Throughout June, July, and August of 2024, the Kelley’s Landing team conducted a series of pop-up public engagement activities at community events around town. Typically, these pop-ups included printed information about the future park with links to the initial survey, engagement activities to vote for preferred park features, and one on one conversations with the project team. The three largest scale pop-ups were hosted at the Kentucky River Clean Sweep (June 15), the Gardenside Farmers Market (June 19 and June 26), and Friday Flicks at Jacobson Park (June 28). Additionally, project materials and staff were present at a variety of CivicLex and Parks and Recreation Events, including the Urban Growth Master Plan Open House (July 15) and a Lexington Legends Game (June 29). All in all, we estimate these pop-ups engaged approximately 400 residents in the Master Plan process.
Print materials
The Kelley’s Landing team created various print materials to help spread the word about the future park and Master Plan. The team distributed approximately 300 Kelley’s Landing Postcards, ~200 in English and ~100 in Spanish. Later in the summer, the team developed a one sheet about the project for stakeholders to use and share with their organizations and communities, and distributed ~100 copies of it.
Engagement Activities
A feature of the pop-up engagements included a voting activity for both kids and adults to select the park features they would most like to use. At each event, the team used a set of glass jars labeled with different features (“kayak launch”, “walking trails”), and asked participants to vote with stones or pom poms for what they would most like to see. Participation in this activity was incentivized with free popsicles or Lexington Parks and Recreation merchandise.
Youth Engagement
Through this activity, we learned that playgrounds and fishing were the two most popular activities for the ~150 kids who voted. The activity was informal, and kids from preschool age to teenagers participated. Hiking trails and Kayaking were the two most popular features for adults that participated.
