Hartford’s parks were never closed during the pandemic, but most parking lots were barricaded for part of the shutdown and basketball hoops were removed from the boards. Tennis courts and playgrounds were declared to be off-limits. Communication between City of Hartford and residents on this was trash, leading some to believe that parks were entirely closed.

Now that COVID-19 is not widespread in Connecticut (though new infection rates are soaring elsewhere in the country which makes you wonder) we will be seeing more changes in City of Hartford’s parks.

  • Starting June 26: the parking lots that had not already been re-opened will be re-opened. I’m assuming this also includes superfluous segments of park roads, but who can know. This will eliminate space for people walking and biking in the parks. With the lots closed to cars, I was able to witness the joy of children riding their bicycles, safely, in those spaces. So, that’s getting taken away.
  • Starting June 29: The playscapes will re-open. The yellow tape had been removed awhile ago and “closed” signs disappeared from at least some of the playgrounds. Tennis courts will also be re-opening on this day. Installing hand sanitizer stations would have been more thoughtful than revoking an option for exercise in the first place. How hard is it to ask residents to practice physical distancing by allowing one family/household per piece of playground equipment at a time?
  • Starting July 3: The basketball courts will re-open. The hoop was never removed from the park on Hudson Street, and maybe others were left intact, though not the one at Pope Park that hardly sees any use in the first place. So arbitrary. Water will be turned on at the splash pads on this day. There will be no public pools in Hartford open this summer, so splash pads it is! I hope this means the DPW will clean these areas more frequently, as a few get covered in litter and are used for bathing. We’ll see if anyone decides to go old school and take a dip in the Park River.
  • Starting July 13: All (existing) athletic fields will re-open for organized play. Colt Park is undergoing reconstruction. Unorganized/disorganized/pickup games could be seen at various parks throughout the pandemic. Organized play was already happening at Dillon Stadium.