Old park seeks new admirers

The keepers of Rock Creek Park knew the hardwood trees and switchback creeks would certainly bring thousands of visitors yesterday to the park’s 114th birthday party. But they hoped the celebration would also help spread the message that this old park is looking for new visitors, especially those who live nearby.

Much of the effort to reach out to residents in the bordering Northwest neighborhoods of Columbia Heights and Mount Pleasant takes place in the park’s nature center and planetarium, off Military Road.

“One of the things we are really happy to do is show the park as being a vital part of the community,” said Laura Illige, Rock Creek’s chief ranger. “Unlike national parks on the Mall, 96 percent of our visitors are local.”

Inside the nature center’s auditorium is displayed a colorful exhibit of paintings and pastels titled “Reaching Out: Collection of Youth Works.”

Ms. Illige said the project was a joint effort with the nearby Latin American Youth Center and that the young artists were expressing “how they connect” with the park.

Many of the pieces in the exhibit, which also included photographs, showed children in the outdoors. Others were more pastoral, depicting plants and trees.

One artist drew a leaf, and underneath penned his feelings about his environment.

“I choose a leaf because we don’t have a lot of trees in D.C.,” the artist wrote. “I love to touch a leaf because it feels so smooth.”

Ms. Illige said the 1,775-acre park’s numerous picnic groves remain among the most popular attraction for families,but that has not stopped her and others in the National Park Service from trying new ways to expose outsiders to the park’s many wonders, including the planetarium, which is free.

“We’ve tried various ways of connecting with people in these [nearby] communities,” Ms. Illige said.

Still, she acknowledges mixed success.

For example, she said that talks about the park offered in Spanish have been just “partially successful.”

Rangers also have tried a volunteer bike patrol and are especially proud of having the first bilingual exhibit for parks inside the Beltway.

“We are trying a combination of ways to say: ‘We’re here, and it’s free,’” Ms. Illige said. “Sometimes, it’s as simple as handing out fliers about a free event.”

The crowd of about 2,000 yesterday included adults with small children in tow and in strollers. Among the activities were face-painting, arts and crafts, exhibits, lectures and entertainment by Cody & BJ, a popular children’s singing group who let the grown-ups join in the fun with a limbo dance.

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