2020 Downtown Greenway Recap

Construction:

  • Completed construction on Murrow Boulevard between Gate City Boulevard and Fisher/Greene, except for Church Street Bridge (An assessment is ongoing of the recent repaving of Murrow Boulevard – so you may see cones on the roadway for a bit longer. The bridges along Fisher Avenue that go over the railroad tracks and Church Street are in need of repair and that work will take place in 2021).
  • LoFi Park underwent a re-design by David Mudd and Justin Vettel, Permaculture Gardeners, will include berms with boulders and new trees, a rain garden and an open lawn space.

Public Art:

  • Atlanta, GA artist Radcliffe Bailey selected to design and fabricate the Freedom Cornerstone.
  • Local artist Darlene McClinton was selected to redesign the artistic treatment on concrete bridge supports at Spring Garden Street and Edgeworth Streets. New design named Bridging the Gap.
  • Durham artist Thomas Sayre designed and fabricated West Woods located along the railroad corridor at Guilford Avenue.

Activation:

  • An average of 3,000 people per month used the open sections of the Downtown Greenway.
  • 47 community meetings/events were held virtually and in-person serving over 7,000 people.
  • 230+ volunteers were engaged with Downtown Greenway activities with over 775 hours served.
  • Social Media: total audience growth of 1,324 in 2020. Total Facebook followers 5,583; Twitter followers 6,405, Instagram followers 4,661, and LinkedIn followers 231.

Programming:

Wheels on the Greenway- Canceled 2020 event due to COVID; but collected, repaired, and donated over 100 bikes to kids in need at Jefferson Elementary School, Warnersville Rec Center, and several local Girl Scout Troops that meet at Trinity AME Zion Church on Florida Street.

Run 4 the Greenway- Offered Run 4 the Greenway Virtual Challenge and Scavenger Hunt in October.  Had a great turnout for Packet Pick-up on October 17 and a Closing Virtual event on November 1; over 100 people participated in the run and scavenger hunt.

Fall Nature Series– Offered a Fall Nature Series that was well attended.

-Elderberry Class at Edible Orchard at Meeting Place with Jennifer Zullo of Syrup & More

-Bird Watching 101 at Morehead Park with Piedmont Bird Club

-Permaculture Gardening Class at Meeting Place with Charlie Headington, Greensboro Permaculture Guild

Free Fitness Classes at Morehead Park with the Bryan YMCA– Numbers were lower than in recent years due to mask requirements, downtown protests in June and high heat indexes in July. We still averaged 10 people per class.

Pop-Up Fitness– Offered several fall pop-up Fitness Classes, including the very popular Goat Yoga with Unite Us Yoga.

Live for 45 with Action Greensboro– Partnered with Action Greensboro to offer 2 virtual sessions each month since July including Yoga for all levels, healthy eating, and stress management with Terri Maultsby of Think Eat Grow.

Golf Cart Tours—Offered the last round of in-person golf cart tours in March and postponed all subsequent tours. We were able to offer virtual golf cart tours as part of Live for 45 that have been viewed over 1,000 times this fall.

Volunteer Workdays—Held workdays and clean-up days on the Downtown Greenway.  Students from UNCG picked up trash along Morehead Park, several local businesses sent employees to clean-up Bragg Street and we had 4 volunteer workdays at Meeting Place and Woven Works Park with support from the Native Plant Society & Greensboro Permaculture Guild.