Carolina ArtsCouncil’s SmART Initiative to demonstrate how creative placemaking revitalizes downtowns and fuels sustainable economic development. The Durham Arts Council, in partnership with the City of Durham, Durham County, and multiple private partners and community stakeholders, worked with award winning landscape architect and urban designer Mikyoung Kim, creating a SmART Vision Plan, which reimagines the rapidly transforming north-south corridor straight through downtown. For more information, visit https://www.smartdurham.org.

About Durham Central Park, Inc.

Durham Central Park, Inc., is a 501(c)3 organization that holds a management agreement to operate, develop, and program Durham Central Park, a five-acre, City-owned park in downtown Durham. Durham Central Park features numerous gardens, paths and benches, open fields, kids play area, climbable sculptures, a skate park, and a large pavilion that is home to the farmers’ market and other community events.  For more information, follow on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

About the City of Durham General Services Department

The General Services Department builds and maintains City properties to make Durham a great place for people to live, work, and play. Guided by the City’s Strategic Plan, the department’s core functions include the acquisition and sale of properties, design and management of new construction and renovation projects, building maintenance, landscaping and urban forestry services, cemeteries management, sustainability and energy management, cultural and public art program management, and supporting the nonprofit Keep Durham Beautiful.

About the City of Durham Public Art Committee

The Public Art Committee serves as an advisory body to the Durham City Council and the City Manager, and its functions include assisting the City’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development on matters relating to public art; implementation of the Public Art Policy; and reviewing proposals for public art projects brought to it by the City administration; and making recommendations to the Cultural Advisory Board regarding project approvals. To further help artists connect with opportunities, the City has aDurham Calls for Artists page on its website, which lists a number of upcoming opportunities for artists in and around Durham. Artists and other stakeholders who would like to be notified of current and future art-related opportunities and news can now sign up for alerts through the Cultural and Public Art mailing list. For more information about the City’s Public Art Program, visit the City’s public art web page. Artists interested in more information about the Public Art program may also contact Special Projects Manager Stacey Poston with the City’s General Services Department at (919) 560-4197, ext. 21254 or by email.

The FUN In Fundraising: Parties For The Park 2018

Events, News

The FUN In Fundraising: Parties For The Park

Above: Opening Splash Pool Party at The Unscripted/Below: Latin Quarter On Main

Parties for the Park, 17 exciting parties – dinner parties, pool parties, cocktail parties, and more, has been bringing the FUN to fundraising this fall! Our generous hosts invite you into their homes and businesses to enjoy a good time and raise money to support Durham Central Park. Many parties sold out in advance.

Tickets are still available for two of the six remaining parties: Under the Stars Atop the Kress (a FIVE COURSE meal, October 20) and Local Vocal: An Evening of Food, Drink & A Capella
(November 1)

 

HOW WE USE OUR FUNDS

The funds raised from Parties for the Park have supported many projects over the years including:

Additionally, the funds help to cover the usual costs for staffing, maintaining, and  programming the park. This fall, a new art installation will be installed on the east side of the park overlooking the lawn and a water fountain will be installed at Mt. Merrill.

None of this would be possible without your generous support! If your schedule doesn’t allow time to attend a party this year, consider hosting one next year, or make an online donation to DCP now! 

 

WHO WE ARE

Durham Central Park is a 5-acre city-owned park along Foster Street in the heart of downtown Durham. Our organization, DCP, Inc., a 501c3 non-profit organization holds a management agreement with the City of Durham. We operate, develop and sustain this invaluable community asset. DCP relies on contributions (both money and time) from the community to keep the park the open, thriving, and welcoming space that it has become over the years. DCP, Inc. is made up of a 28 member volunteer board and three staff members.

Trucks For The Park

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All You Need Is Love: A Beatles Pop-Up Chorus (2017)

We need YOUR PLAYlist feedback–only takes 60 seconds!

News

PLAYlist is DCP’s 10 week summer concert series with shows every Friday night from 6-8 pm, rain or shine. 

