Friends of The Park Celebrate the Holidays at Tootsies

Missy Wyszynski, Alison Volk and ???

Friends of The Park hosted a holiday soiree at Tootsies (a.k.a. The Toots) last Thursday. Guests enjoyed light bites, holiday cocktails and jewelry designs from Roc Candy with a special appearance from designer, Ashley LaRocca. 15% of the evenings proceeds went to benefit Friends of The Park.

Movers-and-shakers like Missy Wyszynski, Alison Volk, Rhonda Sargent Chambers, Shona Gilbert and Damany Daniel were on hand to show their support for The Park.

Not familiar with The Park project? Five acres of shared, public green space will deck over the existing Woodall Rodgers Freeway, creating the largest public park project in Dallas. Ah, NOW you know what I'm talking about, right?  You've been wondering what all that construction on Woodall Rodgers was about! Now, you know.

Shona Gilbert and Rhonda Sargent Chambers

Plans include a performance pavilion, restaurant, walking trails, a dog park, a children’s discovery garden and playground, water features, an area for games and much more.

The first 25 of 332 trees were recently planted.  Now, planting trees above a freeway doesn’t happen every day, but The Park's structural engineers and landscape architect designed structural box beams to allow the trees to grow at grade with the rest of The Park while preserving the necessary traffic clearances in the tunnel.

If you’ve driven by The Park or checked out their webcam photos, you might have seen the square-shaped gaps between the beams – these will serve as the planters for the 300-plus trees. Tree sizes will be determined by the use of root barriers, but the trees will nevertheless reach mature heights of up to 40 feet.

Ashley LaRocca and her Mother with a few of her beautiful Roc Candy designs

All of The Park’s trees are native and adaptive species, making them lower-maintenance and facilitating our efforts to keep them healthy.  The tree species – Texas-native Shumard’s Red Oak, Bur Oak, Pond Cypress, River Birch, Pistache and Lacebark Elm - were selected specifically for their durability and have been cultivated for the city climate. Landscaping will also include 32 native Texas species out of 37 total plant species.

Visit the website to find out how you can volunteer, donate or become a Friend of The Park to help bring this project to life!



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