Lanesboro Poetry Parking Lot

About Us

A unique initiative that weaves poetry into the social and municipal infrastructure of Lanesboro. Lanesboro Arts addressed the limited downtown parking by transforming the underused city parking lot into the Poetry Parking Lot, where ?park here? signage is replaced by regional poetry. To promote walkability, a short walking trail was added to connect the Poetry Parking Lot to the restored historic walking bridge, which crosses the idyllic Root River into downtown.

In the summer of 2014, Lanesboro Arts held its inaugural Lanesboro Haiku Poetry Contest designed to solicit poetry for display in the Poetry Parking Lot, located just off County Road 8, one block west of downtown. The contest brought in over 180 Haiku submissions, and a local selection committee led by artist Ed Bok Lee chose 15 poems for publication in the Poetry Parking Lot at the Lanesboro Arts Campus Art & Poetry Festival in September 2014.

The ''Poetry Parking Lot'' project has increased awareness and usage of the lot by visitors and residents alike, reliving downtown congestion during the busy visitor season.