If you are interested in parks, you need to be at the inaugural Toronto Park Summit. The Summit will bring together park advocates, community groups, parks staff, city councillors, concerned Torontonians and park experts to generate ideas and initiate a dialogue for better parks in Toronto. This citywide gathering of park people will be an historic first and the Summit promises to be a landmark event.

The agenda for the afternoon is:

12:30 – Guided tour of the Brickworks (optional)

1:30 – Registration

2:00 – Opening and introduction to Toronto Park People (Dave Harvey)

2:15 – Keynote presentation by Tupper Thomas

3:00 – Five local park leaders tell the story of successes and challenges in their parks (Moderated by Jane Farrow)

3:30 – Starting the discussion on better parks (facilitated discussion)

4:00 – 5:30 – Continuing the discussion and meeting fellow park people (social mixer and party)

Our keynote speaker is Tupper Thomas, the Founder and President of the Prospect Park Alliance in Brooklyn. Tupper will tell her inspiring story of how as a city park's employee she convinced New York City's Parks Department to allow the creation of a park conservancy that has, in the New York Times words "handed a lost treasure of wilderness and recreation back to the people of Brooklyn." Her efforts in creating this partnership between the city and community have allowed the Alliance to raise millions of dollars in private, corporate and foundation funding for improvements and maintenance of the park. Park visits have gone from 2 million a year to more than 9 million.