Another season of innovation on The Greenway
Written By: Jesse Brackenbury, Executive Director What unites The Greenway’s contemporary art, Trillium beer garden, new zipline, food trucks, and organic gardens? They are the products of the Greenway Conservancy’s vision for innovation in public space. We want to bring 21st Century ideas to Boston and the Commonwealth. The non-profit Conservancy has long sought […]
Design Biennial Boston returns to The Greenway
You may have noticed some new structures popping up throughout our parks. The Greenway is pleased to once again host installations by Design Biennial Boston, 2017. Design Biennial Boston is a nationally recognized program that provides a public platform for New England’s early-career, independent professional design talent. 2017 is the fifth iteration. Conceived and curated […]
Remembering Rose Kennedy
Today we remember our namesake, Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, who would have been celebrating her 127th birthday. The Greenway parks were named after Rose, who was born and raised in Boston, as a way to honor the many accomplishments of her life. Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy was born on July 22, 1890 in the North End. She […]
Meet our 2017 Greenway Interns
Alex Carbone, Horticulture Intern Alex is a graduate of UMass Amherst with a degree in Environmental Design and concentration in Horticulture. He has held several positions as an environmental technician, horticultural intern, and urban volunteer. Aside from working locally, Alex has traveled to Copenhagen to study European design and sustainable development. He is currently a […]
Setting the Stage for Success in Boston
2017 Greenway Gala Co-Chair Mike Carragher, VHB, Reflects on the Road to The Greenway I was in college studying engineering at the University of Delaware in 1982 when planning for the Central Artery/Tunnel project (commonly known as the Big Dig) in Boston began with preparation of environmental impact documents. I had no knowledge of the […]
Keeping our Rings Fountain running
Two months after a temporary security fence was installed around the Rings Fountain, the Rose Kennedy Greenway Maintenance staff is getting close to completing repairs and cleaning of the fountain in preparation of starting it for the 2017 fountain season. This fountain is approaching its 10th year in operation and many of the components are […]
Greenway earned income continued to grow in 2016!
Greenway earned income hit a record $956,687 in 2016, continuing the strong growth of the last several years. (You can find this figure on page 3 of our independently audited financial statements, posted online last week after Board approval.) The non-profit Conservancy earns income from four major sources: location fees from our Mobile Eats vendors, […]
Learn more about the Greenway Conservancy’s annual audit process
Today we posted the 2016 audited financial statements of the non-profit Greenway Conservancy following their approval by our volunteer Board of Directors. Every year independent auditors review our books, and they again offered a “clean opinion.” We talked with our Director of Finance and Administration, Renee Wood, about the audit. Q: What is an audit? A: Most […]
‘Make and Take’ home your own Public Art
New season, new art! The Chinese New Year began January 28th and with it brought the Year of the Rooster. Up until the start of the 2018 Chinese New Year, Chinatown Park will host the public artwork Make and Take, which merges modern 3D printing technology with antique Chinese art. A collaboration between Chris Templeman […]
A Year in Maintaining The Greenway
On any given day while walking through our parks, you are likely to encounter a member of our Maintenance team lending their expertise towards maintaining The Greenway. Our Maintenance team cares for seven water features, acres of specialty paving, complex lighting systems, and more. The Conservancy’s maintenance staff, under the leadership of Superintendent Bob Stigberg, handles repairs, fountain […]
Greenway sets another attendance record in 2016!
