Yellowknife’s pop-up park comes back for second summer

Yellowknife’s pop-up park will be popping back up for a second year with three new community installations in the coming weeks.

Craig Scott, the executive director of Ecology North, said it’s still not too late to submit an idea for a chance to win $500 and make your plan a reality. (Though the website states a deadline of June 21, the application process remained open as of July 5, Scott said.)

“Obviously, we’re not going to make this into a beautiful landscaped park because that requires a lot of money, and investment, and time, and energy,” said Scott.

“We’re looking at something a bit simpler, that just improves the site and makes the downtown core a bit more livable.”

Last summer, Ecology North approached the City of Yellowknife to ask if the organization could temporarily transform three empty lots between the Gold Range Hotel and Raven Pub on 50 Street.

“[The area] was kind-of a derelict lot, just gravel and a bit of a mess,” said Scott. His organization envisioned a lively, usable space for the community to share instead.

“It’s a much more comfortable space than it was in the past, when it was just three gravel lots.”

The lots remain for sale by the City, meaning the second summer’s installations will once again be temporary.

A pavilion with “aurora seating” and play structure made from recycled materials remain from last year. An Indigenous languages mural on a seacan also survived the winter, as did a “garden” of coloured tires.

An interactive garden for kids, a nine-hole mini golf course, and a pop-up pantry have vacated the space, the golf course proving difficult to maintain.

Scott said there are “quite a number of applications” already for season two of the park, and judging will begin soon.

Only three winners will be selected this year – in part because the non-profit doesn’t have a lot of funding for the park. Scott said sponsors are being sought to help sponsor some installations.