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Minneapolis Parks Foundation > Common Ground > Stories > Humans of Minneapolis > Humans of Minneapolis: Jesse, Anika, and Esme, at Jackson Square Park

Humans of Minneapolis: Jesse, Anika, and Esme, at Jackson Square Park

In 2016, the Minneapolis Parks Foundation teamed up with Humans of Minneapolis photo-documentarian Stephanie Glaros to produce a series of 15 portraits of visitors to Minneapolis neighborhood parks.

Here, we’re re-posting Stephanie’s series of portraits of parks visitors from her Humans of Minneapolis blog. Look for all portraits in the series on this blog – 2016 and, coming soon, 2017 – by clicking on the Humans of Minneapolis category.

Jesse, with Anika and baby Esme, at Jackson Square Park

“We come here a couple of days a week because the pool is great and they have a free lunch every day. I couldn’t believe it, last year was the first year I’d seen it. So we sit under a tree or at a picnic table and she gets to eat with her friends. Plus it’s a pretty healthy lunch. Fruit, veggies, sandwich. Sometimes there’s yogurt or applesauce. They had chef salad last week. There are no nuts in anything and it’s pork-free. It’s great. Now that I’ve got two kids, we would never get out the door packing lunches and everything, it just takes too long. So it’s nice to know you can just come here and you don’t have to worry about that. Plus kids eat better together. She wouldn’t normally eat celery, but she might do it because her friends are doing it.

There’s a page I follow on Facebook for Northeast moms. That’s how I found friends who live in this area. It’s a neighborhood group of parents who decide what they’re doing with their kids for the day. You can check and see where they’re going in the morning and then you can all go to that park. So I started coming here and the moms are super nice. They also post about different library activities in the area, or when there’s a parade over here, or other fun stuff that’s going on. There was a DJ here last week, the kids danced their energy off. It’s just nice to be like, ‘Oh, this is where some of the kids are gonna be.’ It’s awesome because as a new mom I had no idea where to even begin to look.”

Listen to Jesse’s story:

Images and content are reposted with permission from Stephanie Glaros/Humans of Minneapolis.

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