Pop-up Park evolves

Nelson City Council’s lease for the popular Riverside Youth Pop-Up Park on Halifax Street is coming to an end, following multiple lease extensions which are now no longer feasible.

The lease arrangements require the Council to remove the park equipment and remediate the site by mid-March 2025.

Work to deconstruct the Pop-Up Park will begin in midFebruary, with staff currently finalising arrangements with landowners and contractors. But it’s not goodbye, it’s ‘see you soon’ for the park’s play equipment. Council is looking at possible alternative sites within the city so Nelson’s young people can still ride the pump track or test their imagination with the blue building blocks. Updates will be provided as more information becomes available.

The Pop-Up Park has been a success. As a tactical urbanism project, it has demonstrated the need for additional play activities in the city, which has helped build the case for the planned Rutherford Playspace.