Sept. 28: Celebrate our 20th birthday with bike tour, walk, garden party!

The Berkeley City Council has declared Sunday, Sept. 28, “Berkeley Partners for Parks Day,” honoring our 20 years of volunteering for parks and green spaces. Enjoy a full day celebrating urban greening!

Starting at 10 AM, the Hidden Gems of Berkeley Tour returns as a celebration of Grassroots Greening! Join a bicycle tour of unique, community-based parks, greenway features, and community gardens around Berkeley, showcasing the “grassroots-greening” projects of Berkeley Partners for Parks’ (BPFP) and its affiliates. Covering about five miles of gentle terrain, visit the Santa Fe ROW, Halcyon Commons, Ohlone Greenway, Edible School yard, Schoolhouse Creek Commons, Marin Circle Fountain, Northside Garden, and more! Leaders will be John Steere (President, BPFP), and Linda Currie and Shawna McCarroll (Chairs respectively of the Transportation and Lane Use Working Groups of the Berkeley Climate Action Coalition).

Bring water and lunch and meet at Halcyon Commons, Halcyon Court between Prince and Webster, just west of Telegraph. Info at 510-849-1969.

Prefer a walk? Join Berkeley Path Wanderers’ Charlie Bowen on an easy, level, 4.5 mile loop on the Ohlone Greenway/Santa Fe Right of Way, now open to Bancroft Way. Visit murals, public art, gardens, and more. Meet at noon at Peralta and Hopkins, Berkeley.

Bike tour and walk end at 2 PM at the annual Garden Party at Westbrae Community Gardens, on the Ohlone Greenway between Peralta and Gilman. Food and live music until 5 PM are part of the open house at these gardens founded by Karl Linn, also one of the founders of BPFP. This year’s gathering celebrates BPFP’s 20 years of grassroots greening. Hope to see you there!