Friends of Gwynns falls leakin park

2024 was a good year for Friends of Gwynns Falls/Leakin Park -- and with your help, 2025 will be even better!

Here's some of what we accomplished this year:

• Successfully pushed for passage of House Bill 1358, providing a road map to establish Baltimore's first state park. The year’s biggest achievement came on May 16, when Governor Wes Moore signed our bill into law. To make this happen, we worked closely with our legislative supporters and won support from two dozen environmental groups and neighborhood associations. The bill calls for a Stakeholder Advisory Committee, focus groups, an assessment of park conditions, and a report to the Maryland General Assembly no later than December 1, 2025.
  
  
• Held our first-ever Fall Festival. We marked our successful year and honored our diverse park neighborhoods with a free family-oriented celebration in the park with live music, food, face painting, site tours, kids' games, and resource tables. More than 150 attendees made this the largest FOGFLP-sponsored event of the year.
  
  
• New trail map & brochure published. Our thoroughly updated trail map and brochure adds many details about the park’s history, natural and manmade features, and FOGFLP’s role. The new map is exquisitely detailed and identifies every named trail in the park, all its important features, and transportation options for accessing the park. FOGFLP makes this map/brochure available as a free service to the public.
  
  
• Transferred archives to University of Baltimore. We found the perfect home for our historical documents at the University of Baltimore’s Special Collections Department. Soon, scholars, researchers, and the general public will be able to access the history of the organizations that fought to keep an eight-lane highway out of GFLP 40 years ago and have been protecting and supporting the park ever since. 

Even as we push hard for a state-city partnership, our other work continues strong. In 2025, we will press the city for park improvements, work with partners to address the scourge of trash dumping, and fill the park with family-friendly events promoting healthy recreation and education. Our volunteers spent over 1,000 hours this year clearing trails, cleaning up trash, and tending the gardens, and will do so again in 2025. 

Our work is effective because of the hundreds of relationships we've built with organizations and individuals -- people like you.

Be one of our "Partners for the Park." Put your love for Gwynns Falls/Leakin Park into action by supporting our work with a tax-deductible donation to our 501(c)3 nonprofit. With your help, we can keep Baltimore’s biggest, most beautiful park healthy and filled with life and activity throughout the year.