International Parking Day

International Park(ing) Day is world-wide, annual tradition of turning urban parking spaces into actual parks. It is a vivid showcase of alternative uses for public space, traditionally used by automobiles. It is a day for citizens to become involved, take ownership of their city and change it for the better. The celebration treats metered parking spots as a short-term lease for a plot of precious urban real estate.September 20, 2019 is INTERNATIONAL PARKING DAY and the Allentown Parking Authority (APA), in Allentown, PA will celebrate with their local community! The fun event takes place directly in front of the APA’s office building on the corner of N. 6th Street and W. Linden Street.

As we did last year, the APA has chosen to incorporate Int’l Parking Day with a two month-long donation drive, which benefits two local agencies in need of food and household items; The Sixth Street Shelter and the Allentown Area Ecumenical Food Bank.

Through Social Media outlets, our organization’s website, as well as radio advertising, the APA is reaching out to the community for their help with donating items. On Friday, September 20th, the APA will present both local agencies with an abundance of collected items.

In conjunction with the donation process, each donor will be given a raffle ticket, when they fill a crate with items. They can also receive a raffle ticket for straight monetary donations (before September 9th). On Int’l Parking Day, the APA will draw raffle winners and award the winners with various prizes donated by Allentown’s local businesses.

In the early morning hours of International Parking Day, the APA’s Executive Director, John Morgan, and his staff, will go to work on creating a welcoming, beautiful, park-like setting to host the day’s festivities. The “Park-setting” is generously donated by The Lehigh Valley Home & Garden Center. By 11:00 am, the 4 metered parking spaces on the 600 Block of W. Linden St. will transition into a gathering place that offers food, drinks, music, games, prizes, a dunk tank and lot of fun! Visit the APA’s website (www.allentownparking.com) for more details.
The Allentown Parking Authority’s city park area will boast grass, trees, flowers, park benches, fountains and as all great parks have, a hot dog cart!

Our local radio station, 99.9FM The Hawk, will provide a 3-hour, onsite, live music broadcast with games and prizes.

Executive Director John Morgan stated, “Last year’s event was amazing! We wanted to do something special for our community and we were excited to incorporate this fun event with something meaningful and deserving of our efforts. It was such a success, that we absolutely wanted to do it again this year. Our goal is to collect twice as many items and have twice as many guests on the day of the event. This year, we are extremely fortunate to have such generous sponsors… Lehigh Valley Home & Garden Center, City Center’s new Downtown Allentown Market, Barnacle, Mid-Atlantic Technology Professionals, MobileNow! and ESSA Bank & Trust.”

The Allentown Parking Authority is looking forward to making 2019’s International Parking Day just as exciting, if not more, than last year’s event.