COVID-19 | Updates from the Greenway Conservancy

Greenway Carousel: The Greenway Carousel at the Tiffany & Co. Foundation Grove reopened for the season on June 26, 2020 on a limited weekend schedule. Hours of operation are 11a-6p on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. The Greenway Carousel features enhanced cleaning and physical distancing procedures to promote safety for our park visitors, including contactless ticket purchasing. 

Greenway Food Truck Program: Trucks in our Greenway Food Truck Program began operating on a reduced schedule on June 1, 2020; for updates please follow us on social media. For specific updates please follow us on Twitter. 

Boston Public Market Farmers’ Market: The Boston Public Market at Dewey Square on The Greenway closed for the season on Tuesday, November 17. Boston Public Market vendors are proud to accept SNAP/EBT and HIP for all eligible products; visit bostonpublicmarket.org/seasonal for a full list of vendors.

Greenway Open Market: The Greenway Open Market, operated by New England Open Markets, closed for the season on November 2, 2020. 

Trillium Garden on The Greenway: Trillium Garden on The Greenway closed for the season on Sunday, November 2, 2020. 

Greenway Fitness Program: Our 2020 Greenway Fitness Season, presented by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, included both in person and virtual offerings. In person classes took place on The Greenway between July and October 2020. 

Greenway Fountains: The Greenway Fountains closed for the season on Tuesday, October 13. 

City Winery on The Greenway: City Winery on The Greenway closed for the season on Sunday, September 27, 2020. 

Greenway Play: The Greenway PlayCubes in Chin Park reopened on June 16, 2020, for children with a supervising adult, after closing on March 18, 2020. Conservancy play programming is currently on hold.

Greenway Public Art: The Conservancy on June 5, 2020 announced the installation of a new artwork by Mexican-American master folk artist Catalina Delgado-Trunk and imminent installation of new artwork by renowned British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare. Delgado-Trunk’s Global Connections: Mesoamerican Myths, the Domestication of Nourishment, and its Distribution and Shonibare’s Wind Sculpture (SG) V will be on display for one year and will join four other artworks currently on display on The Greenway. 

• A Mouse with Ears and Tail, on view on The Greenway at Essex Street, was commissioned from local artist Furen Dai as part of the Conservancy’s annual zodiac animal series. 
• Juan Travieso’s mural Engulf, in the Lincoln Street Triangle on The Greenway, addresses the challenges brought by gentrification and climate change.
• In his monumental mural, Super A questions the social, political, and emotional systems that confine our freedom in Resonance, at Dewey Square on The Greenway. 

We have made changes to our day-to-day operations and care of The Greenway, such as increasing the frequency of cleaning and disinfecting of high-use surfaces in the park and requiring non-essential staff to work remotely.

• Conservancy Zone Gardening Volunteers returned to the park on June 1, 2020 and Group Volunteer Projects began on June 17, 2020. Volunteer projects feature enhanced cleaning and physical distancing procedures to promote safety for our hard working volunteers and staff.
• We are encouraging visitors to the park to follow Mayor Walsh’s April 24 extended public health emergency declaration for social and physical distancing, including wearing a face covering over their mouth and nose when in public and to stay home from 9p to 6a each day.
• We are encouraging visitors to the park to follow Governor Baker’s May 18 Safer-at-Home Advisory and May 6 order requiring face masks or cloth face coverings in public places where social distancing is not possible.

With most of the Conservancy’s annual funding coming from private sources, the economic repercussions of the coronavirus pose serious challenges to our operations. We’re preparing for $2.2M in lost revenue usually generated by our food trucks, drinkeries, carousel, and other programs, combined with the cancellation of our June Gala and a significant decrease in other philanthropy. We acted quickly to reduce our budget and take advantage of CARES Act funding, and have pivoted our fundraising efforts, but we still need to raise $85K by year end.

Your gift will bolster programs that are jeopardized by lost revenues, enabling the Conservancy to provide gorgeous gardens, mount new exhibitions of public art, and ensure public safety, now and through re-entry. It will also sustain community partnerships including those with food truck entrepreneurs, fitness partners, farmers, artisans, and other small businesses that operate on The Greenway. 

If you are able, please consider supporting the Greenway Conservancy with a donation in any amount. Your contribution will help us deliver on the promise of The Greenway as a vital public resource in this critical year.