Madison has more parks per person than ANY OTHER American city.
That is something to celebrate!
The Friends of the Yahara River Parkway want to increase access to the River and protect the greenspace around it.
- That means working with the City, developers, and neighbors to protect the public park area on both sides of the River. So when developers have proposals, the City asks the Friends for input. The Friends stay true to the vision they established in the plan for the Parkway in 1998.
- That means keeping the vision alive. The Friends group attended countless meetings to create the continuous bike & pedestrian path from Lake Monona to Lake Mendota. They insisted on underpasses so that people didn’t have to cross busy streets to get into the parks and onto the water.
The Friends of the Yahara River Parkway have made it the urban gem that it is today.
The Parkway was created in the early 1900s under the sponsorship of the Madison Park and Pleasure Drive Association. The goal then was to create open space with paths and carriage trails to enjoy views and vistas of the River and the lush plantings along its banks. The ideals of health, beauty and democracy of the 19th-century park movement were embodied in the goals of the Madison Park and Pleasure Drive Association.
The Yahara River Parkway and Environs 1998 Master Plan justified the path and the building of the underpasses. Five objectives included this one:
Objective: To imbue the Yahara River with environmental sculptures and/or appropriate public art.
Reflections from the Banks of the Yahara River is endorsed by the Friends of the Yahara River Parkway and organized by independent collaborators in Tenney-Lapham and Marquette neigbhorhoods.
Join the Friends of the Yahara Group today!