International Park(ing) Day is a world-wide, annual tradition of turning urban parking spaces into actual parks. It is a vivid showcase of alternative uses for public space, traditionally used by automobiles. It is a day for citizens to become involved, take ownership of their city and change it for the better. The celebration treats metered parking spots as a short-term lease for a plot of precious urban real estate.
The Allentown Parking Authority (APA), in Allentown, PA celebrated International Parking Day with their local community!
The APA chose to incorporate International Park(ing) Day with a two month-long donation drive, which benefits two local agencies in need of food and household items
As they did last year, the APA chose to incorporate International Park(ing) Day with a two month-long donation drive, which benefits two local agencies in need of food and household items: The Sixth Street Shelter and the Allentown Area Ecumenical Food Bank.
Through social media outlets, the APA’s website, as well as radio advertising, the APA reached out to the community for their help with donating items.
In conjunction with the donation process, each donor was given a raffle ticket when they filled a crate with items. They also received a raffle ticket for straight monetary donations. On Int’l Parking Day, the APA drew raffle winners and awarded the winners with various prizes donated by Allentown’s local businesses.
In the early morning hours of International Park(ing) Day, the APA’s Executive Director, John Morgan, and his staff went to work on creating a welcoming, beautiful, park-like setting to host the day’s festivities. The “park-setting” was generously donated by The Lehigh Valley Home & Garden Center.
The Allentown Parking Authority’s city park area boasted grass, trees, flowers, park benches, fountains, and as all great parks have, a hot dog cart
Executive Director John Morgan stated, “Last year’s event was amazing! We wanted to do something special for our community and we were excited to incorporate this fun event with something meaningful and deserving of our efforts. Our goal was to collect twice as many items and have twice as many guests on the day of the event. This year, we were extremely fortunate to have such generous sponsors including Lehigh Valley Home & Garden Center, City Center’s new Downtown Allentown Market, Precision Technology Solutions, MobileNow!, Barnacle, PSX, Verizon Wireless, Mid-Atlantic Technology Professionals, and ESSA Bank & Trust.”
