The luncheon keynote presentation by Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects (Charlottesville, VA) will cover “Working Landscapes: Urban and Rural Parkland Solutions from Around the Globe.” Hear how parks and greenspace will influence the future of our urban and rural spaces, including public health, economic growth and re-invigorating distressed communities.  Plus, a full day of speakers & presentations covering how parks & greenspaces are bridging to the future. You can view the updated schedule online.

Registration is only $104, including parking! Register for the Parks and Greenspace Conference now!

New for the 2011 event! Brief on-site tours of Piedmont Park and the Atlanta Botanical Garden are also being offered during concurrent sessions at the conference.  More details under events on Park Pride’s website.

Some of our volunteer opportunities include staffing the booth at local festivals, becoming a BeltLine Ambassador, administrative help in the office, Art on the BeltLine, social networking, and much, much more!

• What: BeltLine Volunteer Kick-Off 2010
• When: March 18th from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
• Where: Park Tavern on Piedmont Park at the corner of Monroe and 10^th Street in Midtown

Busy summer schedule? Not sure if you’ll have time to volunteer? We still encourage you to come out anyway so you’re trained and prepared to volunteer whenever it’s convenient for you.

Please feel free to bring your friends, family, colleagues, and anyone else who might be interested in learning more about the BeltLine and our volunteer program. You don’t have to have volunteered previously to attend and, of course, you’re under no obligation to volunteer by attending.

If you have other ways you would like to get involved with the BeltLine, please email festivals@beltlinepartnership.org.

As always, a HUGE thanks to all of you who make it possible for the BeltLine booth to appear at over 15 festivals each year and spread the word about the future of Atlanta’s transportation! We look forward to seeing every one of you out at a festival this coming spring, summer, and fall!

You don’t have to take our word for it – check out this BeltLine volunteer video! (and yes, that’s me in there talking about our stellar volunteers!)

Keep Atlanta Beautiful is looking for 20 volunteers to help out at the Race 2 Recycle on Saturday, November 14. Volunteers are needed to help with set-up, registration, timing on the finish line and passing out water to runners. All volunteers will receive a free organic cotton race t-shirt and are encouraged to dress in a recycled-themed costume. What a great way to celebrate America Recycles Day!

Those interested should email peggy.denby@keepatlantabeautiful.org or call 404-249-5853. Learn more about the Race 2 Recycle.

---

Register Today to Run the Race 2 Recycle!

In celebration of America Recycles Day, Keep Atlanta Beautiful is setting the pace for zero waste with the 3rd annual Race 2 Recycle. Make an impact by rallying your club, co-workers, family and friends to run the 5k or 1 mile fun run, around beautiful Piedmont Park in Midtown Atlanta on Saturday, November 14. Race starts at 8:30 a.m. Register online at www.KeepAtlantaBeautiful.org.

Runners will be joining teams from IKEA, Republic Services, Novelis, Mohawk, Wal-Mart and more! >>Learn more

Don’t want to run solo? Get a group of people together and form a team! In the upcoming weeks, Keep Atlanta Beautiful will be recruiting teams to join in the fun. In 2008, more than 300 people participated including teams from IKEA Atlanta and Turner Broadcasting, Inc. For 2009, Keep Atlanta Beautiful has added convenient online registration for individuals and teams. For more information on the race and to find out more about sponsoring a team, visit www.KeepAtlantaBeautiful.org.

Overall, the BeltLine clean-up had over 200 people registered at 8 a.m. and had dozens more show up to help out. When we first gave our group the overview of the ambitious projects for the morning, I don’t think anyone had any idea how much we would accomplish. Our volunteers were amazing! We even had a girl walk up the tracks halfway through the morning and said she’d read about it and asked how she could help. And my Dad was out in full force (as he usually is to help out with volunteer events) and I eventually had to coax him to put down the pruning shears and come eat.

The goal of this clean-up was to make the BeltLine tracks more walkable for people to check out and envision the greener future of Atlanta transportation. This clean-up came on the heels of a major effort last fall to clean up from Freedom Park to Piedmont Park, so now the tracks and trail are visible from DeKalb Avenue and Inman Park all the way up to Piedmont Park in Midtown. You should definitely check it out! And come out to volunteer with the Atlanta BeltLine anytime by clicking here! We’re still in need of volunteers to help with the BeltLine booth for the Sweet Auburn Festival, Go Green Get Rewards Festival, and Virginia Highland Summerfest in the next six weeks!

BeltLine progress! The photos on the left are looking south down the BeltLine from Lake to Edgewood, showing the growth over the second track, our group cutting and sawing, and me sitting on the tracks at the end. The right side shows another team cleaning kudzu off of the fence between Edgewood and DeKalb Avenue; cleaning up the bridge under Edgewood; and Gerard, Zack, Angel, and me hanging out at the after party (and Dad stopped for a minute to take this photo of us).

More of our intown neighborhoods would be deeply affected, too (Virginia Highland, Poncey-Highland, Morningside, Piedmont Heights and Piedmont Park, Ansley Park, etc.). If you have the opportunity to volunteer to make a similar video or come across one that is already posted, please let me know and I will put it up on here!

For more BeltLine info, please check out my “Atlanta BeltLine” category on the righthand side of the page!