Hayes Park, a peaceful pocket-park tucked away off West Canton Street between Warren Avenue and Montgomery Street, will celebrate the summer with an after-work picnic featuring food and soft drinks, music and friendly neighbors on Thursday, July 16 from 5:30-7:30 PM at West Canton Street and Warren Avenue. Hosted by the Friends of Hayes Park with sponsorship from Cambridge Trust Company and Crowley and Cummings, the event is free and open to the public, with hot dogs and hamburgers available while supplies last.

Guests are encouraged to bring their favorite side dish or dessert to share. Singer-songwriter Wayne Potash will provide the evening's entertainment.

Kathryn Wilmore, president of the Friends of Hayes Park and a retired vice president at MIT, said that the Friends group, organized in 1987, raises funds privately for maintenance and improvements and for its seasonal events, including a summertime alley party for residents facing the alley between West Canton and West Brookline Streets and a fall Harvest Fest. Wilmore described the alley party as a carefree reminder of a bygone era. "There are lots of kids running around. It's a closed off alley so the kids can be free to play. It's like something from the 1950s."

The child-friendly theme of the park is evident upon entering, when one is greeted by the park's centerpiece, a big, round planter with the late, local artist Kahlil Gibran's sculpture, "West Canton Street Child" prominently displayed. Toward the back of the park is a large, wooden play structure with pliable ground-cover topped with sand for safety.

Wilmore said that children's entertainer Potash has played at Hayes Park events before and has been a hit. "He's so great with the kids, he gets them engaged, participating, dancing around. Most of the entertainment we have is geared toward families and kids, but everyone gets into it."

Wilmore takes seriously the community-building spirit of the family for whom the park is named. "We like to look at the park as a place that draws people in. As more and more young families move in, we want them to be aware of the events at the park. A lot of the new people who come into the neighborhood need to be welcomed."

The Hayes family for whom the park has named has spanned five generations on West Canton Street and continues to live there and serve as neighborhood leaders. "The Hayes family is so embracing and creates community in such a significant way," Wilmore said. She added in a written statement, "Thinking about the ongoing legacy of James Hayes and his family in enhancing our community, from James's bringing in saplings from the country in the early part of the 20th century, to his and Anna's looking out for all the children on the street, to Chris and Clare's leading a street watch program built on inclusivity, to all the Hayes family who have stayed in and contributed to the neighborhood through multiple generations, it seems to me that what the Friends group aims to do is live up to our name: Hayes Park."