By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
For the past four months, some hand-carved furniture, a long bench and art turned two metered parking spaces on Witherspoon Street into a place to sit, talk with friends or enjoy a coffee.
The town said farewell Monday to the “parklet,” located in front of the Small World Coffee, during a small closing celebration. The structure will be taken down Wednesday and put in storage, while other pieces will be sold.
“This was just a really great community experience,” Mayor Liz Lempert said in brief remarks at the ceremony. “Whoever it was, they felt ownership over it. This was their space.”
Started in San Francisco, parklets have grown to other communities around the country — using parking spots for places for people to relax amid the hustle and bustle around them. The town opened one around late May, a collaboration between the Arts Council of Princeton and the municipality.
“This was sort of an experiment in a way, and it was a really good one,” said Maria Evans, the artistic director of the Arts Council.
The town will store the main part of the parklet, a semi-enclosed structure that looks similar to a Sukkah, over the winter. Other components, including the two hand-carved benches made from an Elm tree, are up for sale.
“It was great fun, it was a great run, and we’ll do it again next year,” Ms. Evans said. “So watch for wherever it will pop up at the end of May.”
