Stanley Park. Queen Elizabeth Park. Gibby's Field.
All three are city parks in Vancouver.
Gibby's Field is the newest addition (Stanley Park was the first) to the city's parks system. It's a patch of land on East 18th Avenue near Knight Street that backs onto Tyee Elementary School.
The plot of land, about 40 metres along East 18th, isn't so much of a field as it is a small urban forest with low-lying bushes and tall grass. The last vestiges of Gibson's Creek run through it, creating a bit of a depression in the land. Along one side of the new park is a cement pathway leading to the alley behind the school.
The creek also ran through the area the schoolyard now occupies, but was covered up when the school was built.
The creek once had its own thriving ecosystem, according to a sign at the site, providing a habitat for salmon and water for local gardens and a brewery before flowing into China Creek.
The city held an opening ceremony on Wednesday, Sept. 18, though the land has been park-like for some time.
The city bought the three lots of land that make up Gibby's Field a few years ago after a local residents' group pushed for the conservation of the area; the three properties have never been developed. They were part of a property bought by Irish-born Moses Gibson in the 1890s to create a dairy farm and, while the rest of the neighbourhood grew around them, the plots remained green space.
While it has been known as Gibby's Field for decades, that isn't the new park's permanent name; an official name will be bestowed on it at a later date.
