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Do you have your passport?
By Kaz on Sun, 07/06/2008 - 1:07pm
On June 28th, DCR kicked off it's new Park Passport, a stamp book with stamp stations placed in 76 parks across the state (15 parks in the Boston area, including John Paul II, Castle Island, and the Southwest Corridor). Each park has a different stamp, so you have to go to all of the parks if you want to collect all of the stamps. When you complete any one of the 5 regions, you can use the completed passport at the regional office (starting August 15) to receive a t-shirt with the stamp pictures on it for that region. The western region shirt looks like this:
Sign up online to get your passport mailed to you or visit the parks to receive a temporary stamp page for that location which can be cut out and pasted into the passport when it arrives by mail.
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Comments
I don't mean to be a killjoy, but...
...the prize of a simple t-shirt doesn't really entice me to spend all that time and gas money to get my passport stamped in ~15 places.
I agree with the mission of getting people out to DCR parks, I just don't see the payoff being worth it.
How about every time you get your passport stamped in a park outside of 128, the price of gas goes down by one cent? Or, at a park inside 128, the price of a Charlie Card goes down one cent?
That, my friends, would be payoff. Literally and figuratively.
Are you for real?
It's not a prize, it's a reward, a way of saying thanks for stopping by. Nearly all of the Boston ones are accessible by MBTA (meaning $0 gas money spent).
Many people are up for new adventures but would head out to any place they may have already gone to before. Instead this might give them some new ideas and places to go.
If you don't understand the whole point of getting outside and doing an activity, like finding new parks and cool places to visit, then you're right the "payoff" for you is just a shirt, and it sucks, don't do it.
What in the hell are you thinking?? "Payoff"? Like the DCR is supposed to give you some fiscal benefit for visiting a couple dozen of the state's parks?? Wow, you just blew my mind that someone could see this park promotion and wonder why the materialistic gain isn't somehow tied to their gas or transit costs...man, where did you come from??
Be nice. Not everyone has a
Be nice.
Not everyone has a T Pass. In that case, it won't exactly be free to visit all 15 parks. And if that's the case, a t-shirt won't necessarily be a motivator.
Plus I'm sure that the DCR intended the *reward* t-shirt to be, in fact, a motivator.
What a dink.
What a dink.
who?
who?
Kaz...
That was a pretty harsh response to what I had said in my original post. If you refer to it, you'll see I said "I agree with the mission of getting people out to DCR parks, I just don't see the payoff being worth it."
To be more clear, I meant the end payoff (ie. the t-shirt) is hardly worth the effort/money to get to places. I do agree with you that the real payoff is in actually spending a nice day at Massachusetts state parks. I just don't see how this campaign will be effective.
You might have misunderstood some of my more tongue-in-cheek comments. That T-cost comment, and the gas-price comment was meant as a farcical joke.
Also, what is the difference between a prize and a reward?
off the top of my head
Prizes are awarded for doing well in competition and rewards come from accomplishment and quid pro quo for desired behaviour but not necessarily in the context of competition
Yeah, you're a "killjoy"
I'm with you, Kaz. I think it's a cool idea and just because someone doesn't like the "payoff" is a stupid reason to think the program is lame. I've been to a few parks just because they sound interesting, even driving for an hour to get there. Just last week I was at Walden Pond and picked up a state recreation map and I had the though of putting it on my wall and putting pins in everywhere I've been, and for inspiration to go other places. Funny how the passport program comes out days later!
I like this program for the same reason I like the "commercial-a-day" TV ad series for Mass. tourism that highlights something different in Massachusetts. Occasionally, I find myself thinking, "I didn't know that existed."
Um...
I never said the program itself is "lame," I merely tacitly implied that the "prize" (or "reward," whatever you want to call it) is. I thought I cleared up my sentiments in my most recent post.
I'm not against visiting DCR property; in fact, I think doing so enhances the quality of life.
If you had read my initial post, and my following post, you would have realized that. I think you must have just completely missed my point.
Well, the program is targetting kids
which is why the DCR states T-shirts are for those 16 and under.
Also, the DCR site lists libraries which provide free parking passes to the parks as part of their museum pass program. One can request online and then pick it up on their way to the park.
This seems like a good idea for parents looking for summer activities with their kids.
sometimes a t-shirt will be
sometimes a t-shirt will be enough incentive to get people out & about. Many of the parks are close to each other, and it would be possible to do more than one in a day.
where are the stamp boxes?
I'm all about getting free T-shirts, so my pilgrimage has begun in search of the Boston area stamps. But where are these stamp boxes? The Charles River park is 17 miles long, and the Southwest Corridor is three miles long. This give some structure to my random bike rides, but I'd like to know I'm going to find the darn stamp box if I'm riding all the way from Roxbury to Lynn!
Ask the park?
According to the website, the boxes should be in somewhat obvious places. I'm guessing that the Charles River one will be somewhere near the Hatch Shell or new baseball fields. I think there's some sort of ranger outpost there too.
I imagine if you call the park/DCR up you might be able to get a more specific location, but I don't know for sure I haven't tried one yet.
At the Hatch Shell ...
There is a passport box for the Charles River Reservation at the Hatch Shell. It's at the back of the oval, close to Storrow Drive. The box itself is about 8 inches tall, red/yellow/green.
The "reward" should be more than just getting a T-shirt
The reward should come from within... Thank you DCR for the Passport Program !!
The Reward should be for just getting out there, anywhere! And as an extra-reward, because we are visiting the x parks in one of the regions, not only are we doing this for ourselves but we also get a cool free T-shirt for this.
So it's up to each individual if they can find the motivation to do this or not. Brew your own coffee that day and forget about Starbucks or DD, there's your gas money!!!
PS - and yeah, we're almost there, just two more stamps to go !!
We just can't find the Southwest Corridor stamp box!
I walked, thankfully my kid had the scooter, we walked all along the Southwest Corridor, from Back Bay to Forest Hills, and just could not find the box!! Can anyone tell me where it is, please? Thank you.
Likely locations
I have only been to the ones on Georges and Spectacle Island so far and those are both at or near the visitor center/ranger station.
I haven't been to SW Corridor, but if there's any sort of official "office" or headquarters there, I'd guess that's about where it is.
Found the Southwest Corridor Stamp Box
The Southwest Corridor stamp box is across the street from the Green Street (not Forest Hills) T station, next to the playground.