When you think of Clark Park, what do you think?

Do you imagine a dozen laughing neighbors playing horseshoe and cornhole while children and dogs frolic on the grass underneath chestnut trees? 

Gotcha.

Real talk: Clark Park has a troubled reputation as being littered and unsafe. It’s a well-known congregating spot for people experiencing homelessness. Pull up any civic social media feed and you’ll likely find a troll slamming Clark Park. It’s a cheap shot, troll-wise, in a city working hard to address its homelessness issues.

But also Clark Park remains one of the most beautiful places in our city, thanks in part to newly renovated playsets and tennis courts.

People care about this place in our community.

About a year ago, two Bayside neighborhood residents met at their neighborhood association meeting. Neighbors Christina Strand and Ryan Anderson started talking about Clark Park—about how the fenced gazebo is uninviting, how the park seems to attract a lot of inactivity and police activity.

They wondered if they could promote the park a place for healthy neighborhood activity. 

Earlier this month, they started a Facebook Group called Clark Park: Active. The response has been quick. At the time of this writing, the FB group has 72 members.

In the group forum, Christina and Ryan post links to help educate our community about the importance of social infrastructure and how public spaces make cities work. 

They also use the page to rally participation for their regular park hangouts. These neighborly hangouts start with a park cleanup, followed by a chance to meet other Everett residents and chat over lawn games. The nearby playsets beckon to families. 

Anyone can go to these events. You can go to these events.

Clark Park has long been a place for the community to congregate. The place has been home to a bandstand, a stump house (it’s what it sounds like), and a civil war cannon. Throughout Everett’s history, it was a popular spot for stump speeches as well as roller skating. There was even a “checker court” there. 

For many years Clark Park was known as City Park and looked something like this:

In the 1970s the bandstand closed. Civic history is a bit murky here, but something happened during the next few decades. The city fenced off the gazebo. People began to camp there during the day.

Neighbors began to avoid the park.

In many ways, Clark Park: Active is a community-based return to the idyllic City Park era. 

Christina, Ryan, and company are working to make Clark Park a space that’s inviting to all people in our community.

The group plans to hang out on a regular basis indefinitely, picking up garbage, playing games, and being good neighbors creating healthy activity next to other neighbors.

When you think of Clark Park what do you think? 

Together, we can make our city what we want it to be.

Want to get involved? 

Follow Clark Park: Active on Facebook

Richard Porter is a writer for Live in Everett.