Andy Meek - The Daily News -

Downtown Memphis is losing 19 parking spaces next month. It’s just for a day, though. And it’s for a community cause.
 
Nineteen metered spaces on Peabody Place between Front and Second streets will be transformed on Sept. 16, into temporary parks, a grassroots initiative that’s part of the worldwide celebration known as Park(ing) Day.
 
The one-day event generated hundreds of pop-up parks in more than 180 cities around the world in 2010. Memphis’ participation this year is being spearheaded with help from the Memphis Regional Design Center, the Memphis College of Art, the Downtown Memphis Commission, Live from Memphis, the city of Memphis and the Memphis chapter of the American Institute of Architects.
 
Nineteen creative submissions will get to each claim one of the spots. Some of them might want to bring in benches after perhaps laying down some sod. Others might want to fire up a barbecue grill and heat some meat.
 
“This event is basically showing that we reserve way too much space in the city for cars and rely so much on automobiles,” said MRDC executive director Charles “Chooch” Pickard. “This is a reminder we need to take a breather from that and pay attention to the spaces in between our buildings and give back some park spaces for a day just to kind of acknowledge their importance.”
 
Anyone in Memphis who wants to participate – and that includes individuals or groups – is asked to submit a written description of how they’d transform one of the allotted spaces to cpickard@mrdcinfo.org by 5 p.m. on Aug. 29. Sketches are welcomed but are not a requirement.
 
The chosen participants will have to pay $50 to bag the parking meter associated with their space and cover their own cost of materials for the space.
 
“We’re hoping some artists get involved, too,” Pickard said. “You could have chess in their park space for the day. Or it might just be sod and some benches. Some people might bring out a grill. We want them to have fun with it.”
 
The project got started six years ago in San Francisco. An art and design studio there converted one metered parking space into a temporary public park, and the project has grown since then into a global event that follows an established set of Park(ing) Day guidelines.
 
To learn more about the event that’s coming to Memphis, visit parkingday.org.