Summer in the Parks (1968-1976)

Two girls prepare a "Summer in the Parks" kite at the Washington Monument, 1970.

NPS

Overview

Summer in the Parks was a popular program in Washington, DC, area national parks that connected people to the parks through arts and recreation. The program ran from 1968 to 1976.

Building on an early plan to bus youths to Catoctin Mountain Park and Prince William Forest Park, National Park Service (NPS) Director George Hartzog opened the Office of Urban Affairs and started a transportation program in 1966. In 1967, Congress appropriated funds for the NPS to expand the program and provide activities in the District of Columbia the following summer. But before those plans came to fruition, Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated, which triggered a rash of violence, arson, and looting in Washington, DC, in the spring of 1968. After the riots, the program took on a new meaning as a way to help heal a troubled city.

Cooking on an outdoor grill at Catoctin Mountain Park ca. 1970.

NPS

Programs

Summer in the Parks featured three major themes of programming:

• Surprise trips were field trips to parks. The first summer, these trips bussed youth to Rock Creek Park, Fort Washington, Great Falls, Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens, Oxon Hill Farm, the National Zoo, and C&O Canal. Later, the trips expanded to Catoctin Mountain Park in Maryland.
• Community parks programs were hosted in neighborhood parks and included games, arts, and crafts for kids.
• Spectaculars were large outdoor concerts and shows that brought the city together.

The first summer alone, "Surprise Trips" involved 40,000 children. The "Community Parks" initiative held 100 concerts, 130 movies, and had dance groups give over 100 performances, all in neighborhood parks. Spectaculars kicked off with an audience of 20,000 at Meridian Hill to see Pearl Bailey and Cab Calloway. By the end of the summer more than 300,000 people made trips to events held throughout the city.

Jupiter Company of a Summer in the Parks production of "Hair," July 5, 1971.

NPS

Outcomes

The program reinvented how the NPS engaged with Washington, DC, communities: it involved community organizations in planning, hired locally, and designed activities to meet community needs, from improving children’s literacy to creating hit concert series.

Summer in the Parks helped birth a music scene in DC, giving young performers a place to learn and innovate. Summer in the Parks helped give rise to the go-go and punk music scenes in DC. In a 2017 interview, Greg "Sugar Bear" Elliott said, "To me, Summer in the Park[s] was a birthplace of a lot of go-go history because that's where you got the most exposure...When you [are] performing and you see a crowd bobbing their head or clapping or dancing or whatever, that's like a high you can't buy."

Some of Summer in the Parks programs have persisted to the present day including the Fort Dupont Summer Concert Series, the Hispanic Heritage Festival, and more. These programs continue to draw crowds year after year.

Further Reading

Garland-Jackson F and Lattanzi Shutika D. 2020. Summer in the Parks (1968-1976); A Special Ethnohistory Study. NCRO 800 174935A