This year’s Love Your Park Week brought together communities across Philadelphia for nine days of hands-on stewardship, celebration, and care in neighborhood parks and public spaces citywide.
From playgrounds and trails to gardens and wooded park areas, more than 1,000 volunteers joined Fairmount Park Conservancy, Philadelphia Parks & Recreation, and Park Friends groups to help prepare parks for the spring and summer seasons. Together, neighbors, partners, and park advocates demonstrated once again that Philadelphia’s parks thrive because of the people who care for them.
A Citywide Effort of Care
Throughout the week, volunteers rolled up their sleeves to plant, clean, restore, and beautify parks across the city. While final reporting is still being collected, preliminary numbers reflect the scale of the collective effort:
- More than 1,066 volunteers engaged
- Over 800 bags of litter and debris collected
- 2,395 flowers planted
- 321 cubic yards of organic material spread across park landscapes
These efforts represent just a snapshot of the work completed during Love Your Park Week, with additional data still being gathered from sites across Philadelphia.
Highlight: Fotterall Square Signature Site
On Saturday, May 16, more than 90 volunteers gathered alongside Fairmount Park Conservancy, Philadelphia Parks & Recreation, Friends of Fotterall Square, and community partners to help beautify Fotterall Square and cap off Love Your Park Week.
Volunteers spent the morning planting shrubs and flowers, mulching trees, and removing litter and debris. The event also welcomed community partners , such as PowerCorpsPHL, and local leaders, including Philadelphia Parks & Recreation Commissioner Susan Slawson, Conservancy CEO Tony Sorrentino, TD Bank Senior Relationship Manager & Vice President Amy Derstine, and Friends of Fotterall Square President Tyrone Young.
During the speaking program, Young spoke about how caring for the park is like planting a seed for future generations of community members and park users. The Fotterall Square workday served as a hands-on improvement effort, a long-term investment in the neighborhood, and a celebration of the partnerships that keep Philadelphia’s parks active, welcoming, and well cared for.
Thank You to Our Park Community
Love Your Park Week is powered by people—volunteers, Park Friends groups, community organizations, and neighbors who dedicate their time and energy to public space.
Thank you to everyone who participated this year, as well as to our sponsors whose support makes Love Your Park possible: TD Bank, PECO, Greenberg Traurig, Independence Blue Cross, and WSFS Bank.
Looking Ahead
While Love Your Park Week has wrapped for the season, the work of caring for Philadelphia’s parks continues year-round. We encourage everyone to stay involved by joining a Park Friends group, volunteering at community workdays, and taking part in public programs across Philadelphia parks.
