Everyone comes to Washington Square Park for a different reason. But every Parkie that strolls these pathways finds the same thing, although it takes different forms for different people: community. Whether you’re here alone or with company, you are surrounded by the myriad of communities big and small that make up the tapestry of the Park.

These many communities are who the Conservancy strives to serve. Striking a balance between what the Park needs and what the community wants is a complicated challenge, but one well-worth tackling. You might be surprised at how many different tools the Conservancy uses to meet the demands of the Park’s constituents. From free classes and volunteer opportunities to expanding efforts on the maintenance and improvements to the landscapes, WSPC is always striving to improve the quality of experience in the Park.

Many folks first discover the Conservancy at one of our free programs. NYC Parks has historically supported some limited free programming in the Park as part of its broader efforts across the city, but WSPC has focused on expanding the offerings in the Park to appeal to the wide range of tastes that the Park’s unique users represent. Programs are about more than just providing additional fun to the neighborhood, however, they also help to bring positive energy into spaces suffering from misuse. In 2016, Street Lab’s Uni Project was the experiment that proved the hypothesis, hosting a variety of activities in an open-air-studio-environment first to Holley Plaza and then the ever-troubled Northwest Corner. Now the Conservancy hosts over a dozen recurring weekly activities that appeal to a wide range of constituencies with offerings like yoga, double dutch, arts & crafts, and storytime for kids. It’s an ever-shifting roster, changing from season to season depending on what the Park needs and what pique’s the community interest. As Garibaldi has continued to grow as a hub for skateboarders, a 200 person Salsa class fills the plaza on Tuesday evenings, clearing out the borders for the night. And when parents brought their younger children to arts & crafts and expressed a need for activities to interest older children, we identified program partners to bring double dutch and circus skills classes into the Park in the after-school hours to entice the tween and up group.

It was in the Conservancy’s early days, a decade ago now, when WSPC hosted our first Community Volunteer Day. Not only was there a demand from people eager to give back to the recently renovated space, but the Park was in desperate need of additional hands that NYC Parks was unable to provide. Back then the Conservancy wasn’t yet supporting the full-time gardening positions at the Park, and the weeds had fast grown beyond what the district gardener could tackle. So the first volunteer opportunities were a way to get the Park the extra help it needed, while providing neighbors with the chance they were clamoring for to get involved. What began as a once a month volunteer opportunity has grown into 5 different programs that give Parkies of different ages, abilities, and interests a chance to give back to their Park.

When the pandemic hit and the Park again needed additional manpower, the Clean Team was born. Neighborhood residents who were going stir-crazy indoors and were desperate for a way to support their community during a time of crisis came together to pick up litter in the Park. That group of volunteers not only had an outlet for their need to give back, they helped ensure that the Park, inundated with New Yorkers desperate for a place to safely interact with one another, remained a pleasant place to be. 

Having volunteers tackle the smaller refuse that collects across the lawns and under benches gives the staff more time to handle larger maintenance issues that impact a Park-goers experience. While volunteers are helping to pick up litter, maintenance workers are emptying trash-cans more frequently, cleaning graffiti, or removing large items of debris (like furniture) that find their way into the Park. And with Wednesday Weeders to help in the beds, not just with gardening but removing the litter that finds its way into the flora, the gardening staff has more time to plan sustainable plantings and manage sitelines throughout the Park by staying on top of pruning back foliage.  

As the Conservancy celebrates our 10th Anniversary this year, we’re looking ahead to what the next decade has in store. It’s evident that the quality of experience in Washington Square Park is an area that still needs a lot of help and we stand with Community Board 2 in their call for the city’s rules to be equally and consistently enforced across the Park. Because those rules exist for a reason: to help mitigate competition for space among the thousands of different people who want to use the Park in varied ways. We’re excited to explore new strategies to make improvements. The Conservancy knows that a multi-pronged effort is necessary to get to that point, and we’re ready to do the hard work.