Goffe Street Park

2023 Greenspace Report

Goffe Street Park is a bustling hub of activity on any summer afternoon. With young folks playing pickup games on the basketball courts, older gentlemen enjoying games of horseshoes, children playing on the playground, and parents chatting on the benches to the side, there is nearly always something going on. The Friends of Goffe Street Park have been stewarding the park for a number of years already, but this is its first summer participating in URI’s Community Greenspace program. As a new Greenspace, the priorities have been increasing participation and making the FOGSP presence in the park known to its frequent visitors. This summer we focused our efforts around the playground area, where traffic is especially high in the summertime with school not in session. We started every workday with trash pickup, collecting litter and other debris scattered across the playground and surrounding areas. We also created two small gardens surrounding the two oak trees planted by the URI Greenskills program several years earlier. In the tree beds, we planted many native shrubs and perennials with the help of the neighborhood children. We hope that these plants will create many opportunities for children in the park to interact with nature!

2023 Accomplishments

• 10 shrubs planted (ninebark (3), bayberry (4), inkberry (3))
• 35 perennials planted (switchgrass (2), butterfly milkweed (5), black-eyed susan (6), coneflower (8), coreopsis (6), big bluestem (4 – 2 ‘silver sunrise’ 2 ‘blackhawk’), creeping phlox (4))
• 1.0 yards mulch spread
• 7 events
• 25 volunteers
• 54 volunteer hours