It has been a busy month in Chinatown on The Greenway, and the Greenway Conservancy is excited to announce several updates on signage, public art, and community collaborations.

The Greenway Conservancy this month added new signage on The Greenway. Alongside the Chinatown Viewing Garden, new signage has been added to the fenceline with information on the garden and the plants within. In Mary Soo Hoo Park, historical signage has been added to honor the park’s namesake, community leader and organizer Mary R. Soo Hoo.

The Greenway Conservancy is proud to partner with We Love Boston Chinatown, a resilience campaign led by a collective of Chinatown non-profit organizations, businesses, residents, and city officials to reactivate and heal Chinatown’s economic and social fabric.

Support your favorite local businesses and bring your take out to The Greenway! Taking place on select Thursdays in September, Take-out Thursdays encourage residents and visitors to buy food from local restaurants while listening to live music from 12p-1p at Auntie Kay and Uncle Frank Chin Park on The Greenway. Musical performances will also occur on Thursday 9/24 from 6:30p-7:30p and Saturday 9/26 from 11a-1p. All performances are part of Experience Chinatown, a celebration of the rich cultural fabric of Boston Chinatown through free creative activities for all, organized by the Pao Arts Center. We Love Boston Chinatown and Experience Chinatown include signage and barricades to encourage physical distancing and face coverings. These performances are weather dependent and Pao Arts Center will stream virtually in the event of poor weather. Performances will follow Commonwealth of Massachusetts guidelines; if a crowd begins to form, the performance may be temporarily paused.

Last week, the Conservancy announced the much-anticipated new public art installation, Lantern Stories, by local artist Yu-Wen Wu, on The Greenway. Lantern Stories will be on display through the fall, located above the plaza on The Greenway in Chinatown. Celebrating Boston’s Chinatown community, Yu-Wen Wu designed 30 lanterns to illuminate the history of immigration, the community’s culture, and its resiliency.

Thank you to our community jury partners, Josiah Quincy Elementary School, Pao Arts Center / Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Coalition, AVOYCE / Asian Community Development Corporation, Chinatown Main Street, City of Boston Arts Commission, the Greenway Public Art Advisory Group and many other community members and business owners who participated in the story sharing workshops and conversations with Yu-Wen Wu.

The Conservancy has continued to move forward with a lighting study for The Greenway in Chinatown and will be hosting a virtual community update meeting on Thursday, October 8, to give an update on upcoming lighting and infrastructure improvements on The Greenway in Chinatown. This update follows our community input meeting and online survey in February 2020 to solicit community feedback. Funding for the design work was provided by the Greenway Business Improvement District (BID) and the Conservancy has successfully fundraised from the Massachusetts Cultural Facilities Fund and the Greenway BID for a first phase of lighting construction in 2021. You can learn more about this event on The Greenway website and register in advance; translation services will be provided.

To learn more about all of the offerings in the park – free fitness classes, City Winery on The Greenway, the food trucks, the Boston Public Market at Dewey Square, the artisan Greenway Open Market, the Greenway Carousel, and more – check out our website at rosekennedygreenway.org. All Greenway programming features enhanced cleaning and physical distancing procedures to promote safety for our park visitors.

Have questions? Email info@rosekennedygreenway.org.

Rachel Lake is the Marketing and Community Affairs Manager at the Greenway Conservancy.