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#parkingdaydc turns ~20 street parking spaces into mini-parks for the day

Cornhole at a PARK(ing) Day Parklet

PARK(ing) Day has come and gone another year. As always, Elevation DC managing editor Rachel Kaufman CaBiked to as many spots as possible while the parklets were up.

PARK(ing) Day is a decade-old event where groups of people turn a street parking space into a mini park (or "parklet"). Maybe it's just a bit of grass and a chair, maybe it's a game of cornhole or a park bench. (One category of "things that go in parks but that we haven't seen in parklets": statues. Let's have a giant statue in a parklet next year, please.)

Some of the parklets we saw weren't very "park"-y--they seemed more like advertising for/by nearby businesses. But PARK(ing) Day isn't just about making new parks. It's about showing that you can block off street parking spaces for a full day yet the city won't grind to a halt. Life went on. The economy didn't tank. Parking is not the only use for this asphalt.

Out of the roughly 20 parklets out there, EDC didn't make it to many--so we're relying on you to help us round out our photos. Tweet them to @ElevationDC or send them to [email protected].

Owly Images
Owly Images
Owly Images
 Owly Images
Owly Images
And some images from others:

Read more articles by Rachel Kaufman.

Rachel is the managing editor of Elevation D.C. She also covers tech, business and science for publications nationwide. She lives in Brookland.
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