2019 Season Wrap Up: Programs Interns
Written by Allegra DeNooyer, Lian Painchaud, and Peri D’Amico
My name is Allegra DeNooyer and I’m a rising senior at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, where I’m double majoring in Urban Studies and French. I was interested in applying to the Greenway Conservancy because I have fond memories from my adolescence spent exploring the park, and because of my interest in how public spaces are made accessible to people. Throughout my time at the Conservancy, I’ve learned a lot about the planning and execution of events and programs that are open to the public.
Thousands of downtown residents, workers, and visitors are drawn to the free fitness options offered on the park by the Greenway Conservancy. With classes ranging from yoga to tango, HIIT to self-defense, and zumba to tai chi, there is a fitness class for everyone. Over 120+ free classes are being offered in the 2019 Fitness Season, which is presented by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts. All instructors in the program donate their time to bring diverse, free workouts to the public, covering a range of abilities and helping Bostonians take advantage of a beautiful public space!
The Greenway is also host to a wide variety of community programs that bring people together through shared interests. These programs include festivals celebrating heritage and culture, like Caribbean Festival, and celebrate a passion for sustainability, like Boston Greenfest. Additionally, the community programs promote arts and culture, such as the FIGMENT participatory art festival and the North End Music & Performing Arts Center’s “Jazz in the Park” concert series.
One of my favorite Greenway programs has been Jazz in the Park. I loved seeing North End residents and families gather together in the beautiful North End parks to watch musicians perform. Also, I’ve really been enjoying the HIIT series hosted by Innercity Weightlifting, which is a gym with the goal of reducing community violence by connecting at risk youth to career paths including personal training.
A skill that I learned at the Greenway Conservancy is how to collaborate with third party partners to provide free events for the benefit of the public, which I would like to use in the future as I continue my interest in community development. My passion for placemaking has also been something I’ve used at The Greenway to promote the park as a space in which to explore and unwind for all who visit, work, and live in Boston.
My name is Lian Painchaud and I’m a rising senior at Lasell University in Newton, MA. I’m majoring in Event Management, which is perfect for my Events and Programs internship at the Greenway Conservancy. I have worked for and interned with a variety of different events companies from catering to corporate to weddings. Because I have experienced many private events, I wanted to focus on public events and how they operated. This brought me to interning at the Greenway Conservancy.
Throughout the summer, the Greenway Conservancy hosts a variety of different programs and events, many of which are recurring throughout the season. One of the most popular programs that The Greenway is known for is Greenway Mobile Eats – a food truck program that runs the 1.5 mile length of the park. Every Monday through Friday, thousands of workers in Boston have the opportunity to pick the cuisine of their choice for lunch. With over thirty different food trucks, the possibilities are endless! One of the other interns and I made it a goal to try as many of the food trucks as possible this summer. We managed to try almost twenty food trucks in the span of the summer!
Summer is also a peak time for brands and companies to have various brand activation events around the city. The Greenway has been fortunate enough to have one of our busiest seasons of activations yet! Over the past few months, Yasso has supported our Play Program, LL Bean has brought a camping site to The Greenway, and Pure Leaf has distributed free giveaways in various parts of the park. These partnerships contribute to the earned income programs that support the Conservancy’s annual budget.
Another popular program that the Conservancy hosts is the Greenway Open Market, in partnership with New England Open Markets. This is a high-end craft fair that happens every Saturday and the first and third Sundays of every month, May through October. On average, there are about fifty-five tents and vendors that will line The Greenway starting from the Greenway Carousel all the way down to Rowes Wharf Plaza with hundreds of visitors walking through each weekend. This is one of my favorite programs that I have worked with during my time at The Greenway. Working on Saturdays has allowed me to see a different side of The Greenway that I usually don’t see during the week. I have enjoyed getting to see how the public interacts with the Open Market vendors and how many people visit The Greenway as a result of the Open Market.
During my time with The Greenway, I feel that I have used my hospitality skills that I have learned in college and applied them to this internship. I have been able to use my knowledge of hotels in the Greater Boston Area to assist with new contact lists and worked with vendors in a variety of situations. Working from this foundation, I believe that I have improved my skills in maintaining and/or creating vendor relationships. This is an important skill to have in the events and hospitality industry so I believe that I will be utilizing this improvement long into the future.
My name is Peri D’Amico and I am a rising senior at the University of Massachusetts Amherst where I am majoring in Environmental Science. I was first inclined to apply to the Greenway Conservancy because I myself grew up exploring and enjoying the park. As an Environmental Science major I was also drawn to this internship to understand public park management in an urban environment setting. This summer, as part of the Programs department at the Greenway Conservancy, I have learned so much through participating, planning, and leading some of the hundreds of events hosted here. These programs and events are so diverse yet equally exciting in their own unique ways.
As the Youth Programs Intern, I have witnessed and contributed to the impacts of The Greenway and its Play programs on it’s younger visitors. My favorite recurring Play programs have been The Greenway Play Sessions, hosted every Thursday in Chin Park, and leading Youth Adventure Days for visiting local clubs through the park.
Greenway Play Sessions create an inviting environment in the park and give access to fun play equipment to children from the Chinatown community. Youth Adventure Days provide youth groups a great taste of all the things The Greenway offers to the public. These days are completely free of charge to the youth groups and consist of exploring the park’s unique features such as learning about our public art installations, playing on our organically maintained lawns, riding our one of a kind carousel, taking a splash in Rings Fountain and enjoying a donated lunch from one of the many food trucks of our Mobile Eats program.
I am proud to have been trusted as one of the two lead staff in coordinating The Greenway’s fifth annual Truck and Tractor Day. While The Greenway hosts hundreds of events, Truck and Tractor Day is one of the few produced by the Conservancy! It falls on the same day Free Fun Friday at the Greenway Carousel where free rides are provided by the Highland Street Foundation. On this day, we invite a variety of different organizations to bring trucks, tractors, machinery and unique vehicles to The Greenway for the public to enjoy, learn, and interact with.
Through this internship I have gained adaptability skills and a great understanding of event and program coordinating. It was truly a one of a kind experience to gain these skills in a public environment where the work and dedication provided by the team is given to the public and park visitors.
