Levy Park’s Grand (re)Opening on Saturday, February 25 has fun-filled day planned for visitors

Event will showcase the Park’s many amenities and activities with Houston Mayor Turner in Attendance

Grammy Award winning band Grupo Fantasma headlines Grand Finale

The Levy Park Conservancy is holding a Grand “re-Opening” for Levy Park with an all-day event that promises something for everyone and every age starting at 10 a.m.

Grupo Fantasma, a 9 piece Grammy Award winning Latin Funk orchestra, will lead the Grand Finale Celebration for the reopening of Levy Park on performing on its beautiful new pavilion stage from 6 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. This will be the culmination of a day-long celebration, beginning with a ribbon cutting ceremony with Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner at 11 a.m. and showcasing the newly renovated, six acre urban park located in the Upper Kirby District of Houston.

Thousands of people are expected to attend this free event and participate in the programming, covering a wide range of areas: health and fitness, food and horticulture, performing arts, music, poetry and spoken word, literacy, natural science, animal rescue.

Visitors can also hear a piano concert and other music, experience face painting, interactive displays, workshops with local organizations, gardening demos. Food and beverages will be available for purchase. The event is rain or shine.

Grupo Fantasma is a 9 piece Grammy Award-winning Latin funk orchestra formed in 2000 and best known for its exuberant live shows, innovative contemporary recordings and associations with Prince and his 3121 Club in Las Vegas.

Food and beverages will be available for purchase. Pets on leash are welcome. The event will be held rain or shine.

Levy Park Amenities:

• Performance Pavilion. A beautifully designed structure with an arching roofline, 1,600 square-foot stage, 23 skylights, nighttime up-lighting, and a mini-amphitheater for kids’ programs, family and public restrooms and a staff office.
• Event Lawn. A 17,500 square-foot lawn that provides an audience area facing the Pavilion stage, accommodating up to 3,000 people for bands, symphonic orchestras, movie screenings, concert simulcasts, sports simulcasts, dance, and performances of all types.
• Activity Lawn. A 22,000 square-foot lawn devoted to an unlimited range of activities, including a putting green, yoga, tai chi, fitness boot camp, petanque, badminton, fitness classes, imagination playground building blocks, picnicking, astronomy, etc.
• Play Area. A 24,000 square-foot area devoted to kids, families and play, the Play Area includes non-traditional play features, including a climbing wall and seven-foot-wide slide, the Cosmo (a 14-foot climbing sphere), lighted tunnels, dance chimes, turning sculptures, a three-tiered water feature, a mini amphitheater, and the Overlook, a colorful boardwalk structure that winds gradually up into the live oak canopy.
• Beer Garden. A refurbished double-decker bus will serve beer, wine and small food items, and seating and umbrellas will fill out a citrus grove garden surrounding the bus.
• Food Kiosk. The second of three concessions will serve park goers rotisserie chicken, beverages and other food items in the northwest corner of the park.
• Projected to be open in mid-2018, the Park’s restaurant will be an homage to all things grilled, roasted, and slow-cooked.
• Community Gardens. 27 community garden beds for volunteer cultivations of edible plants and flowers, including beds for classes and youth programs focused on sustainable agriculture, organics, healthy eating, and farm-to-table, plus cooking demos and collaborations with the park restaurant.
• Dog Park, with sections devoted to large and small dogs, includes turf-covered mounds for play, trees for shade, a water feature, and a double-gated safety entrance.
• 600 pieces of Fermob outdoor furniture, including bistro tables and chairs and rocking chairs, will serve visitors in every nook and corner of the Park, and foosball, ping pong, board games, art supplies, a reading rack with books and periodicals, and Park-wide Wi-Fi will all be free and regularly available to the public. Professional piano players will be commissioned to play our moveable park piano.
• 30 live oak trees, 60-70 years old, plus 180 newly planted trees, cover much of the park with a shady canopy, and provide cool spots for reading, eating and taking in the Park’s day-to-day activity.

Levy Park is located at 3801 Eastside, with street parking available on Wakeforest Avenue and Eastside Street, and garage parking at 2925 Richmond (entrance on Richmond) for $2/hour. Ride-sharing, walking, and biking are encouraged.

For more information about the Grand Re-Opening, go to www.levyparkhouston.org, call us at 713.522.7275 or follow on social media at Twitter: @levyparkhouston; Instagram: Instagram.com/levypark Facebook: facebook.com/LevyParkHou/.

photos courtesy of the Office of John Burnett