PLAYlist Concert Series Announcement: we were excited to share this year’s PLAYlist Concert Series lineup with you but, after much consideration and consultation with the City of Durham, NC Government, we have decided to cancel our 2020 PLAYlist Concert Series (June-Sept) in order to protect public health amid the #COVID-19 pandemic. We will miss gathering and the camaraderie of these concerts but feel that the risk and uncertainty is too great at this time. Photo credit Ryan Moeller Photography, 2018. #DurhamNC
Giving Tuesday, May 5th, we kicked off #25DaysofGiving to raise $10,000 to support DCP’s operating funds. Our day four running total in #25DaysofGiving is $2141, including five new sustainers! Over the next 21 days, we will share our favorite memories, features and information about the work that we are doing to improve the park and provide space for community during the global pandemic. Please make a donation or become a sustainer to help us continue to serve the Durham community.
As you may know, the park is operated, programmed and preserved by DCP, Inc. a 501(c)3 nonprofit. We serve as a “Friends of the Park” organization for Durham Central Park and keep the park a beautiful place for you to enjoy. Changes to our pavilion rentals and regularly scheduled programming this spring have caused financial challenges for our small non-profit.
Please make a donation so that we can continue our vital work towards positively impacting the well-being of our community. https://durhamcentralpark.org/donate/
After closing for the month of April due to COVID-19, the Durham Farmers’ Market has been given permission by the Durham County Health Department to re-open on May 2 from 8am-Noon.
To ensure the safety of vendors and customers, the Durham Farmers’ Market has new safety protocols in place.
You might have also noticed some fencing was put up at the park today… Farmer Jack from Sunset Ridge Buffalo Farm (pictured here), along with Durham Farmers’Market staff and DCP board members, have been working very hard today to make sure that the re-opening of the market is safe and successful. One of Durham County Health Department’s requirements for safe operation of farmers markets at this time is that the perimeter needs to be fenced off to ensure that people are following social distancing and traffic flow. The market will be open from 8am-noon on Saturdays and it will operate differently than usual to ensure vendor and customer safety. Please follow their guidelines and remember that face masks are required.
The fencing will stay up for as long as the health department requires. Even though the fencing is up at this time, Durham Central Park remains open for the community to enjoy, safely, of course.
Thank you for your understanding and a big thank you to Durham Farmers Market staff for safely providing fresh, local food to the community.
Effective March 23, all playgrounds in the Durham Parks and Rec system, including Durham Central Park’s Mount Merrill, are closed to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. Durham’s parks, trails, and greenways, however, remain open.
Officials in the City of Durham are recommending that those who use Durham’s parks and trails, “model social distancing by maintaining a safe distance (at least 6 feet) between you and other users. Group activities, i.e. basketball games, etc. are strongly discouraged.”
At this time, all city-owned facilities are closed as well. This includes the Pavilion at Durham Central Park and all scheduled events, including the Durham Farmers’ Market.
While the Durham Farmers’ Market is temporarily closed to help stop the spread of Covid-19, many of their vendors will be offering delivery and pickup options. Please note that this list is not exhaustive, but it is the information that we have as of March 20, 2020.
Please note, the Durham Farmers’ Market staff are working on ways to get triple SNAP bucks to SNAP and WIC customers. Please contact Durham Farmers’ Market with more info about the program.
Bonlee Grown Farm
Selling Vegetables, Canned Goods, Eggs and Plants at Carrboro Farmers Market. Call 919-548-0977 for special orders
Melina’s Pasts Shop on Chapel Hill Road is open. To order, fill out their order form.
Meadow Lane Farm
Offering pickup at Geer Street Garden Parking Lot, 644 Foster St., Saturday 9:30-Noon. To order meats, vegetables and eggs Call/Text Martha at 919-495-1305 by Friday at 5pm.
Moondance Soaps
Order soaps and body products through their website. Offering free shipping to DFM customers with code GO-DFM
We have been working closely with city officials to determine the best plans for keeping our community safe at Durham Central Park during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, we are following the city and state guidance and all of the scheduled events at Durham Central Park are cancelled through April 10th, including the March 22 Food Truck Rodeo and the Durham Farmers Market. As this is a rapidly evolving situation, we will continue to monitor and follow the leadership of city and state government and keep you posted of any changes.
As of now, Durham Central Park and the parks in the Durham Parks and Rec system are open. You are welcome to take walks, enjoy the sunshine, and smell the flowers. It is a beautiful time of year and in the midst of this uncertainty, enjoying nature in a socially distant and responsible way can help.
If you are a patron of the Durham Farmers’ Market and want to get food from local farmers, sign up for their newsletter. The Durham Farmers’ Market Manager is working with their vendors on ways to connect people with local farmers and vendors for food deliveries at this time. DFM will be sending out information through their newsletter regularly.
We are still working on DCP’s summer event schedule and planning on moving forward with our summertime events. Our next Food Truck Rodeo is scheduled for June 21. Our PLAYlist Concert Series is set to start on June 12 and run every other Friday through September 18. Not to mention, our Children’s Fourth of July parade is still in the works! We’ll share more details about all of these events soon and if anything changes, we’ll let you know.
