Councilwoman Andrea Levine O’Rourke proposed to The City Council that the Mizner Park Amphitheater be open to host various socially distanced park activities.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the Mizner Park Amphitheater, located in the northeast corner of the park, has gone dark for the summer. All planned activities have been canceled by the city to combat large summer crowds.
In order to promote safety in this open area, Levine O’Rourke designed a socially distanced area in the grass.
“Since we’ve all been through this trying time, this unprecedented time, it would be a great idea to come up with some ideas of how we can bring this level of spirit and community and still maintain social distance and respect for each other,” Levine O’Rourke says.
Levine O’Rourke wants an area with large circles where groups can host their own activities while remaining socially distant. The inspiration for these circles came from Levine O’Rourke seeing pictures of this idea from cities such as Brooklyn and San Francisco.
“[This idea is] not just the amphitheater or downtown, but things that could bring out the community in a respectful way of keeping our distance,” Levine O’Rourke comments.
In addition to the circles, Levine O’Rourke proposes a children’s decorated bike parade through the park, a beach cleanup, sandcastle contests, open-air art classes in partnership with the Boca Raton Museum of Art and various activities painted in the grass such as hopscotch.
Levine O’Rourke pitched the idea to The City Council, and they are planning on reviewing this once the loan forgiveness for small businesses project is completed.
“My background comes from art and culture and creativity, so I always try to bring that aspect to the city,” Levine O’Rourke says, “I’m always a big advocate of art and culture and bringing the human element and spirit to the city.”
Masks are strongly recommended when attending these events but are not a legal mandate by the city as the activities maintain social distancing. If you are planning an event to be held at outdoor venues like an amphitheater, you may consider booking additional restroom trailers for rent. You may also need to hire an audio visual technician to ensure the A/V system is setup properly.
Photo courtesy of The City of Boca Raton.
Due to the budget for summer activities not being utilized, Levine O’Rourke has proposed a small portion of that to go to painting a mural on the amphitheater stage shutters.
“[I hope we] slowly emerge so we can feel some normalcy with respect to social distance,” Levine O’Rourke concludes.