Thank you, Seattle, for making this one of our best and busiest summers ever! Summer 2018 saw more events in our downtown parks, record-breaking attendance at the Seattle Japanese Garden, and a 12% increase in Bicycle Sunday participants from last year.
In addition to the hundreds of summer camps and recreation programs we offered, Seattle Parks and Recreation staff spent thousands of hours maintaining our parks (including removing an impressive 5,239 tons of trash!), and we were in every corner of the city conducting community outreach, including holding 15 public meetings to gather input from the community on new park site developments, play area and playfield renovation projects, and more!
Read on below to see more summer 2018 highlights:
- Summer camps: We offered 1,287 camps, including activity camps, nature camps, and sports camps with 24,341 registered participants!
- Free summer meals program: We served 32,750 meals at 19 park sites! Our summer meal program offers free meals and recreation activities to kids and teens ages 1 to 18.
- Big Day of Play: On Aug. 18 more than 3,700 people took part in the Big Day of Play, a day dedicated to encouraging neighbors, communities, and families to have fun, build relationships and be active together.
- Beaches, pools and wading pools: Community members made 226,481 visits to our 9 lifeguarded beaches; 299,117 visits to our 8 indoor and 2 outdoor pools; and 115,033 visits to our 22 wading pools.
- Free swim lessons: 892 young people participated in free youth swim lessons at beach sites over the summer.
- Small craft centers: We offered 179 programs at our small craft centers, including rowing, sailing, paddle boarding, and kayaking with 2,087 participants.
- Japanese Garden: 41,359 visits were recorded at the Japanese Garden over the summer months, up nearly 9,000 from the year before!
- Forest restoration: The Green Seattle Partnership hosted 282 volunteer events over the summer to restore our urban forests. Volunteers donated 12,023 hours of time to remove invasive plants from more than 25 acres of parkland, plant 65,154 trees and more.
- Downtown parks: Working with partners, we provided 17,290 hours of activation activities at 12 downtown park sites. We supported 3,032 individual events, and provided 221 hours of free concerts and dancing; 1,462 hours of free live music by a pool of qualified buskers; 6,651 hours of staffing by park concierges who help keep the parks safe and welcoming; 44 hours of free health and fitness programs; and 13 outdoor movies!
- Tennis: We had 1,713 court reservations at the Amy Yee Tennis Center, and 3,633 at all other park facilities.
- Athletic fields: 22,915 sporting activities were permitted by our Athletic Scheduling Office on athletic fields across the city.
- Golf: 103,207 rounds of golf were played on the four golf courses maintained by Seattle Parks and Recreation.
- Teen Summer Musical: This year’s production of the Teen Summer Musical, Cinderella “A love story with the sound of Motown”, sold 3,726 tickets! The summer musical is an opportunity for local teens to perform on the big stage while learning the business side of theater operations.
- Bicycle Sundays: 54,291 people attended the 12 Bicycle Sundays we hosted from May to September. During the event, Lake Washington Boulevard was closed to motorized traffic and community members biked, jogged and strolled along the boulevard between Seward Park and Mount Baker Park.
- Special events: We permitted and supported 2,513 picnics; 107 ceremonies; and 447 special events in our parks and facilities this summer!
- Enhanced cleaning team: Our enhanced cleaning team visited 24 facilities, including community centers, pools, the Amy Yee Tennis Center, park shelter houses and more! The team provides deep cleaning and preventive facility maintenance to make our facilities clean, safe and welcoming places to be.
- New and renovated parks and facilities: We completed 16 projects over the summer, including opening the new Seattle Sensory Garden and Yesler Terrace Park, as well as ADA projects, P-Patch improvements, and court restoration projects throughout the city.
- Park maintenance: Staff spent 104,288 hours this summer maintaining citywide parks and natural areas. In total, we removed 5,239 tons of trash!