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February 24, 2010 - Grand Rapids, Michigan Parks. Public Spaces. I've always loved being outside. My love for parks goes quite a way back. My first kiss happened at Ada park. My first heartbreaking loss playing soccer in fourth grade was on a sunny Saturday afternoon in Cascade park. I'm terrible at tennis but I love playing up the street at Cherry Park. My pomeranian, Toby, loves walking in Wilcox Park. Eating ice cream and watching an outdoor movie in Collins park is one of my favorite ways to spend a summer evening. Our local parks are quite a treasure. Some are big, some are small, but all of them hold memories. And not just for me. A co-worker of mine and all around cool person, Andy Guy, is involved in an organization called Friends of GR Parks. In one of their recent newsletters, called "Park It", he said something that really stuck with me. "When someone tells you that our community can't afford an exceptional system of public space, don't believe it. A world-class network of parks and public space is essential to promote our region's recovery and ultimately our growth, prosperity and sustainability." And I just thought parks were cool to go to. But if you think about it and I did after reading Andy's blurb in the newsletter, it's so important to have parks and public space all around our city. It really does go deeper than family picnics and pick-up basketball games. Parks help increase property values and spur economic development, parks encourage us to exercise which keeps us healthy, and lastly, a network of great parks around our city can attract new residents and businesses. All of which is very cool. If you want to learn more about Friends of GR Parks, check out www.friendsofgrparks.com. The diary will be covering one fundraising event happening on March 18th. The "Work In" event will raise money to help purchase new backboards, rims and basketball-related infrastructure for city parks. And you can help by grabbing your laptop, co-workers and work from Peppino's. You can brainstorm the next big thing for your office and watch all the basketball games that kick off the first day of March Madness. Let's do our part to support city parks. They help support us and our city's growth. Emily Horton works for Wondergem Consulting, and is a writer for the Grand Rapids Social Diary. You can follow her on twitter at @emhorton1 If you are interested in blogging for the "Diary", please email us at: grandrapidssocialdiary@gmail.com Are you in? "The Best View in Town" ~ photography by Richard App 
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