First Emerald Necklace Parkfest Spanning Parks on Sept. 24

The first-ever Emerald Necklace Parkfest will be the year’s biggest event for Olmsted Now, which is Greater Boston’s Olmsted Bicentennial. This free event will on Sept. 24 will span across parks of the Emerald Necklace, and will include free performances, kids' activities, art, games, dancing, and more. There will be picnic zones, parade decorating, data "community listening boards", and Necklace-wide scavenger hunts to prompt exploring the parks. Community groups and organizations will also be showcasing the ways they make the Greater Boston a great place for parks and public spaces.

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‘Never Too Much, Always Enough’: Mayor’s Mural Crew Art Installation Celebrates Olmsted Bicentennial

Boston's Mayor’s Mural Crew and the National Park Service created a series of temporary chairs across the Emerald Necklace to commemorate the bicentennial celebration of Frederick Law Olmsted. The park furnishings, named “never too much, always enough,” features 24 chairs in six sites across the Emerald Necklace, which was designed by Olmsted. The chairs were built by repurposing the distinctive white spruce-pole fence that was designed by Olmsted, to surround the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site in Brookline (Fairsted). Jamaica Plain resident Heidi Schork, who founded The Mayor’s Mural Crew, designed the chair with an inspiration to use the same curves found in Fairsted’s beautiful fence, according to a press release. The chair are at the following locations:

Jamaica Pond, in the southwest corner overlooking the pond and in the northwest corner amongst the trees

Franklin Park, to the left of Franklin Park Golf Course Clubhouse and at the top of Scarborough Hill (by Hole 12 of the golf course)

Allerton Overlook, off of Pond Avenue by Olmsted Park’s Leverett Pond

Back Bay Fens, off of Park Drive behind the James P. Kelleher Rose Garden

 

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This project was conceptualized and brought to life by a group of youth artists employed through Boston’s Department of Youth Employment, together with adult artists employed for the Boston Parks Department, including: Aiyanna Canty, Aminah Yahya, Bobby Zabin, Camila Aguilera-Steinert, Eli Swanson, Emmett Hughes, Heidi Schork (Program Director, The Mayor’s Mural Crew), Inez Bendavid-Val, Jamar Joseph, Jerome Jones (Lead Artist, The Mayor’s Mural Crew), Kayla Depina, Laniya Harding, Liz O’Brien (Program Manager, The Mayor’s Mural Crew), Lucy Edelstein-Rosenberg, Maia Poremba, Madalen Bigsby-Licht, Nalani Reid, Niamh Mulligan, Tony Depina, Xavier James, Xzavier Santiago, and Zariyah Wilkerson.

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Apply Now for Olmsted Now Parks Equity and Spatial Justice Grants

Olmsted Now recently announced a parks equity and spatial justice grant in partnership with the Emerald Necklace Conservancy. The bicentennial of the birth of Frederick Law Olmsted is marked by Greater Boston with Olmsted Now, a collaboration to amplify the vibrancy and inclusivity of parks and publics pace. Olmsted Now aims to strengthen equity and community connection in Boston by centering decision-making for bicentennial programs with a Committee of Neighborhoods—Boston leaders trusted for their commitment to under-heard voices and under-served open spaces. Committee of Neighborhoods members draw from around Boston and especially areas adjacent to the southern parks of the Emerald Necklace and those that are especially valued by neighbors who identify as Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC). To create opportunities for equitable and community-based parks programming for the Bicentennial, the Committee of Neighborhoods has launched the Olmsted Now Parks Equity and Spatial Justice Grant, offering 20 grants in total.

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ICYMI: Moss Installation Made By Mayor’s Mural Crew Celebrated Olmsted’s 200th Birthday

Frederick Law Olmsted's 200th birthday was April 26 and the Mayor's Mural Crew celebrated it in a very unique way -- with a moss graffiti installation on the Jamaica Pond Boathouse. The installation was part of the celebration of his birthday on April 26. The moss graffiti installation is an Olmsted quote: "Gradually and silently the charm comes over us; we know not exactly where or how." https://twitter.com/mayorsmuralcrew/status/1519329220392071170

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Celebrate Frederick Law Olmsted’s 200th Birthday at Jamaica Pond on April 26