These next few weeks and months will be a hardship for everyone. Remember to look after your community as you can – your family, friends, neighbors, local businesses and the non-profits that help to make the Durham community vibrant, healthy, connected and safe. We look forward to enjoying the park together very soon.
Warmly, Erin Kauffman Durham Central Park Executive Director
Durham Central Park is a 5-acre park that is managed, developed and programmed by Durham Central Park, Inc., a 501c3 non-profit organization. Our mission is providing space for community. We work hard to provide the community a beautiful, safe, vibrant and welcoming park in downtown Durham. To do all of this, we rely on generous donations from people like you. You can help support and sustain this vital community space through this uncertain time.
Become a friend of the park today. You can support Durham Central Park by:
IMPACT Camps provide area high school-aged youth with an affordable, local week-long community service/urban mission experience. They offer IMPACT camps in the Summer and during Spring Break.
Students learn together about social issues in our community and work with local agencies that are making a difference.
Students participating in the program will spend Monday through Friday on a supervised team working on a variety of service projects. They will hear from community leaders and engage in reflection activities. Participants will also receive leadership and team-building training, and learn about housing, hunger, poverty, caring for the environment, and other issues facing the local community.
– Need-based scholarships and payment plans are available. We try to accommodate as many students as possible. Please complete the scholarship form below. Contact us to discuss payment plans.
Camp Date and Times
SPRING BREAK: April 13-17, 2020 (Monday-Friday, 9am-4pm)
SUMMER: 2020 DATES TO BE SET (There are four separate weeks for the Summer IMPACT Camp ) The camp runs Monday – Friday
Durham Central Park is a 5-acre city-owned park located in the heart of Downtown Durham. The park is managed, developed and programmed by Durham Central Park, Inc. a 501c3 non-profit organization. This is a preview of our 2020 Calendar of Events. ALL free and open to the public.
Mission
Providing Space for Community.
Durham Central Park is a place filled with natural beauty and man-made wonders. Yet, in a way, it is also a blank canvas—an empty stage ready to be the setting for your story.
Our mission is providing space for community, which means a number of things including:
Continuing to maintain and improve an already amazing urban park;
Working hard to ensure that the park is accessible to everyone;
Hosting enjoyable, free events to enliven the park and enrich the community;
Offering an affordable and attractive venue in the heart of downtown; and
Safeguarding a place for people to gather in celebration or rally around a shared belief, meet up with friends or just be alone for a moment, appreciate public art or simply play in nature—a place for Durham to be Durham.
Vision
A vibrant, urban park where everyone feels welcome.
Location
Durham Central Park is located in the 500 block of Foster Street (both sides of the street) between Corporation and Hunt Streets. To find it with GPS, use 501 Foster Street, Durham NC 27701.
Hours
Durham Central Park is open every day from dawn to dusk. All visitors and members of the community are welcome to visit and enjoy our gardens, facilities and the great outdoors in the heart of our lovely city.
Can you imagine Durham without Durham Central Park?
A personal letter and preview of what’s to come, 2020 from DCP Executive Director, Erin Kauffman.
Two decades ago, the Park was an audacious proposition. Today, it is a destination, a gathering space, a community center, a beloved constant in an ever-changing city. Every week, thousands of people visit Durham Central Park for a myriad of reasons; fresh food, entertainment, exercise, recreation, relaxation, or as a meeting place. No matter how you interact with the Park, you have likely noticed that it serves many purposes and transforms seamlessly from one event or activity to the next. The Park provides a space for creativity in our community and plays a key role in shaping the culture and identity of Durham.
Durham Central Park is managed, developed and programmed by DCP, Inc, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Though the land is owned by the city, DCP, Inc. receives no public funding to operate the park. Every year, we rely on the generosity of donors, like you, to keep this park fun, functional, and beautiful for every Durham resident and visitor to enjoy. Can you pitch in during this giving season to help us reach our goal of $50,000 for our general operating fund and build a solid foundation for the new year? Here’s how: https://durhamcentralpark.org/donate/
Durham, NC— Three vibrant Art-Deco inspired pedestrian crosswalk designs will be installed on Downtown Durham’s Blackwell, Corcoran and Foster Streets on November 19 – 21, 2019. The ground plane art is the third major project of the Durham SmART Vision Plan — connecting the cultural hubs/districts in downtown Durham through creative placemaking. Local artist Mary Carter Taub designed the Pedestrian Crosswalk installations for three locations: American Tobacco Campus at Blackwell/Vivian St., Durham Armory to Marriott/Convention Center on Foster Street; and Durham Central Park at the Farmers’ Market crossing on Foster Street. The design will be professionally applied with a specialized colored resin including non-skid aggregate in eight bright colors.
A public dedication of the Crosswalks will take place on Saturday, November 23, from 10:00 am – 12:00 noon adjacent to the crosswalk in Durham Central Park, 501 Foster Street. Artist Mary Carter Taub will be on hand to lead visitors in a free participatory “cross chalking” art project on the street. For more information, visit www.smartdurham.org.
