COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
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| Mid City Speaks rekindleMidcity Healthy Neighborhoods Day |
With the advent of interstate highways and cheap suburban land, Baton Rouge - like many cities - has surged outward over the last fifty years, leaving fading infrastructure, lost public spaces and a poor image behind in Mid City. It becomes critical to challenge our perception of these vital parts of cities to provoke conversation and spark action to reclaim forgotten public space. |
The Mid City Studio and the Baton Rouge Fire Department hosted rekindleMIDCITY on October 8, 2012 in the parking lot behind one of the oldest Fire Stations in Baton Rouge as a means to test that perception. How can we celebrate the history of Mid City and the Fire Department while exhibiting the site as a valuable public space? Through the use of simple materials and lighting, how can barbed wire fencing become a billboard? ...the back of an abandoned building, a movie screen? ...a parking lot, a gathering space? This event not only provided an opportunity to learn about the building and its history but also challenged the public to envision something new. The event served as a community potluck of food, stories and people. Attendees were encouraged to bring old photographs of their history with Mid City or the Fire House to be scanned and projected onto the side of the building. Many firefighters shared stories about their time at Old Station 1 and revealed its significance to the Department. In attendance were Mayor-President Melvin L. “Kip” Holden, Fire Chief Ed Smith and members of the Baton Rouge Fire Department along with the Mid City Redevelopment Alliance and many other local business owners and residents. The event kick-started efforts to re-purpose the old firehouse into a museum and asset for Mid City and revealed the site's potential as a valuable public venue. |
