Judkins Park and Playfield Renovation Project Community Meetings Start Feb. 25

Community meetings regarding the renovation of Judkins Park will kick off next week, Feb. 25 and 27. In partnership with Seattle Parks and Recreation, Africatown Community Land Trust's (ACLT) William Grose Center, and other community organizations, the goal of the Judkins Park Renovation Project is to solidify Judkins Park as a cultural and community space where current and former residents of Seattle's Central District can continue to gather together in celebration and solidarity.

According to Margo Jones, owner of A Personal Point of View (APPOV) and the contracted community lead for the Judkins Park Renovation Project, the project's goal is to refurbish the park in a way that best serves the community.

"The whole project is centered around community and community engagement and what the community sees the park being after all these years," Jones said. The last time Judkins Park was renovated was in 1995, and the play area and spray park both need updating. The park also has grass fields, a picnic area, a skate spot, basketball courts, and multiuse courts.

Judkins Park is named after Norman B. Judkins, the colonial settler who purchased the park's land — and the 23 square blocks that enclose it — from the Duwamish Tribe. In 1869, following Judkins' death, the executor of his estate, Ike M. Hall, filed Judkin's Addition to the Town of Seattle, officially annexing the land to King County. As home to the CD Panthers Little League football team and the site of ACLT's annual Umoja Fest, Africatown Heritage Festival & Parade, and other community events attracting thousands of people, Judkins Park has long served the Central District by providing space for the community to convene.

Jones said she got involved with the Judkins Park project after the removal of the Black Lives Matter memorial in Cal Anderson Park. "As they were removing the Black Lives Matter Park from Cal Anderson, someone reached out to me about that project. From there, it just kind of gained legs and we started talking about this Judkins Park renovation that they were going to be doing in 2026. Seattle Parks and Rec, knowing that Judkins Park was going to be renovated, wanted to have ACLT and the William Grose Center be a part of that project," she said.

Jones, who is also the creative producer of Umoja Fest and board chair of ACLT, said she's excited to be a part of the project because of the opportunity it creates for the community to come together. "What I'm really excited to see," Jones said, "is how we can come together to make a place like Judkins Park someplace that we love so much in our community, have our voice to be heard, our creativity to be seen, and just to watch it morph into [something great]."

A series of meetings are scheduled to involve the community in the park's design process. The first, a youth engagement event, will be held at the William Grose Center on Feb. 25. The second event, held on Feb 27., will be open to anyone who wants to give input on the park's design.