Opening this summer, downtown pocket park to offer public seating, rotating food trucks

Downtown Springfield will soon be home to a new park geared to both families exploring downtown during the day and the booming nightlife crowd.

The temporary pocket park, a small public park, will open in the lot formerly home to the Downtown Springfield Sunflower Patch, at the corner of South Avenue and McDaniel Street later this summer.

Anne and Clayton Baker, co-owners of Finnegan's Wake, Civil Kitchen and Tinga Tacos, purchased the 5,000-square-foot lot last fall. The Baker's are currently leasing the space to the Downtown Springfield Community Improvement District, or CID, for two years to manage the park.

"We saw their plans for the lot and were very excited to be able to give the community an area to enjoy," Anne said about being approached by CID.

The pocket park will feature colorful concrete road barriers around its perimeter, benches for public seating and a designed spot for a food truck. While the CID will be in control of maintaining the park itself, the Baker's are responsible for the food truck, which will be available late evenings and weekends.

Anne said they have not started the booking process yet, but if food truck vendors are interested in learning more, they can email the Bakers at pocketparksgf@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Downtown pocket park to offer public seating, rotating food trucks