Seattle Parks and Recreation news and events
The summer camp 2022 brochure is here, and along with it a wide range of exciting activities for participants.
See the full Summer Camp 2022 brochure here.
Register online here. or by calling your community center.
Registration begins at 12pm on Tuesday, April 19.
2022 Earth Week, April 19th – 23rd
Since 1970, Earth Day has occurred each year on April 22 to help bring awareness and offer opportunities to learn about and give back to your environment. This year, join Seattle Parks and Recreation’s Environmental Sustainability, Education and Engagement Unit for fun Earth Week activities. Please see below for a list of educational videos, and fun in-person activities for Earth Week. Or click here for a flyer listing our in-person activities.
Visit our YouTube page to learn virtually about everything from growing microgreens to what you can find under a rock at low tide: Earth Week 2022 – YouTube
Reading and the outdoors go together like kids and playgrounds! The Seattle Public Library and Seattle Parks and Recreation are collaborating to bring you StoryWalk® in the Parks from Tuesday April 19 through Sunday, April 24.
A StoryWalk® is an outdoor reading experience: A picture book is installed on signposts along a walking route, where families can read along as they walk (or hop or skip) and enjoy the outdoors.
You can find StoryWalks from Tuesday April 19 through Sunday, April 24 at Herring’s House Park (Tualtwx), Lincoln Park, Green Lake (near the community center) and Genesee Park (between the playground and Community Center).
Friday, April 22, 10am-5:30pm
Join us for Earth Day at Denny Park on Friday, April 22! We’ll have free lawn games, music, and more! Celebrate nature and enjoy some time outdoors in the park this #EarthDay. Lawn games will be from 10am to 5:30pm and buskers will be performing from 12-2pm.
Planning to explore out of the Seattle area on Earth Day? Friday, April 22 is a Discover Pass free day with Washington State Parks! You can visit any Washington State park without the needing to pay any fees.
Saturday, April 23, 1pm-2:30pm
Celebrate Earth Week with Seattle Urban Nature Guides. This guided nature walk will focus on exploring the forest with all our senses. This program will begin and end at the Discovery Park Visitor Center.
All children must be accompanied by an adult. Everyone attending the program must be registered – call (206) 386-4236 to register for this free walk or register here.
Saturday, April 23rd 1-3pm
Location: Commons Park, 3201 SW Graham St, Seattle, WA 98126
Seattle Parks Naturalists will be hosting a booth with art activities and educational information for Earth Day at the High Point Earth Day Event in West Seattle.
Saturday, April 23, 8am-10am
Discover the joy of birding. Join experienced birders in exploring Discovery Park’s many habitats looking for migrants as well as year-round residents. Register here ($5 for ages 8+).
Saturday April 23, 11am – noon, $7
Join Ms. Maria during Earth Week for a family yoga session at the Discovery Park Visitor Center. We will explore how yoga helps us feel grounded and connected to the Earth as well as practice poses, mindfulness, and relaxation. This family yoga offering is suitable for children ages 7 and up. Register here ($7).
Grow your own MICROGREENS at home with our Earth Week DIY Microgreens kit. Each kit includes everything you need to grow your own at home. Proceeds from these $5 kits support free programming at Discovery Park. Kits will be ready for pickup at the Discovery Park Visitor Center during our regular open hours between April 23 – April 30. Reserve your kit here for $5.
Friday, April 29th – Monday, May 1st
Join Seattle Parks naturalists and Seattle Urban Nature Guides on a walk and participate in the 2022 City Nature Challenge. The walks are an opportunity to meet new people, get help downloading/using the iNaturalist app (needed to participate in the City Nature Challenge) and help document the amazing diversity of nature in our Seattle Parks.
Friday 4/29, 4-6p
Lincoln Park – the upper parking lot information kiosk
Saturday 4/30, 10am -12pm
Carkeek Park – Lower lot next to the “lower meadow” by the kiosk
Sunday 5/1, 1-3pm
Magnuson Park – building 30 parking lot
Monday 5/2, 10-12pm
Seward Park – in front of the Audubon Center
The Seattle-Nantes Sister City Association (SNSCA) and the City of Seattle, through Seattle Parks and Recreation, invite the community to reaffirm our Sister City relationship with Nantes, France at a park celebration on Sunday, April 10 at 4 p.m. at Nantes Park in West Seattle, 5062 SW Admiral Way. The event welcomes delegates from Nantes and the Pays de la Loire region, and celebrates the Nantes Park Beautification Project that has transformed the park into a fun, family-friendly, and accessible community gathering space.
The beatification project of the park includes sculptures from Claude Ponti (beloved and prolific French children’s author and illustrator), a new paved, accessible walkway with more Ponti art embedded in the cement, and an art tile project embedded into the park seat-wall designed by students in Nantes and Seattle. Some of the work is not yet complete due to the concrete strike, but visitors to the park can see examples of Claude Ponti’s whimsical world and future park features.
