Downtown businesses turn parking spaces into ‘parklets’

Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Make sure you make the rounds downtown today to appreciate the work some businesses have done turning four parking spaces into “parklets.”

Co-op Architecture, 224 N. Phillips Ave., turned parking spaces on the adjacent Seventh Street into a seating area with corn hole. A food truck stopped by and people sat at the parklet for lunch.

JLG Architects turned parking spaces across from its office at 232 S. Main Ave. into an area for table tennis. Other participating businesses were Confluence and CPMFitness.

The parklets will be up through the afternoon.

“Park(ing) Day is a really fun opportunity for the people of Sioux Falls to reimagine a small slice of downtown by using parking spaces as miniature parks,” said Joe Batcheller, president of DTSF.

Park(ing) Day is a worldwide effort that began in 2005 in San Francisco to create and repurpose urban spaces by temporarily turning metered parking spots into small parks or “parklets”. Past parklets have included interactive art exhibits, outdoor classrooms, public dog parks, lawn bowling courses and other public demonstrations.

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