A Beautiful Night in the Park

It’s the longest day of the year… and what better way to celebrate than with a double feature after dark in Durham Central Park?

Tonight at 9PM, Durham Cinematheque presents “Durham on Film: Bull City is Black! and White” featuring vintage Durham films shot between 1936 and 1942.  Admission is free.  The event is sponsored by Vaguely Reminiscent.

There’s also a celestial “Super Moon” and skies are supposed to be clear.  The weather forecast for this evening is cool after dark.  So, bring a blanket and a folding chair, lie back and enjoy the show!

 

Durham County Library Celebrates Durham Central Park

In their continuing series, Bullish on Durham, Durham County Library is hosting a discussion panel about the history and impact of our wonderful park. Moderated by our own Dan Jewell, the panel will feature our illustrious co-founders Allen Wilcox and Curt Eshelman who saw a barren patch of land and envisioned the vibrant community space we are today.

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

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Community Building at DCP

This time of year is beautiful at Durham Central Park.  The grass is green, the sunlight is special and the gardens are full of vibrant color.  The landscaping hasn’t always been this beautiful  but now it is more  the norm because of several individuals, businesses and organizations who have ‘adopted’ specific areas in the park as well as the monthly volunteer days that happen throughout the year.

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.

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Thanks to LDS for “Lovin the Park”

DCP wishes to acknowledge and thank The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for their volunteer efforts on Saturday, March 23, “The Great Day of Service”. This is the fifth year that the Durham LDS members have worked to improve the park. This year they cleared the heavy build up of vegetation under the bridge, and spruced up the SEEDS garden. Last year the LDS team constructed the steps that lead from the upper trail to the pavilion.

Park Story: The Immaculate Conception Church Table

This article was originally published by the Herald Sun. See it here.

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.

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