THUNDER BAY – Jarron Childs remembers Brent Park serving as a neighbourhood hub during his childhood. Now, thanks to a community effort to renew the space, he’s hoping it’s on track to recapture some of its former glory.
The teacher and nearby resident leads the Friends of Brent Park group, which has raised money, planted trees, and advocated for improvements by the municipal government.
That's paid off with a cleanup of the park's wooded area, new paths and benches, and more. The group hopes to build on that success with bigger improvements, Childs said.
Before the clean-up, Childs would see trucks driving through and garbage regularly dumped there, he said.
“The space you see around here was a dump – literally a dump of garbage,” he said. “The city backfilled it and it sat for decades. I’ve lived on the street for a long time now, and I just kind of got tired of it.”
Once he began removing garbage from the space and planting trees, interest grew organically in the neighbourhood.
“It started with me getting fed up,” he said, “and the number of people that started walking through, we got more people interested.”
“I think if people did stuff in their community, reached out and talked more, you’d find a lot of people who have the same interests and the same concerns – and it doesn’t have to be ambitious.”
The group scored grants from EcoSuperior and Tbaytel, which they used to purchase stone benches and trees.
The City of Thunder Bay proved willing to work with them, giving volunteers the go-ahead, installing pathways connecting to College and Albany streets, and doing some tree-planting of its own.
For the most part, the dumping has stopped since the clean-up, Childs said.
The group has also tried to include wildlife, creating habitat and installing a bat house with help from a local school.
“The climate change issue, biodiversity loss – those are real things, and they’re going to have massive impacts,” Childs said. “It feels very overwhelming at times when you think about it. We’ve done some research on why people don’t do stuff… when things are too large, it’s just easier to ignore it. But this is something you can do in your neighbourhood that helps.”
The work has resulted in a more active and connected neighbourhood, he reported.
“The amount of walking and biking traffic has just gone through the roof,” he said. “Part of that is the pandemic, but this has really [become] a place for people to walk, to be close to [nature].
“We have a few neighbours in the area who are mobility challenged. For them to be able to walk on a flat surface and get to nature is pretty important.”
Childs said he sees potential for more trees, picnic tables, a bike loop for small children, and possibly a playground in the future. The main field that's used for soccer and hockey could be reduced to make space for those uses, he believes.
For now, the Friends of Brent Park are focusing on shorter-term plans to connect the pathways through the park to Margaret Street, and adding more trees.
The group plans to apply for a Tbaytel Community Fund grant (public voting will begin May 31), and has applied for a David Suzuki Foundation grant, to help fund those changes.
Childs acknowledges there are more than 100 parks in the city competing for limited municipal funding. However, he says the group’s approach – building community support, fundraising, and presenting ideas of their own – has found success so far.
“I think that’s one of the big things if you have an issue in your neighbourhood – if you can provide a problem and a solution, you might get more traction than if you just go in complaining,” he said.
The group will be at the park for Spring Up to Clean Up next weekend, with volunteers staying in their bubbles and social distancing. More information is available on the Friends of Brent Park Faceboook page.
