Volunteers at the 2024 I Love My Park Day event at Gantry Plaza State Park. Photo: HPPC
May 1, 2025 By Shane O’Brien
Hunters Point Parks Conservancy (HPPC) will host a community volunteering event at Gantry Plaza State Park this Saturday as part of a state-wide volunteer initiative for I Love My Park Day, which encourages people to help out at their local state parks.
HPPC, in partnership with New York State Parks, will host the volunteering event from 9 a.m. until 12 noon on Saturday, May 3, with a range of tasks to be completed throughout the Long Island City waterfront park.
Rob Basch, president of HPPC, said the conservancy needs help weeding and mulching beds throughout the park, hand cleaning playground equipment, planting drought-tolerant annuals in the park’s planters, and helping to apply wood sealant to benches.
“I Love My Park Day is the Conservancy’s first big volunteer event of the season and a great opportunity for the community to come out and support our parks,” Basch said in a statement. “We look forward to working with Gantry Plaza State Park staff and Parks and Trails New York to make this a great event. We hope to see everyone on Saturday.”
The event is open to people of all ages and experiences, although volunteers must be over 18 and have experience working with sealant to help apply wood sealant to the park’s benches.
New York State Parks runs the event in conjunction with Parks and Trails New York and Hunters Point Parks Conservancy. Anyone interested in participating can register here.
Hunters Point Park. Via Getty Images
Basch said he hopes local elected officials, including Council Member Julie Won, State Sen. Kristen Gonzalez, and Assembly Member Claire Valdez, will also line up at the park for the event.
Gonzalez said in a statement that she will be presenting HPPC with a proclamation at Saturday’s event to honor the organization’s work tending to LIC’s waterfront parks.
“I Love My Park Day is a reminder that when we invest in public space, we invest in the dignity of our communities,” Gonzalez said. “I’m incredibly proud to present the Hunter’s Point Parks Conservancy with a proclamation, to honor their work towards ensuring our communities have access to clean, safe, and accessible green spaces.”
Valdez, meanwhile, noted the importance of Gantry Plaza State Park to the local community.
Leslie Wright, New York City regional director at New York State Parks, said the annual event gives an opportunity for members of the local community to show their appreciation for their “beloved” state parks.
“We really appreciate the community coming out,” Wright said. “We spend a lot of time making sure all of our various user groups – the different sport groups, the different school groups, the different community-based groups, the different youth groups and kids groups – are all aware of this day and encourage them all to come out and give them little something back to the place that they love.”
Wright said the event will continue rain or shine, stating that I Love My Park Day will only be canceled if there are thunderstorms on the day. She said wet weather even provides ideal conditions for weeding.
Parks and Trails New York, the leading statewide advocacy body for New York’s parks and trails, said it expects thousands of people to volunteer at local state parks this Saturday as part of I Love My Park Day.
“I Love My Park Day–the largest single-day volunteer event in NYS–presents a perfect opportunity to clean up our favorite parks and shorelines, plant trees and gardens, restore trails and wildlife habitat, remove invasive species, and work on various site improvement projects,” Parks and Trails New York said in a description of the event.
The organization further stated that I Love My Park Day helps prepare the state park system and public land for the upcoming summer season.
Featured Events