Thank you to our 2018 artists (Gabriel Garzón-Montano, Laura Reed, Aztec Sun w/ StArt of Cool, Valerie June, Kamara Thomas, Mamis & the Papis, Gemynii, Joshua Gunn, Devon Gilfillian, Empire Strikes Brass, Al Strong & the Fresh Five, Jenn Bostic), sponsors, donors, vendors and fans. We’ll see you next summer! Please take a moment to fill out this 60 second PLAYlist survey:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/V27GY6W

    

 

 

 

Parties for the Park tickets ON SALE AUGUST 10!

Events, News

PARTIES FOR THE PARK

Parties for the Park is the new name for Durham Central Park’s annual fall fundraiser Meals from the Market. The new name captures the vibrancy of the park and the energy that everyone who visits the park brings. This series of fundraisers is expanded in vision yet similar in format to what we have done before. We hope that you will join in on the fun and attend a party to support Durham Central Park – a place for Durham to be Durham.

This fall, Parties for the Park is 17 exciting parties – dinner parties, pool parties, cocktail parties, dance parties and more! Our generous hosts invite you into their homes and businesses to enjoy a good time and raise money to support Durham Central Park.

WHO WE ARE

Durham Central Park is a 5-acre city-owned park along Foster Street in the heart of downtown Durham. Our organization, DCP, Inc., a 501c3 non-profit organization holds a management agreement with the City of Durham to operate, develop and sustain this invaluable community asset. We rely on contributions (both money and time) from the community to keep the park the open, thriving, and welcoming space that it has become over the years. DCP, Inc. is made up of a 28 member volunteer board and three staff members.

WHAT WE DO

For 20 years, we have built the infrastructure that makes the DCP beautiful, accessible, functional, comfortable and welcoming to the entire community. We provide high quality, free programming including the PLAYlist Concert Series, Food Truck Rodeos, Fourth of July Parade, Free Movies, and Free Yoga. We work closely with the city to advocate for the needs of the park as the downtown develops and changes. We also provide affordable rental space for local groups and non-profits to use, including the Durham Farmers’ Market.

HOW WE USE OUR FUNDS

The funds raised from Parties for the Park have supported many projects over the years including:

  • the expansion of  our PLAYlist Concert Series 
  • the installation of benches, tables and trees
  • the construction of Mt. Merrill

Additionally, the funds help to cover the usual costs for staffing, maintaining, and  programming the park. This fall, a new art installation will be installed on the east side of the park overlooking the lawn and a water fountain will be installed at Mt. Merrill.

None of this would be possible without your generous support!

 

Gabriel Garzón-Montano kicks off PLAYlist Concert Series Friday!

Events, News


PLAYlist Concert Series | About DCP | Donate Before You Even Get Here

The Wait Is Over: 2018 PLAYlist Concert Series Opens Friday. Our concerts are FREE, all-ages and rain or shine from 6-8pm on Fridays through August 10 at Durham Central Park. Click here for local food truck and craft beer offerings each night. Bring a chair, bring your FRIENDS. First time visitor? We’ve got a map, parking, and park features. Here’s what we have in store for June:

Gabriel Garzón-Montano/June 8
“After quietly releasing one of the best R&B albums of 2017, Gabriel Garzón-Montano seems determined to ratchet up the noise levels this year.” -NPR.org

Laura Reed/June 15


South African-born, Nashville and North Carolina-based, Reed commands the stage with powerful vocals, a soulful sound passionate storytelling.

Aztec Sun w/ stArt of Cool/June 22


Washington DC’s Aztec Sun produces an upbeat and retro groove steeped in 70’s Funk and Soul. Students from stArt of Cool, the Art of Cool Project’s jazz education arm, and their instructors, open the evening.

Valerie June w/ Kamara Thomas/June 29

PLAYLIST HEADLINER!

“Valerie June perfected her handsomely idiosyncratic brand of Americana on this second LP, steeped deep in electric blues and old-time folk, gilded in country twang and gospel yearning. The press-repeat standout is “Astral Plane.” -Rolling Stone. Cosmic Americana songwriter Kamara Thomas opens the evening.

