The Silver Springs Reunion Club, in partnership with the Springfield-Greene County Park Board, hosts the Park Day Reunion at Silver Springs Park, 1100 N. Hampton, as well as other locations around the area, July 31-Aug. 2 

The annual reunion takes place the first weekend of August, bringing together friends and family from Springfield and around the country. Events are organized by the Silver Springs Reunion Club. 

After annual picnics had been held in the park for many years, this event was named Park Day in 1952 when Gerald Brooks, a parks supervisor and a teacher at Springfield’s Lincoln School, and Robert Wendell Duncan, also a park supervisor, started a day of games and sports events for young African American residents at Silver Springs Park. 
The reunion schedule includes multiple locations, all in Springfield. 

Park Day Reunion Schedule:

Fri., July 31

• 8 p.m. — “Wicked for Good” free movie screening at Silver Springs Park pavilion. Bring your own lawn chairs or blankets. Screening begins at dusk. 
• 8 p.m.-12 a.m. — Hospitality at IBEW Local 753, 2902 E. Division, featuring DJ Music and The Hibachi Experience Food Truck. Admission $10/Adult, $5/Child.  

Sat., Aug. 1

• 8 a.m. — Golf Tournament at Bill & Payne Stewart Golf Course. Contact Johnny Huddleston, 816-223-7405, or Cecil Bullock, 520-471-3268.
• 9-11:30 a.m. — 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament, Silver Springs Park. Contact Doug Shockley, 417-402-5547
• 9 -11:30 a.m. — Park Day Car Show, Silver Springs Park. Contact Wally Ransom, 417-766-6479.
• 12 p.m. — Park Day Parade at Silver Springs Park, starting at Sherman Avenue and Webster Street. Contact Nora England, 417-861-7568, or Michele Wilson Johnson, 417-849-0948.
• 1-6:30 p.m. — Discount Park Day Splash & Sizzle swimming at Silver Springs Pool, admission is $1 or free with a canned food donation, benefitting Ozarks Food Harvest.
• 1:30-3 p.m. — Free Community Picnic at Silver Springs Park pavilion.
• 2-3:30 p.m. — Timmons Hall Open House, Silver Springs Park. Presentation honors 2026 Duncan-Allen-Schmidt Baton Award recipients Bradley Knox, Eva Pelkey and Dr. Shurita Thomas-Tate. Guests may also experience Ann Lowe’s fashion history through living history models. Free admission.
• 9 p.m.-12 a.m. — Saturday Night Scholarship Dance, featuring the Black & White Band from St. Louis, at the Shrine Mosque Ballroom, 601 E St Louis. Tickets are $30, contact Leslie Hardin at 417-830-5838.

Sun., Aug. 2

• 8 a.m. — Golf tournament continues.
• 3 p.m. — Gospel in Silver Springs Park. Contact Samuel Knox at 417-864-7444 or Nichole Looney, 417-773-2441. 
• 6 p.m. — Bathing Beauty Contest, Silver Springs Park Pool. Contact Sabrina Shockley, 417-597-1946. 

Silver Springs Park was established in Springfield in 1918 on land previously known as the old Fairbanks pasture, and later named for a spring on site, a tributary of Jordan Creek. During segregation, Silver Springs was the city’s only public park designated for Black residents and sports leagues, including visiting baseball teams. In the 1930s, the Works Progress Administration lined the creek channel with rock, installed the fieldstone retaining walls and built Silver Springs Pool. The Jordan Creek Greenway connected Silver Springs Park to Smith Park in 2003. In 2015, historic Timmons Temple was relocated into the park, reopening as Timmons Hall in 2019. Springfield’s first marker on the Springfield-Greene County African American Heritage Trail was installed in the park in 2018, the same year Silver Springs Park celebrated its centennial. In 2025, the newly renovated Silver Springs Pavilion opened, funded through an ARPA grant from Greene County, Mo.
For more information about the Park Day Reunion, visit Silver Springs Reunion Club Facebook page or email silverspringsreunion@yahoo.com.