A Park For All

Crissy Field opened to the public in 2001 as a beautiful National Park at the edge of the San Francisco Bay. Seventeen years later, it is a beloved destination for more than 15 million visitors each year.

A new video traces the past, present and future of Crissy Field, from its days as an active Army base to its rebirth as a public park. From the beginning, the Haas, Jr. Fund and its partners in the park’s restoration (including the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy and the National Park Service) sought to make Crissy a park for all people, a place where anyone and everyone could recharge and connect with nature.

The video shines a light on two recent activities that showcase Crissy’s status as a beacon of inclusiveness. The first was a summer 2018 citizenship ceremony at Crissy where 32 young people from 17 nations officially marked the start of their American journey. Second, Crissy also was the summer home of another in a series of “StoryWalk”, an installation aimed at children. It included 52 panels situated throughout the park that told the illustrated story by Dave Eggers and Shawn Harris, Her Right Foot, about the Statue of Liberty.

In the video, Katherine Toy, Executive Vice President of Partnerships and Programs at the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy reflects on Crissy’s future. She says the Conservancy and its partners are committed to making sure Crissy remains a truly inclusive public space.

“As we look to our future, we are really looking more and more toward questions about how we can welcome people to the parks so everyone feels not only that they’ve been invited, but they feel they belong.”

Katherine Toy