Ponti draws on his experience with the Jardin des Plantes and the Parc de la Beaujoire in Nantes and brings his French-influenced art to Seattle’s Nantes Park, symbolizing the intersection of the two cultures. Nantes Park also represents Ponti’s first art installation to be showcased in the United States.
The Nantes Park project is part of a year-long celebration on both sides of the Atlantic recognizing the 42nd anniversary of Seattle’s sister-city relationship with Nantes. The park project is led by the Seattle-Nantes Sister City Association (SNSCA) in partnership with the Admiral Neighborhood Association, and is funded by the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, the City of Nantes, the West Seattle Garden Tour, and volunteers.
More information on the Seattle-Nantes Sister City Association, the Nantes Park project, and the events planned to commemorate the 42nd anniversary can be found at www.seattle-nantes.org.
UPDATE as of 4:00pm, April 4: The flooding issue at Amy Yee Tennis Center has largely been resolved and the center will be able to open and host reservations Tuesday, April 5 as scheduled pending no more overnight flooding.
8:40am
Today, April 4, 2022, Amy Yee Tennis Center is closed due to flooding that occurred overnight.
Crews will be onsite today to assess and address the damage. There is currently no timeline for reopening. Updates will be shared on our blog, social media, and our website.
The center’s phones are impacted as well, and the center will not be accepting phone calls. Online registration remains.
Seattle Parks and Recreation (SPR) has launched a survey to gather community feedback on priorities for the next Park District six-year budget.
The Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners (BPRC) is charged with holding public meetings and making recommendations to the Superintendent of SPR for each six-year cycle of the Park District.
Starting in late March 2022, the BPRC is launching a public process to consider potential investments for Park District Cycle 2 (2023-2028), both at full board meetings and through more in-depth subcommittee discussions.
On Thursday, April 14th at 6:30 pm the BPRC will hold a virtual community conversation about the next six-year Park District funding plan. This will be a facilitated question and answer session. Questions may be submitted ahead of time at here or during the meeting. The BPRC will take as many submitted questions as they can during this meeting.
An official public hearing on the BPRC’s funding recommendation will be held on Thursday, May 12 at 6:30 pm. More information will be available closer to the date here.
In 2014, Seattle voters approved the Seattle Park District providing Seattle Parks and Recreation (SPR) with funds to increase investment in maintenance, recreation affordability, park development, and supporting community programs.
The first six-year cycle of the Seattle Park District spanned 2015-2020. More information about accomplishments and lessons learned throughout Cycle 1 is available in the Cycle-End Report and associated Appendices.
In 2020, planning for Cycle 2 of the Seattle Park District was delayed twice due to uncertainties associated with the trajectory of the COVID-19 pandemic and related economic impacts. The City Council acting as the Park District Board passed annual budgets for the Park District in 2021 and 2022
Seattle Parks and Recreation is very excited to welcome the community back to a regular tradition this year: the Spring Egg Hunt! Various community centers around Seattle will host this annual favorite event. Best of all, these events are FREE.
For each event, participants are encouraged to bring a bag or basket (or flashlight for teen night events).
Egg hunts start promptly at the times listed, don’t be late!
What: Flashlight Teen Hunt!
When: 8pm
Where: 8319 8th Ave S, Seattle, WA 98108
Ages: Teens
Crafts: 4:30pm
Egg Hunt: 5:30pm
Flashlight Teen Hunt: 7:30pm
Where: 6344 NE 74th St, Seattle, WA 98115
Ages 1-3: 10am
Ages 4-6: 10:30am
Ages 7-10: 11am
Where: 7201 E Green Lake Dr N, Seattle, WA 98115
Ages 3-11
When: 10am sharp
Where: 4501 Delridge Way SW, Seattle, WA 98106
Ages 3-11
When: 10am sharp
Where: 2101 NW 77th St, Seattle, WA 98117
Ages 3-11
When: 10am sharp
Where: 2802 S Myrtle St, Seattle WA 98108
Ages 3-11
When: 10am sharp
Where: 917 E Yesler Way, Seattle, WA 98122
This April 29 – May 2, Seattle Parks and Recreation will be joining the Woodland Park Zoo and other partners to get community scientists out in our parks to gather data on the plants and animals (and other life) that call Seattle home. The annual City Nature Challenge invites people from around the world to use the iNaturalist app to observe and record nature, creating a record of what lives in their community.
Learn more about the City Nature Challenge at the Zoo’s Orientation for Individuals & Families webinar on April 26, 2022 from 5:30 – 6:30 p.m. REGISTER HERE.
