San Antonio Park(ing) Day Will Activate Two Downtown Locations Sept. 17

A public space activation effort that started in San Francisco in 2005 has come to San Antonio, Texas. PARK(ing) Day is an annual event to encourage people worldwide to repurpose metered parking spaces as locations for art, play, and activism. Each year, more than 700+ PARK(ing) Day events are organized in 150+ cities across the United States and on 6 continents, in 21 countries around the world.

PARK(ing) Day in San Antonio, hosted by ASLA South Texas Section (American Society of Landscape  Architects) in partnership with AIA San Antonio, a chapter of The American Institute of Architects. This Friday, Sept. 17, San Antonio will highlight two downtown locations for public activation. Both events are free and open to the public.

The first is along Broadway St. and in Peacock Alley. Peacock Alley is a privately owned alley between the 118 and 110 Broadway buildings temporarily managed by Centro San Antonio, the nonprofit organization with a mission to welcome more people to downtown San Antonio with programs and activities. Events will run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Peacock Alley activation, photo courtesy Peacock Alley.

The second location is on Main Ave. between Travis and Houston Streets in the heart of the downtown tech district, and is hosted by the 80|20 Foundation in partnership with Legacy Park and Centro. The activation runs from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The 80|20 Foundation provided each organization participating in the Main Ave. site up to $1,000 to program activities that would take place within a metered parking space. Twelve parking spots will be set up with different activities, everything from ping pong to a photo booth to free COVID-19 testing.

The repurposed metered spaces will feature concepts from Community Labs, Gensler, Alpha Millwork, The Down Market, UXD Murals, Artpace, 5050 Photo Booth, Labkids Recordings, Geekdom, TINT by Filestack, ActivateSA, and Live2Ride. Attendees will receive free bottled water and swag and have access to onsite Porta Potties during the activation this Friday.

An after-party running from 7 to 9 p.m. will be hosted by Pinkerton’s BBQ in Legacy Park featuring music on the lawn and drink specials.

All events are free to the public. To register and learn more click here. Free Parking is available on the surface lot at the corner of Houston St and Flores.

The featured image is of a Peacock Ally activation, photo courtesy of Peacock Alley