For many St. Louisans, Forest Park provided a necessary outlet in this uncertain year. I know that I found a new hidden location where I could pitch a blanket far from others and watch the wind dance through the trees while my book sat unopened next to me. Nearly every Sunday this summer, I’d return to the same spot.

I wasn’t the only one who found happiness and a sense of hope in Forest Park this year. The Park was more essential than ever before, and people were still making memories. Check out what these Park visitors had to say when Humans of St. Louis interviewed them.

For Forest Park

KARINA AND BELEM D’VELASQUEZ Photo Credit: Humans of St. Louis — **KARINA AND BELEM D’VELASQUEZ**
Photo Credit: Humans of St. Louis

For Karina and her mom, Belem D’Velasquez, Forest Park provided a place for them to enjoy time together after spending months apart due to the pandemic. “After COVID shut things down, my kids and granddaughter didn’t visit for three whole months,” says Karina “I’m diabetic, so I’m at higher risk, and they were so worried they might accidentally expose me to the virus. I was scared to leave the house and didn’t even go to work at our family restaurant.”

Once Belem felt comfortable to go outside, being in nature was a comfort to her. “My daughter tries to show me new places, so this is my first time here in Forest Park. She comes here two or three times a week. I love taking pictures outside, so I’ve been stopping us constantly.”

Karina was certain that her mom would enjoy it. “I told her, ‘You’re going to come here and you’re going to love it.’ And, of course, I was right,” she says.

For Hope

DAVID CHARLES Photo Credit: Humans of St. Louis — **DAVID CHARLES**
Photo Credit: Humans of St. Louis

When restaurants and gyms closed, David Charles turned to Forest Park for fresh air, a reprieve from the pandemic, and a little reflection. “One day during the summer, I stopped at the World’s Fair Pavilion,” he recalls. “It was about 6 p.m., and I thought it would be a good place to do some reflection. I’m an architecture nerd, and I loved how the light was coming through the arches just perfectly. I started thinking about all the changes that have happened in the last year. I had made a career change and the path I’d taken wasn’t really linear. I took a couple of photos of the Pavilion and made my way home.”

David went home and continued to write down his thoughts for further reflection. “As part of my job at the American Institute of Architects, I write weekly letters to my members and had gotten really good feedback,” he says “I’d seen articles written on LinkedIn, and my mentor told me writing them was a great way to put myself out there for my career. I had all this energy from introspection, and I thought, ‘Just do it.’ So I wrote my first article using Forest Park as a backdrop. It was called, ‘Paving Your Own Path.’ When I finished, I was so excited to hit ‘publish.’ After some people I work with read it, they told me, ‘You should keep going!’ So now I’m on my fourth one.”

For Happiness

MICHELLE VERNER AND JAIME GIL Photo Credit: Humans of St. Louis — **MICHELLE VERNER AND JAIME GIL**
Photo Credit: Humans of St. Louis

“So many parts of our story have happened in this park. This is where we had our wedding reception and where he asked me to marry him for the first time,” says Michelle Verner.

Jaime Gil had planned to propose to Michelle at the St. Louis Symphony concert on Art Hill on their anniversary, but when she had to work, he came up with another plan. “We had plans to get a beer after walking around the Grand Basin,” she remembers “We talked as we walked and spent some time sitting on this really beautiful bench while the sun was going down. As we got up to go to the Boathouse, he still hadn’t worked up the courage to ask. We were almost there, and all of a sudden he stopped, opened his backpack, and pulled out a tiny box. He looked at me nervously and said, ‘So, you wanna do this thing?’ I was like, ‘What thing? Are you serious right now?’ He opened it, and I saw a ring. I could see how nervous he was, and I knew that wasn’t the way he was hoping it would go, so I said, ‘Why don’t we meander back to that bench, take a deep breath, and then maybe you can think of some other words to tell me why you want to marry me?’ Words of affirmation are my love language, and I needed that from him.” 

Michelle and Jaime went back to the original bench. “I’m still freaking out because it didn’t go very well,” says Jaime. “After I missed my opportunity at the symphony, we had this park date planned. We walked and then sat on this bench. The sun was setting, we were alone, and it was just beautiful. But I was afraid. The moment of truth was sitting on that bench together. I thought, ‘This is it.’ I never felt like I had to make a decision that important before. I felt like time collapsed, and I couldn’t do it. And I was going through all of this inside while we were just walking and talking. I’m not good at multitasking, but that day I forced myself to. We got up to walk to the Boathouse and that magic moment went away.”

They decided to keep talking about anything that felt unresolved, and so they brought chairs out and sat in front of the World’s Fair Pavilion where they decided the engagement didn’t need to be rushed. They picked out a new ring together and made a plan to get engaged by the end of the year. “After a few months, he still hadn’t made a move. So I approached him and asked, ‘What if we did it together?’ It took the pressure off of Jaime to have to plan some spectacular thing all by himself. We had tickets to the Garden Glow, so we decided to do it then. We each wrote a letter to one another and found a spot where we could be alone to read them. It became even more special than it could have been if it was all on him. And it wouldn’t have happened that way if we never had those brave conversations,” says Michelle.

Your Hope, Your Happiness, Your Forest Park

Keep the goodness going in Forest Park by becoming a member of Forest Park Forever during our year-end fundraising campaign. Memberships are a great way to support something that benefits our entire community during an unexpectedly difficult 2020 year. They make a thoughtful gift, too. Your membership helps maintain Forest Park throughout the year, from planting flowers and pruning trees to clearing paths and making improvements to the Park.

Stay safe, be well, and keep enjoying our region’s great green spaces, including Forest Park.

JOIN NOW