Life’s a Red Bench!
If you’ve spent much time at Easton Park, you’ve seen the friendly red benches around our community. They not only offer a great place to stop when you’re on a walk and need to tie your shoe, but they also appear on our website and even our community logo. So what’s up with the red bench? Where did it come from, and what does it mean?
A Community Inspired By Parks—and People
Let’s back up; it actually helps to start with the bigger picture. Parks are the heart and soul of Easton Park, and from the early days, our community was inspired by some of the most well-known parks around the world. Our development team at Brookfield Residential wanted to create a uniquely Austin version of park living, with numerous community parks large and small interconnected with a walking and biking trail system, a resort-style pool and community center, club-style fitness facilities, and much more.
It’s All About How It Lives
While the physical features and amenities were important, our team knew the people—and a strong sense of community—were the critical ingredient to make Easton Park a great place to live. Before any houses were built or anyone started signing contracts, our team knew this should be a community where people spend time outdoors together, welcome new neighbors, get together for backyard dinners, and run into friends at the mailbox.
Everyone Has a Spot on the Bench
So, how do you invite people to be part of a community that doesn’t yet exist? You tell them about it! Our marketing team brainstormed different ways to tell our park story and came up with the red bench as a symbol of the community we wanted to build.
The red bench is the perfect metaphor for Easton Park. It’s a place where all kinds of people gather outdoors to enjoy nature. It can be a spot to socialize or meet an old friend—or a new one. The bench invites you to take a break and just breathe. And the cheerful red color stands out from the crowd and symbolizes the vibrant spirit of our community.
Bringing the Bench to Life
From the start, we put real life red benches around Easton Park as an invitation for folks to stop, take a load off, and meet their neighbors. We’ve lost count of how many benches we have now, but we do have some that are more unusual than others!
There are several artistic benches in our original sections of Bryant Park and Knob Hill that were designed by local company Petrified Design. They made the arch bench in Bryant Park as well as the tubular bench in Knob Hill. Bryant Park also has a garden of red hammocks – kind of like benches for the horizontally inclined. And Union Park has a red bench swing for enjoying views of the retaining pond.
Meet You At the Red Bench!
Easton Park’s residents really do appreciate the benches and use them as gathering and resting spots! “Where we live, if you walk a little ways down, there’s a pathway that takes you to a street bench, and the mailboxes have a sitting area,” says Easton Park resident Indiia Wilmott. “It’s like they thought about it—here’s where the mailboxes are, and you might need a place to sit and relax. When I take a walk, I like to sit there and have the sun on my face.”
Life’s a Bench!
In addition to the benches tucked around the community, our first five Easton Park residents were each gifted a red bench as their closing gift. If you have one and you’ve got it in your home or backyard, we’d love to see a picture! If you send it to us at EastonParkInfo@brookfieldrp.com, we’ll add it to this post.
