The next phase of the Stanford Recreation Campaign is less a construction project than a long-term act of care.
At Stanford Recreation Park, volunteers are trying to grow something lasting: a greener gathering place for the town.
After helping support new and improved pickleball, basketball, and tennis courts, as well as a rebuilt SPARC Park playground, the campaign is shifting from construction to stewardship — the slower work of making the town-owned park more comfortable and easier to use for people of all ages.
That next phase was introduced publicly at the inaugural Stanford Rec Day, a well-attended celebration held Saturday, May 30, at Stanford Recreation Park on Creamery Road. Families moved between game stations, food, music, and all-ages activities, while children took part in a run through the park.
For organizers, the celebration was also a way to reintroduce the campaign after a quieter period following the 2024 playground rebuild and invite more residents into the work ahead.
“It’s about reintroducing ourselves to the community, getting them on board with this next phase, what’s involved, and why they want to join us,” said Lorelei Christensen, a campaign member who grew up in Stanford.
Early priorities include more shade near the playground and waterfront, planting trees, accessibility improvements to the nearly mile-long walking path, pollinator plantings, stone steps leading to the tennis courts, and improvements to the pond.
“The ultimate vision is it never ends,” Christensen said. “We just keep going.”
The Stanford Recreation Campaign, a volunteer fundraising effort that began in 2021, has begun consulting arborists and landscapers to determine what should be planted, what will survive, and how future improvements can be maintained over time.
“We are not planting trees, we are growing trees because it’s not an overnight thing or it’s not a one day thing,” Christensen said, describing advice the group received from arborists.
Alex Brown, who joined the campaign after moving to Stanford last summer, said volunteers are giving themselves about a year to build support and raise money for the landscaping phase.
“We have big plans and ideas,” Brown said. “And the more successful we can be as a community, the more we can do.”
The group is also trying to be careful, she said, about how it spends the money residents and donors contribute.
“We want to really know that it’s good for the park and it’s going to last and that we’re being a good steward of the money that we raise,” Brown said.
Brown said the park has become a natural gathering place for families, including newcomers. Her family began coming after moving to town, she said, and the park quickly became a place to meet neighbors and make friends.
Steve Bruman, another member of the campaign, said the park has become an important asset for Stanford.
“This park is a huge plus for new young families,” he said. “It’s a big deal to have this place.”
For Christensen, the work has also become a kind of civic loop: The community builds the park, and the park gives the community a place to gather.
“It takes a community to build the park,” she said, “and then we build the park and can come together in community.”