Annandale’s pop-up park opens next month

A demonstration pop-up park was held during the 2018 Taste of Annandale.

Annandale’s “pop-up park” will officially open to the public on June 29.

The 1,200-square-foot park, located on underutilized county-owned property at 7200 Columbia Pike, will become a community gathering spot with tables and chairs, game tables, an outdoor piano, and landscaping. Special activities will be held in the space this summer focusing on the arts, fitness, and family-friendly activities.

June 29 will be Nature Day at the pop-up park. This event will feature live animals from the Hidden Oaks Nature Center, gardening insights from Green Spring Gardens, golf tips and tricks from the staff of Pinecrest Golf Course, a scavenger hunt, and a unique bead for the day when you start your Mason District Beadin’ Path at the pop-up park.

To prepare for the grand opening, volunteers are needed for a clean-up day on Saturday, June 15, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.

July 27 will be Arts Day at the pop-up park with family-friendly art-themed activities, and Aug. 24 will be Fitness and Fun Day.

Oct. 5 will be Taste of Annandale Community Day at the park, with activities developed to coincide with the Taste of Annandale street festival on Tom Davis Drive and the ACCA Child Development Center.

This temporary civic and park space is envisioned to eventually be transformed into a permanent park of more than half an acre. The pop-up park is aimed at creatively using the existing space to push forward a longer-term vision to make Annandale a more walkable community with a network of public gathering spaces and smaller, urban parks.

“What we’re trying to do is contribute to the local vibrancy of Annandale and further revitalization,” says Laura Baker, program manager with the Fairfax County Office of Community Revitalization. “We think having a space like this can really help bring about some near-term, tangible change for people and can hopefully propel future change.”

The programming for the pop-up park, along with the design for a future, permanent park, are based on ideas from the public that surfaced during a couple of demonstration pop-up parks and an online survey.