When Dawn Hemminger moved to Seattle in 1993, she lived in various neighborhoods before settling down in Ballard.

"At the time it was affordable and there was just something about Ballard that attracted me," Hemminger said.

Originally from North Carolina, the Georgia Tech graduate moved to Seattle for a job at Boeing. Little did she know that she would find more than just an affordable house in Ballard--she would find a sense of belonging.

After moving into her new East Ballard home just eight blocks from her previous house, Hemminger found a completely different community.

"East Ballard is a very different neighborhood," she said. "It's friendly and inviting."

At the time of the move Hemminger was in the state of her life where she "focused less on a career and more on what makes me feel whole.'"

Running, green space, and community were part of that.

An avid runner with multiple ultra-marathons under her belt, Hemminger volunteered for several years as a coach for Girls on the Run, a non-profit organization whose mission is to inspire girls to be joyful, healthy and confident using a fun experience-based curriculum which creatively integrates running.

She particularly likes trail running and her longest trail run to date is a 50k.

"The great outdoors was introduced to me later in life and I have a lot of catching up to do," she said.

In the meantime, she is very good at bringing green space to herself and into the city.

A leader of the 14th Avenue Park Boulevard project, co-chair of the East Ballard Community Association, and treasurer of Groundswell NW, Hemminger is an active advocate for Ballard's parks.

"Green space is a refuge from our hectic day-to-day lives," she said. " are restorative to our body and being. Parks are more than just a play area for children. It's important to be able to just sit and meet with neighbors or walk through a park on your way to wherever you're going."

Since 2005, Hemminger has played a key role in bringing more green space to East Ballard, specifically to 14th Avenue NW. The 14th Avenue Park Boulevard project will turn the underutilized space along 14th Avenue N.W. into a street boulevard.

After seven years of planning, looking for funding, and community outreach, Hemminger and the EBCA on will finally see their project break ground this year.

"According to the parks department we'll be breaking ground this summer and I'd like to hold them to that,” she said. "It can take up to a decade to create a park and a lot of people don't realize that. It takes active, passionate people who can ride through the ups and downs to make it happen."

Hemminger has ridden those ups and downs together with EBCA co-chair Shannon Dunn and credits her balanced life, friends, and family for helping her make it through.

Hemminger said that in the past seven years, the hardest thing she had to learn was "that it's OK to have an event and have no one show up."

"It doesn't mean that there isn't any support and I shouldn't let it discourage me and just stay with it," she said. "But the real proof [of success] will come when the future 14th Avenue Street Boulevard is full of people."

"We have had some down times over the past years," she continued. "But this year is going to be a busy year and I'm excited. I'm ready."

To help the project move along, Hemminger is seeking the community's help.
EBCA is inviting its neighbors to help design Ballard's newest park by attending an upcoming design meeting on January 24 at 7 p.m. at the St. Alphonsus School cafeteria, 5816 15th Ave NW.

"This is for real now and the community's input is valuable. We really want this park to be designed by the community," she said.

While this project is still far from over, it has already meant a lot to Hemminger.

"For me this project and the EBCA have created a sense of belonging. Even if this park were to never be created, the friendships I have made are invaluable to me," she said. "I know everyone on my street. We have potlucks and go on trips together. It's made the neighborhood much warmer and I feel like I belong. I didn't know what I was missing."