The City of Lowell is trying to bring a new renaissance to the park named after a Lowell-born founder of the San Francisco Renaissance. And if the city can raise $25,000, it will get a matching $25,000 from MassDevelopment, marking a $50,000 upgrade for an important but overlooked space. The fundraising page is now open and accepting donations.

A rare bit of public park in the downtown area, Kerouac Park has long been used as a location for annual Kerouac celebrations, but it needs a lot of TLC. Since the area the city last year called the “Mill Yard,” used for summer events, is now under the construction as part of the next phase of the Hamilton Canal, the elements that were purchased and used for those events, along with the events themselves, needed a new place to live. To quote the fundraising page,

Without a home, we found ourselves on the hunt for a permanent space for the Mill Yard equipment—the shipping container, furniture, lighting, barrels, and generator. We selected Kerouac Park. At Kerouac, we have a chance to do something permanent, something MUCH BIGGER. We want to apply what we’ve learned from the pop-up Mill Yard, by transforming an underused and little loved slice of the park into a permanent place for people to congregate and enjoy Downtown.

The renovation and vision for this space is as public park, event venue, business incubator and place to enjoy downtown. I recommend reading through the page, it’s an impressive and ambitious plan.

I actually have some insider knowledge about some events planned for this space (more on that some other time), but suffice to say there are already great things lining up to use a renovated Kerouac Park. All it needs is some good old fashioned Lowell support! If you have a few dollars to spare, please donate!