buzzworthy


2,244 what counts


Equipped with bistro tables, loudspeakers, and art supplies, the sPARKit trailer keeps the conservation conversation rolling.


POP-UP PARK SPARKS CONVERSATION


Minneapolis artist-organizer Soozin Hirschmugl wants people to talk about parks. In partnership with The Trust for Public Land and Springboard for the Arts, she’s created sPARKit—a teardrop trailer stocked with supplies to turn any spot into a pop-up public commons. The park on wheels is getting people talking


all around the Twin Cities. Everywhere they stop, Hirschmugl and other sPARKit volunteers encourage locals to share and record their thoughts about the parks and green spaces that make their neighborhoods great. “We set up games and hula hoops and bubbles, put on some music, and it feels like hosting a party,” says Hirschmugl. “People often approach cautiously and ask us how much it costs to enter. Then we tell them it’s free, be- cause green community spaces should be free and accessible to everyone.”


... residents of old saybrook, Connecticut, turned out this year to vote on the future of the largest piece of unprotected coastal forest between Boston and New York. That’s almost three times the town’s typical turnout for a single-issue referendum. What got locals to the ballot box? A thousand acres too special to lose. Known locally as “The Preserve,” the land plays an important role in regional air and water quality—and has been the subject of hotly contested development proposals for more than 15 years. So when the opportunity arose to set aside funds for its protection, the community rallied. When the votes were counted, a whopping 89 percent said, “Yes!”


24 · LAND&PEOPLE · FALL/WINTER 2014


soozin hirschmugl mim adkins photography


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