The third Friday in September may be changed forever in Greenville. The day is now Park(ing) Day...unofficially.

What started in a San Francisco parking lot in 2005 has transformed a parking space on Evans Street, if only just for a few hours. Uptown Greenville, several businesses, and East Carolina University's Grounds Department came together to create a pocket park out of a loading zone in the city's uptown shopping and dining district.

Musicians from the Wright School of Music provided music as dozens of people enjoyed the park benches, shade, and ambiance that the uptown offers.

"We are thrilled to see the idea of urban parks gain momentum in uptown Greenville,” said Uptown Greenville Executive Director Bianca Shoneman. “One of the reasons people love to come here is because there’s always a surprise. Where else in Greenville will you find a day-long pop-up park with tables, benches and live music? Only uptown."

The uptown shopping and dining district also has a (full-time) pocket park on 4th Street in an area which used to be used for parking but was transformed a couple of years ago into a small park. Greenville's urban planners were hoping to create a series of small pocket parks throughout the downtown to give the area a unique, fun, livable feel. That pocket park was the first in the city. There has been discussion about using vacant lots as parks until such a time as businesses choose to develop the land.

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