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A Yellowknife group borrowing an idea from Helsinki hopes to transform a downtown parking space into green space this summer.
The group’s members spent the weekend at Makerspace YK finishing what they call a parklet – a modular wooden assembly designed to be the same size as a parking space.
It has places to sit, shelves for books, a message board and room for plants among other features.
This parklet is coming to Yellowknife in 2026 – an idea some Yellowknifers saw in Helsinki and wanted to try at home. Watch for it at Snowkings Winter Festival and then filling a parking space downtown this summer. Advertisement. Advertisement.
“You’ll be able to meet up with some friends, kids can hang out and play. You’ll have a nice seat and enjoy each other’s company in the summertime,” said Becca Denley, a member of YK Healthy Urban Policy Team, the group responsible.
The parklet will make its first public appearance at Snowkings’ Winter Festival in March. The group then hopes to find a business willing to take on the parklet in the summer and help maintain it as a public space.
Last May, five Yellowknifers – Denley among them – travelled to Finland to join a workshop with other cities about “healthy urban policy.”
“Parklets are pretty common in Helsinki,” Denley told Cabin Radio on Sunday.
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“They’re in front of restaurants but also used by general neighbourhoods that want to have opportunities for people to meet, kids to play, and that sense of community to be built. We saw a lot of them around.”
Past initiatives to spruce up downtown Yellowknife haven’t been completely successful. For example, a pop-up park staged over a couple of summers had some high points but ultimately became, at least to some residents, a neglected eyesore.
Asked how the group intends to defend the parklet against the prospect of vandalism or abuse, Denley said “activating the space” on a continual basis can help.
“We will do things like enliven it. We’ll have plants. We’ll have a lending library in terms of ‘take a book, leave a book.’ We might even have little all-weather toys – kids can just take them out and play,” she said.
The test run at Snowkings’ Winter Festival will last throughout March, during which time the parklet will host a winter biking introduction and a “human library” event in which people are invited to “be books that someone can borrow and chat with about their life experiences.”
Denley said success for the project is seeing the parklet well used this summer.
“Like, we’ll have chalkboards – seeing the art that happens on that. That’s going to be an indication. Hearing lively conversation,” she said, describing what that use might look and sound like.
“Some people are already reaching out to want to use the space for public events they are hosting. So the more of those that happen is also going to be an indication of it being loved.”
