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Conkey Corner Park - Gateway to El Camino Fall Festival, October 22, 2011 Thank You To Our Supporters City of Rochester HSBC Rochester Garden Club
More photos of Fall Fest here!
Fall Clean Up at the Park
Follow this link to more photos of Conkey Corner Park Clean Up!
Sundays In The Park, July, 2011 There are lots of activites every Sunday at Conkey Corner Park from domino games to playground fun, to tending the garden, cooking lessons, concerts and music lessons -- and the FOODLINK produce stand is a big hit too! The playground is holding up beautifully and is enjoyed by boys and girls every day. There will be an extension of the park to the land adjacent to El Camino Trail. You will see more landscaping and a kiosk in the fall as the city of Rochester is currently constructing El Camino Trail. We will have a great fall festival at the ribbon cutting which is scheduled for October. Keep checkng this page, as well as the El Camino page, for more exciting information about this event. And if you continue to scroll down this page you will learn the history of Conkey Corner Park which was once a upon a time a vacant lot!
Ribbon Cutting October 8, 2010
Project Hope Mural Located across the street from the park where a vegatable garden was planted, this mural was painted on Sunday, October 10th
The Community Build Took Place September 17th, 18th and 19th
Over 100 people volunteered for the three day event which began with the preparation for the playground installation on Friday, Sept. 17th. This was followed by a day long Community Build which included weeding the garden as well as building the playground. The day ended with a great cook-out thanks to Miguel Melendez and Emily Handelman. Thanks to Sasha Montes-DeOca and everyone from Project Hope, Ibero Development and to students from St. John Fisher, RIT and the Eastman School of Music. Thanks to ALL of our Genesee Land Trust members and volunteers who worked so hard.(A more detailed list of volunteers be posted soon) The playground was finished on Sunday. Those from the City of Rochester, who did the heavy lifting and oversaw our work, were just amazing and we are very grateful to them. On behalf of Gay Mills, Genesee Land Trust's executive director, and Tom Frey, of our Board of Directors -- THANK YOU ALL!
Music And Foodlink Farmstand In the Park on August 8th
Music In the Park on July 11th
And Fresh Produce for sale from Foodlink!
And clean up at the Community Garden
Spring Clean Up At Conkey Corner Park - April 2010 Global Youth Service Day Brings Teens To The Park!
Winter Fun at Conkey Corner Park - February 2010
Read about the history of Conkey Corner Park here
On September 27, 2008, ground was broken at a new corner park - The Conkey Corner Park - an important first step in making the dream of a walking, biking greenway through the city a tangible reality. The Corner Park is located at the intersection of Conkey and Clifford Avenues and will act as a neighborhood gateway to El Camino - a trail through the neighborhood that has funding from a Federal Transportation Enhancement Program grant, as well as support from Eastman Kodak Company and is planned to be built next summer.
The park, funded by a grant to Genesee Land Trust as part of the City of Rochester's sector capital program, was designed by Environmental Design and Research after community participation during two public meetings this past summer. Executive director, Gay Mills and board member, Tom Frey, have worked with neighborhood associations, such as group 14521 and Ibero Development, for years and have created strong partnerships with these groups and with individual neighbors along the future trail corridor as well as with the City of Rochester.
Ground-breaking day was one of great anticipation of the changes that were planned for the corner lot at Conkey and Clifford. By October 18th, a celebration was in order not only for the Trust and its partners but also for the students from the neighborhood schools # 8, #50 and #22 who had worked so hard to transform the vacant lot into a garden waiting for spring . Laurie Broccolo, Broccolo Tree & Lawn Care, and her staff took an active role in organizing what was needed for the creation of a new neighborhood park, giving volunteer time, and also establishing a list of plants that could be donated for the gardens. Many Genesee Land Trust members and friends took part by donating native plants and shrubs. Materials were gathered to begin work on a small playground and game tables within the park.
On Thursday, October 9th and then again on October 16th , students from School # 8 walked to the Corner Park from school to help plant Conkey Corner Park under the direction of Rodregus Tripp and Terry Schmitz of Broccolo Tree & Lawn Care. School #8 Principal, Jacquelyn Cox-Cooper noted, "We want our students who are involved in the school's Science Enrichment initiative to develop their interest in the environment." On the 16th, students from School #22 and #50 joined in. Busses of smiling children arrived at the Conkey Corner Park site during the planting stage. With trowels in hand, they began their work visited occasionally by parents, land trust staff and members and even the local press. Rodregus Tripp teaching the school children
In preparation for their gardening at the park, Mr. Tripp and Mr. Schmitz addressed students at assemblies held at all three city schools. They shared with the children the plans for the park and the future trail; they taught about the plants that they would be planting, and how to plant plants properly so that they will thrive. And they asked the children to make the park their own.
To commemorate this important life experience, Connie Ehindero, land trust board president, designed T shirts that proclaimed "I Helped Plant Conkey Corner Park!" The children were as excited about the gift as they were about their personal contributions in transforming a vacant lot into a place of beauty, a place they can call their own.
School # 8 has adopted Conkey Corner Park and looks forward to more gardening in the spring. Another celebration will be planned when the flowers are in bloom - look for an announcement in the next newsletter and on the web site.
The Broccolo Tree & Lawn BUG Kathy Blachowski sets up tent
Beginnings of a children's garden More updates: In February, Genesee Land Trust announced that it was awarded $10,000 from the Greater Rochester Health Foundation to help build the Conkey Corner Park Playground. We are most grateful to the foundation for their commitment to the enrichment of children's lives. Keep Watching The Page for photos and stories as the playground is built! Earth Day Clean Up at the Conkey Corner Park -- students, parents and teachers from School #50, along with Broccolo Tree & Lawn Care, and volunteers from Genesee Land Trust, spent Earth Day picking up debris and spreading mulch. We are all so proud of the school children who took a day of their spring break to take care of their corner park
Ribbon Cutting
Music In the Park on September 20th!
This was a vacant lot and look at it now!
Neighbors Join For The Good of the Neighborhood- Summer 2009
Conkey Corner Park Design Wins Award
The American Society of Landscape Architects, New York, Upstate Chapter presents the Community Achievement Award to Tom Robinson and Environmental Design & Research , PC
Winter Fun At Conkey Park - February 2010
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