Durham Central Park’s PLAYlist Concert Series is only possible with the generosity of our sponsors! We want to extend a huge THANK YOU to….
Urban Durham Realty
The Lodge at Croasdaile
RESOLUTE Building Company
The Rickhouse’s Picklefest
WNCU 90.7 FM
Food FWD
Cambria Hotels and Suites
Acme Plumbing
Morningstar Law Group
Bank of North Carolina
Downtown Durham Inc.
Durham County Library
Kompleks Creative

and the generous support of the the
North Carolina Arts Council and Durham Arts Council

New Construction Project Next to DCP has Started

News

The view around Durham Central Park is changing again. On Thursday, a construction fence went up and the building just to the north of the park is coming down. This property, at 539 and 545 Foster St., will soon be home to a new apartment building called Foster on the Park. The property is owned and being developed by Blue Heron Asset Management, a Raleigh based investment firm.

During the construction phase of this project there will be some impacts on the park. Here’s what you can expect over the coming months:

  • There is a temporary 30’ construction easement on the northern boundary of the park property. It will be closed to the public during the duration of the construction, but will be remediated and will re-open after the construction finishes.
  • The northern section of Roney Street (at Corporation) will be closed during the construction. The construction company is creating a walkway so that people can still access the park from this park entrance.
  • The sidewalk on the western side of Foster Street will eventually be closed during the construction and will re-open when construction is finished.
  • The project is slated to take about 20 months.

Despite the new construction project next door, Durham Central Park will remain open. All of the activities scheduled in the park, including the Durham Farmers’ Market and Durham Craft Market, will continue without interruption.

History about this Project

Blue Heron acquired the property more than 5 years ago and had initially planned on building condos on the site back in 2015. However, their plans changed and they made adjustments to their development and decided to build an apartment building instead. In early 2017, Blue Heron approached the City of Durham to ask for easements on park land. The City Manager asked the Durham Central Park Board to meet with the developers and make a recommendation of improvements that the developer could make to the park in exchange for the easements.

The DCP Board convened a committee to work on this project. Over several months, representatives from the DCP committee, City staff members, and folks from Blue Heron had a series of meetings to determine the park improvements that best fit our master plan. During these meetings, DCP’s objectives for the park came directly from the community input that was gathered in 2016 as we updated our master plan. These objectives are:

  • Make the park bigger (which is challenging, but we can make underutilized areas more usable)
  • Protect existing open space
  • Add shade and seating

As a result of these meetings, DCP, the City of Durham, and Blue Heron agreed on the following improvements to be made in Durham Central Park by the developer which were recommended to the City Manager and memorialized in the development agreement, including:

    • Create a woonerf style entrance to the park on Roney Street (from Corporation St. to the Brannan)
    • Construct and install seating area at the northern entrance to the park at Roney and Corporation streets
    • Include decorative brick pattern on the wall that faces the park
    • Construct stairs and seating area at the property line on Foster street
    • Improve the drainage in the Sister Cities Grove
    • Replace trees that are removed in the process of development, including the sister cities tree grove

Previous Development Agreements

There is a precedent for developers making improvements in the park in exchange for city granted easements onto park property. The City Manager has asked the DCP Board to make recommendations for park improvements for both the Liberty Warehouse Apartments and Brannan developments.

Thanks to those developments, we can now all enjoy an ADA accessible walkway on the east side of the park, Mount Merrill, a repaired skate park, and soon lots of shade from the recently planted trees. Later this year, the Art Wall will be installed with a fantastic, interactive piece on the east side of the park. And there is still more to come!

About Durham Central Park

Durham Central Park is a 5 acre city owned park in the heart of downtown Durham. DCP, Inc., a 501c3 non-profit organization holds a management agreement with the city to operate, develop and manage this park. DCP, Inc.’s mission is Providing Space for Community and is committed to building and maintaining a public park where everyone can feel welcome.