The volunteers who oversee the soon-to-return Pop Up Park downtown say they’re upgrading the furniture there this summer and partnering with nonprofits to help the organizations gain visibility.
Pop Up Park visitors in the summer of 2014 watch the World Cup. Credit: Alex Hutchins
As requested, the Pop Up Park’s organizers have checked with New Canaan’s Special Events Committee and are ready to run the makeshift park continuously from Aug. 5 to 28, according to Martin Skrelunas.
Merchants have come to the Pop Up Park Committee requesting participation in the space this summer and “they are starting to refer to it as ‘The Launchpad,’ ” Skrelunas told members of the Police Commission at their meeting Thursday, held in the Training Room at the New Canaan Police Department.
“I think we also have a grant opportunity that we are going to apply to add to the furnishings that we have. We are going to do industrial-grade umbrellas and additional seating for elderly and for children.”
The commission approved the Pop Up Park’s August dates 3-0, with a few additional dates for events such as the Sidewalk Sale, pending Special Events Committee approval.
The decision to re-boot the Pop Up Park follows a summer that saw it put off after a group of merchants expressed concerns about its effects on traffic, parking, business and aesthetics. Those concerns have been addressed and merchants have been invited to help organize the Pop Up Park, committee members have said.
Police Commission Chairman Stuart Sawabini asked for assurances that the Pop Up Park, though local businesses could partner with it, “would remain a non-commercialized enterprise.”
“That it was for the public’s interest and maybe could be materials could be sponsored or provided by merchants, but that it would not become a miniature marketplace,” he said.
Committee member Rachel Lampen said it would, noting that it will be used for a flower event benefitting the New Canaan Beautification league and that the Connecticut Food Bank also would be a beneficiary of a future event.
“Everything we do is nonprofit-related and so it is just to raise awareness of them being there,” she said.
One installment of Caffeine & Carburetors this summer also would coincide, purposely, with New Canaan Dog Days and the flower event (which Skrelunas called “Flower Power”), she said.
Sawabini urged the committee to monitor other events planned for the summer as its plans unfolded.
“Once again my only concern—I think this is fabulous, totally supportive of it—is that you continue checking with the events coordinator so that you are not running into a huge conflict,” he said.