Though spring isn’t typically the time of year that comes to mind when we think of the season of giving, Mayor Walsh is bucking the trend. Speaking on Boston Common Tuesday morning, the mayor announced he’s partnering up with local organizations to give city parks big screen projections for residents to exercise their Red Sox fanaticism outdoors.
Mayor Walsh was joined by David McGrath, trustee of the Highland Street Foundation; Larry Lucchino, CEO of the Boston Red Sox; more than 40 children from Ellis Memorial and, of course, Wally the Green Monster.
The initiative, aptly dubbed the “Out of the Park” program, is a collaboration between the City of Boston, the Highland Street Foundation and the Red Sox that will allow for the most devout Sox fans to watch away games while enjoying New England’s beautiful summer weather.
And, of course, the historical significance of the announcement is not lost on us. Outlined in the nation’s oldest public park, the program gives Bostonians a way to view one of the nation’s favorite baseball clubs when they aren’t able to catch the game from the nation’s oldest ballpark.
Out of the Park is just one of many community initiatives Mayor Walsh has undertaken in just under six months as Boston’s chief executive. Aside from making himself available in city-run parks spanning nearly all public parks, the mayor is implementing civic innovations from the New Urban Mechanics; has rebranded the connection between Boston, Braintree, Quincy, Cambridge and Somerville as the Life Sciences Corridor; and has dedicated an entire month to the preservation of Boston’s heritage.
Perhaps what’s most impressive is that those are just a selection of items from the past month alone.
Three games will be broadcasted in three different Boston parks. On May 25, the Sox will play the Tampa Bay Rays, which people can watch at Ramsay Park in Roxbury. The next game will be available for viewing at Franklin Park in Dorchester on Ju 22 against the Oakland Athletics.
On July 27, Bostonians can gather on Boston Common to watch the Sox take on the Toronto Blue Jays.
“We’re going to be able to take Fenway Park from Yawkey Way into the park system in the City of Boston,” said Mayor Walsh. “This is something that every park system in American will start to look at doing, by bringing their Baseball team – in our case, our world champion baseball team – to parks in cities around the country.”
BostInno was able to catch up with Mayor Walsh after he delivered his remarks about the neighborhood-level impact Out of the Park will have. Not surprisingly, he’s expecting it to become widely popular.
“A couple years ago the city did Movies in the Park and the state took a page out of that book as well,” Mayor Walsh told BostInno. “People love it. People come down, families come down, they bring their chairs and a pic-nic. It’s unbelievable. It’s good to program the park, just to get people into them. Having just a park is great, but when you program it so much more life comes to it.”
Though this year is something of a dry-run for the program, Mayor Walsh thinks it has the potential to become even more frequent next year and possibly take place on a weekly basis in more parks.
The children from Ellis Memorial are a great example of what Mayor Walsh hopes this initiative will achieve. It will give children an opportunity to get outside, away from regular city life, and act as something of a “staycation” vacation. The mayor also thinks it’ll pique the curiosity of adolescents, young 20-somethings and more generations.
“Hopefully when we get them in, we’re going to have some other ideas of how to program the park,” added Mayor Walsh.
Larry Lucchino may have summed up the essence of the program best when he referred to it as “Free, fun, Red Sox winning baseball.”
Correction: An earlier version of this story stated the third game was on June 27 against the New York Yankees. It’s July 27 against the Toronto Blue Jays.
