They all have jobs and families. They all have private lives and responsibilities. But busy as they are, the members of the Friends Baisley Pond Park have managed to give the time and dedication it takes to make what was once just a park into an urban oasis. On Saturday, July 8, the group will sponsor the kick off of the "Arts in the Parks" series: Youth Day 2000. The event will be parkwide festival celebrating the talent, diversity and spirit of Jamaica, Queens. Standouts on the program include Far Rockaway’s famous Black Cowboys, the Children of Color dance group, and "The Reluctant Dragon," a puppet show performed by the Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre.

Nettie Bracey

Nettie Bracey is a community board member who has been a local activist since the early 1970s. She founded the organization last year because she felt that while the park itself had never languished, the spirit of involvement that once enlivened it had. Bracey belived that as a resource to the community it could do much more. She began approaching friends and fellow board members because while parents were quick to patronize the park, they were slow to commit to utilizing its potential.

"We talked and talked, but people just wouldn’t come out," Bracey said. "They’d push their kids out the door[to the park] but they wouldn’t volunteer."

That all changed once Vivian McMillian came aboard. McMillian is manager of Thomasina, one of Jamaica’s most popular catering halls. She donated the hall’s space for their weekly meetings and with her support and connections, the recruiting process the soon became a breeze.

Within six months the Friends of Baisley Pond Park had formed its core memebership and started holding small events in and around the park. Since then they have raised a total of $15,400 to overhaul the park guaranteeing cleaning, lighting and historical signs. Their ultimate goal is to construct a full-time recreational center in the park, not just for sports but as a place to house their reading, math and computer workshops for children and adults.

Solomon Goodrich

Solomon Goodrich is president of the Southern Queens Park Association, which is located at Roy Wilkins Park. Each summer Roy Wilkins Park hosts over a dozen evnts and programs for children, seniors and adults. The Roy Wilkins Family Center offers a summer camp to all school age children. It runs from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the park and two other locations in southern Queens. The Association also has over 1,500 seniors registered in its Older Adults Program.

"They’re the best swimmers, the best dancers, they’re the best singers in the whole state," Goodrich said. "They win all the prizes when they go to state functions."

Goodrich said the relationship between the park and the people who use it is a symbiotic one, and he credits the energy of the volunteers with the park’s prosperity.

"This community and its leaders have made all the difference in the success or failure of this place," he said.

Margarite Herron-White

Margarite Herron-White, mother of Councilman Thomas White, said she became involved with the Friends of Baisley Pond Park for a more personal reason. She’s been visiting the park for more than 50 years.

"I went there as a teenager," she said. "There used to be a Lovers’ Lane back then, you know. If I hit the lottery I’ll build a skating rink."