Several years ago, the City of Oak Park updated its Recreation Master Plan.

“We went out to the community to ask them what they wanted to see, what was working well, and where we could use some improvements,” says Brittany Toth, Director of Communications and Public Information, “because the City of Oak Park has transformed quite significantly in the last 10 to 15 years.”

What they heard was that people wanted to see some improved recreational amenities. Residents wanted more places to have “elevated” public gatherings. “Our farmer’s market was really growing and thriving, but we were doing it in a parking lot,” she says. “And we were busting at the seams in our current community center.”

The popular summer concert series was “operating just sort of à la carte” in a grassy area in David H. Shepherd Park. “There was nothing wrong with it, but it didn’t have a permanent home,” she says.

And so, the City got to work addressing these issues, in a project that would eventually be named Elevate Oak Park. Phase One of the two-phase initiative is coming to fruition this summer. Consisting of a brand-new event hub and bandshell, it is the City of Oak Park’s entry for the 2026 Community Excellence Award.

City government then we came back to voters with a bond proposal and a millage for operating costs. “Elevate Oak Park is a voter-approved, millage-backed, shared vision for the future recreation of Oak Park,” says Adam Owczarzak, Deputy City Manager of Community Services.

Groundbreaking for Phase One took place last June at Oak Park’s State of the City address (the second phase will include a new community center). The event hub and bandshell are on a large parcel of open land on the Municipal Campus, between City Hall and the Oak Park Public Library.

“Our city manager [Erik Tungate] is very innovative in his use and reuse of land,” says Toth. “Here in Oak Park, we are landlocked. We don’t have an abundance of vacant areas. We have to be creative with the land that we do have.”

For construction costs, the City received $1 million from the federal government through HUD; one through the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD); $2 million from the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity (LEO), which the City secured with assistance from Senator Mallory McMorrow; finally, two grants from Oakland County, related to senior services.

The design of the event hub was based on The Shed, a pavilion and dining space on the Detroit Riverwalk. The architecture firm was Neumann/Smith, which Oak Park had already collaborated with on other projects. “Being that we had a physical example so close to us that a lot of people were already familiar with—it really helped us with the community input sessions,” says Owczarzak. “People already knew.”

The fully equipped event hub will give the Oak Park Farmers Market a year-round home. It boasts garage-style doors that will open onto both Oak Park Boulevard and to the rear, where the bandshell will be.

The MDARD grant was for a commercial kitchen which will be in the event hub. “It’s essentially an incubator in there,” says Owczarzak. “We’re able to rent out to these food entrepreneurs to hone their craft, and hopefully within one to three years they can go big enough where they can move into their own space for their own production.”

“I think that’s really cool because there is a huge need for food entrepreneurship, especially in southeast Oakland County, Metro Detroit.”

The kitchens will also allow expansion of a successful local senior program that includes nutrition and cooking classes. A camera system will allow the program to record classes for those who can’t make it in person.

The band shell, meanwhile, features all the hookups a musical act might need. The spacious green area outside, between it and the event hub, will be landscaped with trees and shrubbery to keep things comfortable for concertgoers. It includes two built-in food truck portals.

The ribbon-cutting for the new spaces will take place at this year’s State of the City, on June 30, marking a full year since the City broke ground. The theme will be “Oak Park Amplified.” It will culminate with the first community concert in the bandshell, with popular local jazz singer Kimmie Horn.

“In conjunction with the unveiling of Phase One of Elevate Oak Park, we’re going to be signifying this larger transformation of the city of Oak Park,” says Toth. “I think that bringing this project to fruition in almost exactly a year is a tangible way to show that the City administration is not just blowing smoke.”

“This is showing there’s next-level energy here in Oak Park.”

Author

Emily Pinsuwan

Emily is the League’s full-time Content Writer, composing emails, articles, blog posts, and press releases. If you need words, she has many. Prior to becoming a word person, she was a restaurant person, handling catering, event management, and marketing; prior still, she was a teaching person, at a private boarding school in Massachusetts. Having earned a master’s degree in Classics from the University of Georgia, Emily is confident that she is the only League employee fluent in Latin. She also enjoys cooking, stand-up comedy, and is an avid gamer, having achieved level 40 on her Steam profile.