Freeway Park Association

Why Donate

As a small organization, Freeway Park Association relies on established fundraising campaigns like GiveBig to provide essential services to our fund development. By supporting FPA with a financial contribution, you'll increase our capacity to create in-park programming, advocate for the park's maintenance and preservation, and provide services to our community members and park-goers.

By donating to the Freeway Park Association you will automatically become a member, adding your name to our growing coalition of park lovers and stewards of this one-of-a-kind place. Included with your membership are free books at our summer books sales, physical copies of our event calendars and annual reports mailed to your door, and a seat at the table with your neighbors as we work together to steward this historic, and beautiful park.

Our Mission

The Freeway Park Association engages and mobilizes people, organizations, and resources to ensure widespread enjoyment and the continued activation of Jim Ellis Freeway Park in partnership with the City and the community, for present and future generations of Seattle residents and visitors.

Our Park

Freeway Park is Seattle’s most unique urban park and one of PBS’s “10 parks that changed America”. Designed by Lawrence Halprin & Associates to reconnect Seattle neighborhoods across I5, it is widely considered a masterwork of American design and a precedent-setting park that single-handedly defined a new land-use typology for cities everywhere. However, despite its credentials, Freeway Park is still one of Seattle’s best-kept secrets, a hidden gem in the heart of the city.

Our Work

The Freeway Park Association is a 501c3 membership based and community driven non-profit organization who has been working alongside the Seattle Parks Department since 1993 to activate and advocate for Freeway Park.

FPA started as a few concerned neighbors hoping to bring life back into their aging neighborhood park. Today we are a coalition of dedicated community members and volunteers, 15 organizational members, 11 volunteer board members and 4 staff - an Executive Director, a Program & Engagement Coordinator, a Park Operations Coordinator and a Summer Concierge. Our members and volunteers make up the backbone of the Association and represent our neighbors from First Hill and Downtown. We are also supported by a diverse array of partners who provide programming, funding and outreach.

Our work to date includes advocacy & fundraising, programming & activation and outreach & engagement. We have supported capital projects like the widened 8th ave underpass, new pedestrian scale lighting, the 2010 landscape renovation and the 2017 Finding Freeway Park Project. Most recently, we secured $10 million dollars for restoration and upgrades to the Park's infrastructure as well as modern amenities like wayfinding and public restrooms to make it an accessible and equitable public space for our growing city. In our 29 year tenure, we have developed and produced a suite of unique programs for Freeway Park like Dancing til Dusk, Park Pups and Community Lanterns, with over 100 individual free events every year. And through all of our work, we communicate and collaborate with our community through robust outreach and engagement strategies. 

Our Partners 

We would like to thank our organizational members: Washington State Convention Center, Washington Holdings, Horizon House, Virginia Mason Medical Center, Transforming Age/Skyline, Berkshire Communities/Cielo, Town Hall Seattle, Washington Athletic Club , Plymouth Church, Lid I-5 and Hilton Hotel as well as all of our individual members and volunteers who are the backbone of our organization . And we could not do our work without our coalition of partners at Seattle Parks and Recreation,  Downtown Seattle Association, First Hill Improvement Association, ACT Theatre, The Cultural Landscape Foundation, Seattle Parks Foundation,  Seattle Chamber Music Society, Friends of the Seattle Public Library and many many more :)