The Minneapolis Parks Foundation is commissioning photographer and street documentarian Stephanie Glaros on a 2016 summer-long portrait series profiling visitors to Minneapolis neighborhood parks. Stephanie is the artist behind the Humans of Minneapolis blog, Facebook page, and Instagram feed.

Stephanie, a native of the Twin Cities and denizen of downtown, started capturing profiles of Minneapolitans in 2010 as a way to step outside of her comfort zone and engage with the community around her. Her blog took on the “Humans of Minneapolis” moniker following the success of Brandon Stanton’s Humans of New York phenomenon.

This summer, MPF is teaming up with Stephanie to produce a series of 15 portraits of visitors to Minneapolis neighborhood parks. Minneapolis is blanketed with 160 neighborhood parks – distinct from regional parks, which are much larger – each with everyday amenities for all ages, like ball fields, playgrounds, wading pools, tennis and basketball courts and, in many cases, a recreation or community center. Every Minneapolis resident is within walking distance of a park, one reason why neighborhood parks get more than six million visits a year.

Behind the impressive six-million-visits statistic lie compelling personal stories. Within each “visit” is a person whose experience at the park adds another page to his or her personal narrative. In turn, that person helps shape the nature of the park and community. Stephanie’s series will help us begin to tell the stories of the people who use our parks every day and show the multitude of ways people use and love our Minneapolis parks.

From May to September, Stephanie will visit parks throughout Minneapolis, including the Northside, Northeast, Southeast and South Minneapolis. Watch for the series to start later this month on the Humans of Minneapolis blog and social media, and through our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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Featured Image: Courtesy Stephanie Glaros