Happy National Walk in a Park Day
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) – Happy National Walk in the Park Day.
Community leaders, including members of the Parks and Outdoors Advisory Committee and the Trust for Public Land, came together to celebrate the importance of accessible parks by hosting a walking tour through the new Eastside Elementary Community Schoolyard Project.
The event was held on October 10th to honor National Walk in the Park Day, encouraging residents to take time to connect with nature and explore how local parks can bring neighborhoods closer together.
Noel Durant, Associate Vice President and Tennessee State Director for the Trust for Public Land, shared how meaningful it is to have a park within walking distance.
“One in three Americans lack walkable access to a park,” Durant said. “Being able to walk to a park as part of your daily rhythm can make you healthier, can make you happier.”
Durant explained that parks are not just open spaces filled with trees and benches, but places that nurture connection and belonging.
“It can also bring you into a stronger sense of your community and help you to feel like you belong as part of your community,” he said.
One of the highlights of the day was the Eastside Elementary Community Schoolyard, a newly designed space where students and families can gather outdoors.
David Johnson, Tennessee Parks and Schoolyards Program Director, described the project as a reflection of teamwork, creativity, and care for the community.
“We are lucky to work with a great teacher here who is the lab instructor,” Johnson said. “The labs were funded by Volkswagen to be project-based learning, and it was a perfect fit for our community schoolyard program.”
He explained that the students were involved in shaping the vision for the schoolyard from the very beginning.
“Students got to delve into how they could better design their community, how they could take the space that was mostly empty and add in amenities that fit. They got to think through the process of designing it and how they could be the ones that affect change in their community,” Johnson said.
The project is part of a growing effort to transform green spaces into welcoming public areas where families can play, learn, and build memories together.
Durant said this movement is about creating opportunity for everyone, especially children.
“Twenty million kids lack access to a park within a ten-minute walk, and we know there are so many benefits to being close to nature,” Durant said. “We are grateful to be able to celebrate and bring awareness to the opportunities to improve walkable park access in Chattanooga and in communities across the country.”
The new East Side Elementary Community Schoolyard will be closed to the public during school hours, but it will open each weekday after 3 p.m. and remain open on weekends.
It is one more place where families can enjoy time together, right in the heart of their own community.
