Keney Park was one of the sites for this year’s Connecticut Trails Day. Informative and fun, the event was less about the actual trails here in Hartford, and more of a celebration of what the city’s largest park has to offer.
“The pond is like a toilet,” said Henry Hester, the Vice President of Friends of Keney Park.
That wasn’t a slam.
A nearby spring replenishes its water supply. The Keney Park Pond was described as one of the cleanest bodies of water in Hartford. The pond is stocked with trout and catfish four times each year. The No Child Left Inside initiative has boosted this activity; when kids are seen using sticks as poles, someone supplies them with fishing rods, which they can take home.
Outside of the Keney Park Pond House was oil drum art. Oil drums are painted and used as trash receptacles in Hartford’s parks.
The BigBelly Solar waste and recycling compactors were another thing for Friends of Keney Park to brag about. Not all areas of the city have received these yet, but Keney Park has several. Hester pointed to these cans as a sign that the park is moving into the future.
He said the park is working with the Hartford Public Library to generate and install QR codes along nature trails. This would allow visitors, with use of smart phones, to use less paper while taking a self-guided tour.
Exploring at one’s own pace is the goal here, not taking people out of the parks. Having more people around does make things safer, and one way that park is doing this is by having members of the Junior Mounted Patrol visible.
These young men escorted the Connecticut Trails Day participants to the Ebony Horsewomen site, where visitors learned that this is more than just horse stables.
Any day during hours of operation people can walk into the agricultural learning center and buy eggs that are produced on site. Patricia Kelly, founder of the Ebony Horsewomen, said youth are taught to distinguish between fertilized and unfertilized eggs. The eggs that are not suitable for consumption are donated to local wildlife, like a family of foxes that visit the area.
This summer, youth will learn entrepreneurial skills through running the new Cowgirl Ice Cream Shop. Kelly said it’s possible that this ice cream bar will be partnering with Ben & Jerry’s.
Besides horses and chickens, there are parakeets, reptiles, and ferrets on the grounds.
Keney Park has several entrance points, including at Greenfield and Woodland. The Ebony Horsewomen site is at 337 Vine Street.
Mary RickelPelletier
I was looking for your email address to follow-up because it was nice to see you and Chris on Saturday at Keney Park. The tour schedule was not well described to anyone, including myself. However I was invited to give the Urban Bird Tour around the pond. Reading the above one would never know that Park Watershed and the Urban Bird Treaty, collaborates with Friends of Keney Park.
Kerri Provost
Sorry, Mary. It wasn’t clear to me that Urban Bird Treaty and Park Watershed collaborate with Friends of Keney Park. This is good information to know!