Artist Mary Carter Taub states: “The pedestrian crosswalks are a freewheeling riff loosely inspired by Memphis design, a blend of Art Deco and Pop art, blending geometric shapes found in downtown Durham’s local Art Deco architecture with an ‘80s palette bursting with color. The crosswalks are titled Snapping!, Crackling!, and Popping! inspired by the Rice Krispies cereal characters Snap, Crackle and Pop who were created in the ‘30s, and – fast forward to the 1980s – weighed heavily in my rotation of childhood breakfast cereals. Snapping! is the American Tobacco Campus -DPAC crosswalk, Crackling! is the Armory/Marriott crosswalk and Popping! appears as the Durham Central Park crosswalk.”(See images of the designs below)
The Durham SmART Vision Plan focuses on transforming the North/South Corridor of Blackwell/Corcoran/Foster Streets through creative placemaking. The plan, created with internationally renowned urban designer and public artist Mikyoung Kim, is a multi-year, $10 million public art and urban design strategy for Durham. The North Carolina Arts Council, National Endowment for the Arts, Durham Arts Council, City of Durham, Durham County, Capitol Broadcasting Company, Downtown Durham, Inc., Duke University, Nasher Museum of Art, and a local SmART Resource Team of key stakeholders and arts professionals are partners in planning and implementing the public art projects and place-making strategies along the SmART corridor.
DURHAM SmART PROGRAM
Durham is one of four pilot communities chosen to be part of the North Carolina Arts Council’s SmART Program, which supports arts-driven economic development projects. Since 2012, the N.C. Arts Council has provided staff resources, public art consultants and significant funds to create a plan for downtown Durham’s Blackwell, Corcoran and Foster Street corridor. The plan connects three distinct city districts along the corridor – American Tobacco, City Center and Durham Central Park respectively, and includes projects for improving pedestrian access and artfully-designed public spaces to support greater participation for residents and visitors in the rapidly transforming corridor.
The first project, the Corcoran Street Garage Art Wrap, was designed by public artist Olalekan Jeyifous. “Durham in Continuum” was completed in summer 2018, and was recognized as one of the 50 outstanding public art projects in 2018 by the Public Art Network of the Americans for the Arts.
Noa Younse and Jennifer Hiser were selected to create a second public art installation along the Durham SmART corridor titled “A Story Goes On” which is an interactive pixel wall mural in Durham Central Park. The Pedestrian Crosswalk Art is the third and current Durham SmART Vision Plan project.
Durham SmART Funding Partners for the Ground Plane – Pedestrian Crosswalks
Funding partners for the SmART Pedestrian Crosswalks include the National Endowment for the Arts “Art Works” grant, the North Carolina Arts Council, Durham Arts Council (lead local agency), the City of Durham, Capitol Broadcasting Company/American Tobacco District; Downtown Durham, Inc., Durham County; plus technical support from Durham Area Designers, and Discover Durham, and additional public/private partners. For more information, visit www.smartdurham.org
About the Artist Mary Carter Taub
Artist Mary Carter Taub was selected for the Crosswalk project from among 27 artist applicants in the Triangle area. She conducted extensive research on the history and landscape of the downtown Durham corridor and its architecture and landscape as part of her design process. She also engaged with more than 130 community members at public events to gain feedback and inspiration for the crosswalks.
Mary Carter Taub received her MBA from the School of Global Management, Arizona State University; an MFA from the School of Visual Arts, New York, NY; and a BA from Meredith College, NC. She has been selected for numerous public art projects including the Master Planning Team for new neighborhood parks in Cary, NC; Fort Worth, TX Public Art program; San Francisco Arts Commission Bay Area Discovery Museum; Nashville International Airport; Iowa Art in State Buildings Program; Scottsdale, AZ Public Art Program; the North Carolina Arts Council Mary B. Regan Community Artist grant; Piedmont Triad International Airport; City of Raleigh; Town of Chapel Hill and Chapel Hill Transit, and four projects for the Orange County Arts Commission. She has also been artist in residence at Glassmalerei Peters (Peters Studio), Paderborn, Germany; Parsons School of Design, La Romana, Dominican Republic; University of Wisconsin; and Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture, Skowhegan, Maine. For more information, visit www.marycartertaub.com
Artist Concept Inspiration
The crosswalk designs are informed by shapes, patterns and compositional elements found in several local Art Deco buildings such as the Hill building (Sun Trust/ 21c), NC Mutual Life building and the Kress building. The decision to use a brightly colored palette was validated at a community engagement event on June 8, 2019 at the Durham Central Park Farmers’ Market; the consistent feedback was to use colors, “the brighter, the better,” and to “give life to dead intersections,” and raise safety awareness where “folks don’t know the drill for traffic patterns and pedestrian flow.” The artist created designs to visually shake up the status quo.
Crosswalk Designs are inspired by iconic buildings in downtown Durham
Hill Building 1937 KRESS Building 1933 NC MUTUAL LIFE Building left: original location 1921