Even as our team is focused on planning a terrific 2017 season, we’re celebrating record attendance: 2016 saw 1,379,000 trackable visitors, topping the previous record of 1.19M set in 2015. We had a record high in every category: We hosted over 400 free events on The Greenway in 2016, more than ever before, and these […]
The Greenway as Case Study for Supporting Arts & Culture in Boston
By: Greenway Conservancy Executive Director Jesse Brackenbury The Greenway Conservancy’s reliance on donations and grants to support our award-winning public productions—from the Janet Echelman sculpture to the murals on the Greenway Wall to dance performances—has become a successful model for funding the arts in Boston. A major discussion is underway about how Boston and the […]
Greenway Around the Globe
The Greenway Conservancy hosts over 300 free events a year, commissions amazing rotating exhibits of contemporary public art, and offers four-season organic horticulture throughout the 17-acre park. With all that hustle and bustle, it becomes easy to miss how far The Greenway has come since opening in 2008/2009. There was a time before all the […]
A Few More Weeks for Foliage
It always seems as though fall arrives secretly over the course of a night. And the next morning, coffee in one hand and phone in the other, daily checklist already forming a scroll in your mind, you stop your clip at the sight of that first maple, blazing orange in the morning light. This is […]
Classifying Wonder: One Approach on Getting to Know the Greenway
I am not a biologist. I’m not a horticulturalist, a botanist, a dendrologist. I can only tell you so much about the pH levels in soil, or the bug crawling around in that soil, or the delicate relationship between the two. But I still really, really love Nature. Yesterday morning I had the pleasure of […]
Volunteering in Spring
April is a time when everyone’s thoughts turn to spring. Here at the Greenway Conservancy, it is also a time when we get a lot of eager volunteers ready to get outside and lend their hands! Not only is April National Garden Month, it is also contains National Volunteer Week, National Environmental Education Week, Earth […]
Stonework at North End Park Fountains
We started work on a number of projects, including resetting of the cap stones along the edge of the fountain in the North End park south of Hanover Street.
Little Free Libraries
Libraries have just been installed on the Greenway–that’s right, they’re Little Free Libraries. Perhaps you’ve seen one somewhere before, now you can find two on the Greenway! Just above North Street in the North End Parks (pictured) and on the lawn North of High Street and Rowe’s Wharf Plaza in the Wharf District Parks […]
New Public Art on the Greenway
“Collaboration” was the operative word for presenting Ritchie’s large-scale public art on the Greenway in Dewey Square.
Spuds on the Greenway
We did a very cool thing – we turned 1 pound of potatoes into 17 pounds of potatoes–all we had to do was a little research. We only watered a handful of times and mulched once. The sun and the spuds did the rest of the work. This afternoon we’ll divide the potatoes and […]
Green & Grow Summer Interns are Back!
The Conservancy is so excited to have our summer interns again! Joining us this year (from the left of Darrah, a Greenway Horticulturist) are: Waverly, Andrew, Humberto, and Sam. All have graduated from the Green & Grow Apprenticeship Program and Sam and Waverly both completed the summer internship in 2012. “Things have really grown, I […]
It Pays to Volunteer!
There are lots of ways in which volunteering for the Greenway Conservancy can benefit you! Here are just a few reasons to come out and join our staff in caring for the parks: Kelly, our Seasonal Horticulturist, trained our volunteers how to prune roses two weeks ago in the Fort Point Channel Parks. If you have […]
April Fools! Chilly Blossoms on the Greenway
April Fools! You thought the cold weather was finished? While I am ready to get my winter gear out of the closet again, and have been pulling my hat low over my ears, the trees, shrubs and plants on the Greenway are not so fooled. They are pressing ahead – emerging from the ground, swelling […]
What’s in Bloom: It’s Started – Delicate Beginnings on The Greenway
The very first signs of new growth and spring awakening are here. The pussy willows on the Salix bebbiana, Bebb’s Willow, near the Harbor Islands Pavilion, are starting to bloom and, with this cooler weather, should be around for the next few weeks. The Snowdrops, Galanthus nivilus, always the very first bulbs to push through […]
We Have Snow!
While people are adjusting to the addition of SNOW in the city and on the Greenway, the plants are on autopilot and letting the weather and temperatures guide them. For visitors, the snow adds a clear, clean backdrop to the plants, emphasizing the profile of dark stalks and highlighting the colors of stems and branches. The […]