The following article summarizes the original event which is listed below the summary.
A vision to transform our region's greatest natural asset
The University of Minnesota and the Minneapolis park system have been intertwined from the very beginning. In the 1880s, founding University President William Folwell helped establish the independent Minneapolis Park Board and recruited Horace Cleveland, a renowned landscape architect and protégé of city planner Frederick Law Olmsted, to develop the original master plan that has informed the Minneapolis park system ever since.
In the spirit of that tradition, UMRA invited Minneapolis Parks Foundation Executive Director Tom Evers to our February forum to share a new vision for the addition of more parks and trails along the Mississippi River stretching from St. Anthony Falls and the Stone Arch Bridge to the city’s northern border and better connecting neighborhoods to the river.
The Parks Foundation has played a pivotal role in shaping this community vision known as the RiverFirst Initiative, Evers said, providing critical philanthropic support and expertise in project implementation in partnership with the Park Board and the City. Two new parks are slated to open in 2020: Water Works and the Great Northern Greenway Overlook.
Evers showed images and maps illustrating the new connections these parks will create in the city and how the additional parkland is being developed to address racial and cultural inequities in the Minneapolis parks system.
The Parks Foundation has raised $17.5 million toward the effort and is within $500,000 of reaching its goal. A special challenge grant will match up to $100,000 toward this goal, and UMRA member Rick Asher urged others in the February forum audience to join the RiverFirst Campaign.
Once completed, these new world-class riverfront parks are expected to become as valued to the Minneapolis park system as the Chain of Lakes, Minnehaha Creek, Loring Park, and Victory Memorial Drive are today.
—Bob Bruininks, Program Committee
RiverFirst: Unlocking the potential of the Minneapolis riverfront
Tue, February 25 2020, 11:30am
Tom Evers
Executive Director
Minneapolis Parks Foundation
Campus Club 4th Floor, West Wing Dining Room
When the Minneapolis park system was founded in 1883, community leaders envisioned protecting the city’s lakes and riverfront as public parks. However, the 5.5-mile stretch of the Mississippi River above St. Anthony Falls was already developed, lined with railways, and heavily industrialized, making it unavailable as parkland. As a result, North and Northeast Minneapolis have scarce access to regional natural resources yet today.
The Mississippi River remains one of the Twin Cities’ greatest assets, and, in the words of Tom Evers, executive director of the Minneapolis Parks Foundation, “It is our generation’s opportunity to reimagine the riverfront to reflect our 21st-century community needs and values. The Minneapolis Parks Foundation and the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board are unlocking the potential of the Upper Mississippi Riverfront through an interconnected network of new parks and trails in a bold vision known as the RiverFirst Initiative.”
Evers, our guest speaker in February, will talk about two RiverFirst parks under construction and slated to open this year: Water Works and the Great Northern Greenway Overlook. Water Works, adjacent to St. Anthony Falls and the Stone Arch Bridge, will bring significant new historic, cultural, and recreational amenities to one of the most iconic locales in the state. The Overlook will be the first new park on the riverfront in North Minneapolis in nearly a generation. Other RiverFirst projects include the riverfront park at Upper Harbor Terminal, restoration of Hall’s Island, and the future Graco Park.
Leveraging the power of parks
Thanks to the support of visionary organizations, families, and individuals who’ve invested in the $18.1 million RiverFirst Capital Campaign, the Parks Foundation is leveraging the power of parks to create a welcoming destination for culture and recreation and a source of equitable economic growth.
Evers has focused his career on strategically guiding organizations dedicated to parks, land conservation, and youth development. Prior to joining the Parks Foundation, he served as the founding executive director of Playworks Minnesota. His professional background includes more than a decade with the Trust for Public Land, where he was involved in strategic conversations about urban parks across the country. Evers also spent four years working in Vermont as a park ranger with the State of Vermont and the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps. He has a master of public affairs degree from the University of Minnesota’s Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs and is a graduate of St. John’s University.
Come at 10:30 for coffee and conversation
Thanks to the Campus Club, the West Wing Dining Room is available to UMRA members and guests for coffee and conversation before our monthly luncheons. There is no charge and no need to RSVP.
Upcoming Events
Our July 15 "hike" is going to be a kayaking adventure on Bde Maka Ska (formerly Lake Calhoun) and Lake of the Isles! If you don't have a kayak (or paddleboard), Wheel Fun Rentals, located next to the new concession stand rents single kayaks at $15 an hour and double kayaks at $25. The second hour is free if we rent before noon. Life jackets are provided with the rental.
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