5 new Yellowknife pop-up parks coming to a derelict parking lot near you

Yellowknife will get five mini parks by the end of the month on a derelict parking lot between the Gold Range Hotel and the Raven Nightclub. It's part of Ecology North's pop-up park competition that started earlier this summer.

The non-profit announced the five winners on Wednesday; each winner will get $500 to bring their park to life. They all have to have their piece of the park done by July 30.

Jacey Firth-Hagen is one of the winners. She will be creating an Indigenous languages mural. The mural will show a map of the N.W.T. and the word for "friend" in the territory's nine official Indigenous languages.

"The image in my head is everyone in Yellowknife, everyone passing by Yellowknife visiting, can see our nine Indigenous languages."

The NWT Literacy Council also won some space in the park. Emily Smith, the council's youth and adult services staffer, said they'll be creating a space that will encourage kids to learn through play.

They will be putting in a weaving frame, games, a chalkboard wall, a library, and wooden blocks. She said some of the activities will likely be able to stay up over the winter as well.

"We probably can still keep books in the little library, maybe still be able to play with Tic-Tac-Toe or play with the scales, maybe the music walls," said Smith. "We don't really know. It's a bit of an experiment."Smith said that even though the literacy council has the smallest space to work with, they think there will be plenty of room to fit everything.

The council will start building their structures next week.

Some other elements of the park will include aurora seating, submitted by Katharine Thomas; a mini-golf course, submitted by Jessica Bruhn; and a tire garden, submitted by Harrison Roberts.

With files from Marc Winkler