Seattle Parks and Recreation, Seattle Parks Foundation, Seattle Department of Neighborhoods and the Friends of Seward Park invite the community to celebrate the new Torii Gate at Seward Park on Saturday, April 2, 2022 at 1 p.m. The celebration includes taiko drummers, a Lion Dance, and remarks from elected officials as well as community advocates. All are encouraged to come to the celebration.
The new torii is built with native basalt and western red cedar. It is located in Seward Park’s north meadow and welcomes all who enter the park (5902 Lake Washington Blvd. South).
The Department of Neighborhoods awarded a planning grant to the Friends of Seward Park which hired landscape architectural firm Murase Associates to design the torii. Murase worked with the Friends of Seward Park to gather community input. Community participants chose a design that honors the original Seward Park torii, addresses concerns about long-term maintenance, and reflects current community values and the wilderness character of the park. The columns (hashira) of the torii are made of natural basalt from central Washington. One giant western red cedar tree harvested on Vancouver Island provided the timber for the lintel (kasagi) and crosspiece (nuki). Seattle Parks Foundation supported the Friends of Seward Park and together they successfully raised $347,000 for the project.
Seattle Parks and Recreation managed the construction of the new Torii Gate. It replaces the 26-foot timber torii given to the City by Seattle’s Japanese American community in 1934 as part of the International Potlatch celebration and then donated as a gesture of intercultural friendship and placed in Seward Park. The original torii was removed in the mid-1980s due to decaying beams. Like the original Seward Park torii, this design takes inspiration from the famous ‘floating’ torii of Itsukushima shrine at Miyajima, Japan. The hashira are tapered upward like the camphor trees that form the hashira at Miyajima. The project includes a pathway and plaza that meet ADA requirements for accessibility.
For more information on the project please visit https://sites.google.com/site/sewardparktorii/home.
By Todd Burley
At Seattle Parks and Recreation (SPR), we define a healthy environment as a thriving ecosystem where everyone has equitable use of, and responsibility for, public spaces. It is a healthy urban forest that cleans the air and soil and serves as a natural sanctuary for people and wildlife. It is a healthy ocean and marine environment that contributes to the health of the Seattle and Pacific Northwest ecosystem. And it is green infrastructure that builds resiliency by adapting to shifting weather patterns and sea level rise.
In 2021 we were happy to join more than 280 cities by signing on to the Trust for Public Lands’ 10-Minute Walk to a Park Campaign, committing to equitable access to parks and green spaces. With 97% of households living within that “walkshed,” Seattle is currently the 9th in the nation for park access. Last year we acquired two new properties, all in underserved areas of our city, to become future parks.
As we seek to improve habitat in our parks, SPR has continued to restore our urban forests by removing invasives, planting native species, and improving access through our trail system. The Green Seattle Partnership added 59 new acres of urban forest in restoration and almost 54,000 native plants in 2021, including over 10,000 trees. We are also looking at our turf areas more ecologically and converting some to pollinator habitat. And as part of our recognition of the value of nature to mitigate the impacts of climate change in our city, Seattle has signed on to the C40 Urban Nature Declaration with other cities from around the world.
A healthy environment also looks at our impact on the larger community and world through making our operations have a lighter ecological footprint. In 2021 we transitioned to the use of primarily battery-powered leaf blowers in our downtown parks and created a long-term strategy to prioritize use of these carbon-neutral tools for all our parks. We also neared completion of the solar micro-grid on Miller Community Center, creating an independent alternative energy source for use in emergency situations. We conducted a waste audit of athletic fields to inform a waste management plan currently in development and are piloting new recycling and waste bins in some parks to improve waste diversion.
A healthy environment is infused in our recreation programs. In 2021 we were glad to bring back in-person environmental education programming in our parks and green spaces, providing over 100 outdoor Environmental Education programs with our partners. SPR’s Youth Engaged in Service (YES!) team and Environmental Education staff have been providing job training and mentoring to 11 youth (16-20 years old) in outdoor recreation professions. We also hosted a celebration of Earth Week for virtual and physical visitors.
These impacts and more are described in our annual Healthy Environment Report. Read it HERE.
We will continue this work in 2022 by diving deeper into such issues as waste management, climate resiliency, and best management practices. We look forward to sharing more stories and updates throughout the year and hearing from you how we can support a Healthy Environment. Send a note to our Sustainability Advisor Todd Burley (todd.burley@seattle.gov) with your ideas.
Youth Appreciation Week is almost here! Each year, during Seattle Public Schools’ Spring Break, Seattle Parks and Recreation hosts a week of special programming just for our youth participants. Programming includes regularly scheduled activities, special events, field trips, and activities designed to celebrate this special week for teens.
Find schedules for events at our Teen Life Centers below:
Garfield Teen Life Center Youth Appreciation Week 4/11 – 4/15
Meadowbrook Teen Life Center Youth Appreciation Week 4/12 – 4/15
Southwest Teen Life Center Youth Appreciation Week 4-12 – 12/15
