2010 | Welcome Bed Created

When FOBP adopted Brentwood Park in 2009, one of the first park project ideas was to create a planting bed around the park sign on Arroyo Seco to signal to the hood that “there’s something happening here.” And this kicked off the very first It’s My Park Day hosted by the Austin Parks Foundation!

Spearheaded and planned by Karen Lorenzini, she purchased steel metal edging which was installed to define the area, and then lined the edging with limestone rock. Back in the day, Austin Memorial Park Cemetery would allow people drive in to the eastern edge of the cemetery to choose and load rocks from their many rock piles. Many gardens in Brentwood and Crestview still have this limestone rock as part of their gardens. For the IMPD workday, neighborhood gardeners contributed native and hardy volunteer plants and passalong plants from their yards to fill the space.

To commemorate the occasion and the new Friends of Brentwood Park adoptee group, Karen made a clay sign in her pottery class which still graces the Welcome Bed today. Fun fact…the park sign was originally misspelled with the name Arroyo Seca!