America’s great place-maker Frederick Law Olmsted—who created the field of landscape architecture and the Emerald Necklace park system turns 200 in 2022-- and we're celebrating it at Jamaica Pond on April 26. The event will kickoff Olmsted’s bicentennial and honor his legacy values of shared use, shared health and shared power in parks and public space. This event is being presented by Olmsted Now, Emerald Necklace Conservancy, Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site (Fairsted) and Friends of Fairsted partner with Olmsted 2022 and Friends of Jamaica Pond. There will be treats, toasts and local legend Gerry Wright, founder of Olmsted 2022, portraying the man himself. Olmsted 2022 will recognize and spotlight awardees for their leadership in parks access and advocacy.

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Olmsted Now Kickoff Events for 2022 Bicentennial

The bicentennial of the birth of Frederick Law Olmsted will be marked by Greater Boston with Olmsted Now, a collaboration to amplify the vibrancy and inclusivity of shared use, shared health and shared power in parks and public space. Initiated by Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site (Fairsted) and the Emerald Necklace Conservancy with more than 100 organizations within a 60-mile radius of the city, Olmsted Now explores these legacy values of America’s great placemaker and designer of the Emerald Necklace park system with a season of public events from April through October 2022. Olmsted Now aims to strengthen equity and community connection through a framework that centers decision-making for bicentennial programs with a Committee of Neighborhoods, Boston leaders trusted for their commitment to under-heard voices and under-served open spaces, especially those valued by their neighbors who identify as BIPOC. The initiative also fosters co-learning through monthly public dialogues to dive deeper into issues related to the themes of shared use, shared health and shared power in parks and public space. And the bicentennial is an opportunity to pilot cross-neighborhood collaboration to create in-park programming through the monthly series Parks as Platform in the Emerald Necklace parks.

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Emerald Necklace Bridges Aglow Until March 31

Since mid-February and through March 31, select bridges in the Emerald Necklace will be awash with an emerald glow – thanks to battery-powered LED lights. Lights in the Necklace will celebrate the power of Boston and Brookline’s urban parks to bring visitors together, inspire and light the way in challenging times. Free and open to the public, enjoy the lighting on a series of iconic Emerald Necklace bridges, daily from dusk to 9 pm. The Emerald Necklace’s 1,100 acres are home to more than 30 bridges. Connecting neighbors and bridging communities is what the Necklace was designed to do nearly 150 years ago by famed landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted.

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‘Jamaica Plain Through Time’ Takes Readers on Historical Tour of Neighborhood

Historian Anthony Sammarco's newest book Jamaica Plain Through Time chronicles the neighborhood from the late 19th century through to the 21st century. The following is from Sammarco's book with contemporary photographs by Peter B. Kingman. Known in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries as the Jamaica End of Roxbury, the neighborhood of Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, evolved from agrarian farmland for over 200 years into one of the more dynamic and inclusive neighborhoods of twenty-first century Boston. Jamaica Plain became one of the earliest streetcar suburbs of Boston with various forms of transportation linking it to downtown Boston. With horse drawn streetcars, the Boston & Providence Railroad as well as the Boston Elevated Railway, by the turn of the twentieth century, the ease of transportation allowed a thriving nexus of cultures to move to a community that not only saw tremendous residential and commercial development, especially with the numerous breweries along the Stony Brook, but also green space and open lands that were laid out by Frederick Law Olmsted as a part of the "Emerald Necklace" of Boston.

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Thank You Event for Jeffrey Sánchez Includes New Play About Olmsted on Dec. 13

An event to honor state Rep. Jeffrey Sánchez's 16 years at the State House will feature a special a special play about Frederick Law Olmsted and announcements from neighborhood organizations about local park initiatives. The Dec. 13th event is inspired by Sánchez's "...devoted service to preserving Jamaica Plain’s greatest jewels – its parks, its people and its conservation." Thus there will be a new play about Frederick Law Olmsted depicting his life at ages 26 and 76, which will be performed by Gerry Wright and Manganelli. There will also be announcements by Olmsted 2022, the A.R.T. Institute and the Friends of Jamaica Pond about two the preservation of Hellenic Hill by Jamaica Pond and tree planting in the neighborhood.

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