You’ve probably seen it as you drive down I-25: America the Beautiful Park, named for the classic poem penned by Katherine Lee Bates in 1893 on a trip to Pikes Peak.
Recently, the park has moved into the spotlight due to a rather interesting proposal which first appeared in the Colorado Springs Independent this Wednesday, April 1. According to the Indy, the efforts of a local nonprofit organization of the feline-inclined variety culminated in the city of Colorado Springs’ decision to renovate the park into a “site designated exclusively for the use of felines and their human companions.”
Reaction to the “proposed” cat park was swift.
“I think this is stupid,” commented Facebook user Amanda Lee Rivera Frank, “and I have three cats.” But according to News Editor Robert Meyerowitz, most readers were onto the joke.
The article appeared as the cover story for the Independent as an April Fool’s Prank.
“We did not know if we were going to fool people or entertain people, but it looks like it’s mostly the latter,” said Meyerowitz.
There are clues about the hoax scattered throughout the article. For example, the last names of the sources mostly mean “cat” in other languages. The piece was accompanied by a rendering of the park proposal, and a video which features Feles Amare of the nonprofit group “Front Range Free Kitties,” which even has its own twitter page.
The main drive behind the feline-friendly conversion of the park was that of equality. If there are thousands of dog parks across the country, argued Amare, why can’t there be a cat park?
Ideally, the park would have hosted luxurious amenities for cats and owners alike, the first of its kind in the entire nation. However, let’s remember the reason why it would have been the first of its kind – April Fool’s!