EMMIE BOESE
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — DCI Park, located at the corner of 2nd and Main, will have a new look on Mondays.
"Every Monday, what you see here today, is pretty much going to be here every Monday," Executive Director of Hutch Rec Tony Finlay said. "We'll have two food trucks. We'll have yard games. We are bringing in shade. Depending on how the weather goes, we might bring in water. I don't know. We'll see how that goes but looking forward to the Mondays moving forward."
DCI Inc., Hutchinson Community Foundation and Hutch Rec hosted the kick-off event for Project Park at DCI Park on Monday, June 24. The project is a collaborative effort across multiple organizations designed to transform underutilized spaces in Hutchinson to better serve the community and foster connections.
"We've been trying this in different places across the county and community for many years in different ways," Hutchinson Community Foundation Director of Strategic Initiatives Kari Mailloux said. "What's different about this point is that the Kansas Arts Commission invited Hutchinson to be a part of a learning cohort across the region a year ago called the Engaging Placemaking for Innovative Communities (EPIC Pilot Program)."
Mailloux said a group of seven spent multiple sessions learning about creative placemaking and thinking about how they might approach that in Hutchinson.
"We looked at the fact that the Downtown Master Plan was also about to be finished and thinking about what the community was saying they wanted more of was active public spaces," Mailloux said. "Places for people. And that's what we love about placemaking, that its people driven, design second. People inform how you use spaces and what they become and so that felt perfect for this space, and perfect as a partner for DCI that has this beautiful space and they are kind of willing to loan this space to community partners in lots of different ways throughout the year. So we brought this idea to DCI and they said yeah let's try it."
President and CEO of DCI Inc. Sarah Fankhauser said DCI is honored to be chosen as one of the first locations in town to be able to share their space.
"This is just a great avenue for all of Hutchinson but a little bit selfishly, this is an incredible for our employees at DCI as well," Fankhauser said. "We are very very strong on supporting community at DCI and supporting local and supporting Hutchinson, and this is just a win-win for all of us. Of course to DCI but then all the rest of us in the community as well. We look forward to visiting other locations as well, but also really, really enjoy welcoming everybody from the town here to join in with us every Monday so I hope you all are enjoying yourselves and we look forward to many more Mondays. "
Finlay said in addition to the traditional Monday activities at DCI Park, some special events on Saturday mornings and implementation of temporary art installations is in the works as well.
According to information provided by Hutch Rec, Project Park is supported by the Hutchinson Community Foundation - Fund for Reno County, Patterson Family Foundation and the Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.
For more information on Project Park, contact Finlay at [email protected].
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