During the past few weeks, it has been amazing to see the sacrifices people are making to take care of their loved ones, neighbors and community. But one thing that can’t be taken away from us is the beauty of a Kentucky Spring. Whether you are exploring The Parklands, another of Louisville’s gems, or your own backyard, the transition is underway and visible in the spring ephemerals sneaking up in a patch of bright, green grass, the flowering dogwoods and the tweeting robins.

In the coming weeks, we will be using this page to provide updates on those natural occurrences in the park. Follow us as we highlight some of those spurring springtime moments that you won’t want to miss.

The Parklands design is inspired by the work of famed landscape architect Frederick Law Olmstead. One of the key ideas behind all of Olmsted’s designs—from Central Park in New York City to Cherokee Park here in Louisville—was that parks need to be socially useful. A place for relaxation after a stressful day. A place to exercise our minds and bodies. A place to breathe.

In this challenging and uncertain time, parks have never been more useful. As more and more of our regular life is limited, remember that we still have parks. We still have the sun on our shoulders, the breeze in our hair, and a beautiful Kentucky Spring unfolding before our eyes.

While our restrooms and facilities are closed, our trails remain open to visitors offering families and individuals of all ages and abilities a way to get out and active while practicing social distancing. Visitors should:

• Stay home if they are sick.
• Maintain a distance of 6 feet or more from strangers.
• Avoid in-person social gatherings of 10 or more.
• If the trail or area you visit is busy, explore another section of the park.
• When possible, visit in the early morning or late evening (prior to dusk) to avoid peak visitation time.

Please go out and enjoy YOUR parks. We need them now more than ever.

We want to know why YOU need parks. Share your photos and stories with us using the hashtags #PeopleNeedParks or #KentuckySpring. They might even show up in our slideshow! Keep coming back to view the latest at www.theparklands.org/KentuckySpring.

Continue to watch our blog for more reccomendations. For educational resources, head over to The Parklands Virtual Classroom.

• (function(d, s, id) {
  var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];
  if (d.getElementById(id)) return;
  js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;
  js.src = “//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1&appId=289268557818459”;
  fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);
  }(document, ‘script’, ‘facebook-jssdk’));
• Tweet
  !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?’http’:’https’;if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+’://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js’;fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, ‘script’, ‘twitter-wjs’);

• (function() {
  var po = document.createElement(‘script’); po.type = ‘text/javascript’; po.async = true;
  po.src = ‘https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js’;
  var s = document.getElementsByTagName(‘script’)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(po, s);
  })();