Fairmount Park: The city's biggest classroom
FOR MANY OF us in the Pac-Man generation, the most familiar park was Jellystone, where Yogi and Boo-Boo stole pic-a-nic baskets.
FOR MANY OF us in the Pac-Man generation, the most familiar park was Jellystone, where Yogi and Boo-Boo stole pic-a-nic baskets.
It's easy to understand why.
A lot of us went to the Shore or took road trips up and down the East Coast on vacation to visit other famous parks.
But in in our own hometown, for some reason, the great outdoors was concrete and blacktop or the local ballfield, and it most certainly didn't include the vast expanses of Fairmount Park.
Older folks have great stories about swimming in Pennypack or Cobbs Creek, playing in the woods or just discovering the wonder of the park in some youthful fashion.
Today, you'd more likely find Sasquatch in the Fairmount woods before you found a group of kids exploring the trees and streams. Somewhere along the line, a large part of Philadelphia disconnected from Fairmount Park.
Now, we take it for granted. We know it's big and great, but many of us have abandoned our stewardship and ownership stakes in it. (And it's especially relevant now that the merger of the park commision and city rec department is on the Nov. 4 ballot.)
While enjoyed by many, the park too often sits empty, trails unexplored, ballfields asleep. And the parts that are used are sometimes marred by trash and filth left behind by careless users.
The special events office does a tremendous job working with community groups to enliven the park, which I can attest to after a successful River City Festival in Fishtown a few weeks ago.
But vast stretches of the park lie dormant or are home only to scheduled activities, meaning that impromptu enjoyment is almost non-existent.
Many view it as a place for others to play or somewhere to go only for special events. Others, especially young children, know little or nothing about the parts of the park system in their communities and even less about the larger, more recognizable features of the park.
In order to erase this disconnect, and bring more Philadelphians to the park and instill a love of the city and of nature, I propose a unique partnership:
Fairmount Park as an extension of the classroom.
The Fairmount Park Commission should join with the city school district, the archdiocese and other schools in the city to develop curriculum-supplementing texts and teaching materials for grade schools that use the park to enhance learning in science, history, geography and reading - with a focus on how the park plays a role in all of those disciplines.
Along with a textbook focusing on the natural and scientific aspects of the park, the history displayed in the park complements elementary history lessons and offers ample opportunities for in-the-field learning.
Looking beyond a yearly trip to the zoo, students who study the park will identify with it. With this comes a better appreciation for the park and nature.
A comprehensive youth-oriented Web site would let the students enhance their education through interactive games, maps and other features. With the recent addition of the Please Touch Museum to West Fairmount Park, this youth-oriented focus will only help to grow a park-treasuring populace. We'll have a new generation of park-oriented Philadelphians.
Fairmount Park has assets unlike any other attraction in the region. While Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell signify the historical achievements of our city, Fairmount Park trumps both as an interactive experience without long lines and busy streets.
And the park serves more than historical inquisitiveness, as it's also the seat of natural wonder within the urban structure. As more and more young people are exposed to all its facets through study and visits, more of them will grow up to use and treasure the park.
Fairmont Park is a laboratory of natural, historical and recreational learning. From statues and monuments saluting our past to the cultural traditions of today, the park is a scrapbook of the city, although one that needs updating, which recent grants are intended to accomplish. It also serves as a reminder of the importance of nature in our lives, a point often lost on our city-dwellers.
Despite the proximity to a majority of Philadelphia homes and communities, Fairmount Park often seems hundreds of miles away from the lives of our youth. It's as fictional as Jellystone was to us in the '80s.
BUT NOW that Yogi is gone from the scene, you wonder what kids know of parks these days. Let's end this disconnect and encourage more and more Philadelphians, especially our youth, to fill those pic-a-nic baskets or just spend the day exploring the wonders of Fairmount Park. *
Reach A.J. Thomson at