Portland's Mill Ends Park is 2 feet in diameter and sits in the crosswalk on Naito Parkway downtown.
Advocates of the smallest park in the United Kingdom are challenging Portland's claim to the world's smallest city park title.
The Guiness Book of World Records lists Mill Ends Park in Portland as the world's smallest, but Kevin Wilson of KP Events in the UK has filed a challenge to that listing, according to this story on LichfieldLive.
Wilson's company is organizing the world's shortest fun run around Prince's Park in the town of Burntwood in Lichfield, Staffordshire, and he argues Prince's Park deserves the world's smallest title moreso than Mill Ends:
“Mill Ends Park in no way can be classed as a park, it’s a glorified flower pot! Princes Park has a fence around it, a bench and three trees and is by any definition a park. We’ll be challenging Mill Ends Park’s status officially and hope to reinstate Princes Park as the world’s smallest park.”
Mark Ross of the Portland Parks and Recreation Department said the gloves have come off.
"We will fight to defend this title," he said.
Ross said he has already done his own "fun run" around Mill Ends Park to beat Burntwood to that title too.
Portland Parks Director Mike Abbaté wrote to Wilson to tell him Mill Ends Park is more than a glorified flower pot.
“It has a small size but a huge history and legacy in our city," he wrote. "Mill Ends is revered by thousands, and has been for years. ... Mill Ends is weeded, watered, planted and maintained like every other park in our National Gold Medal-winning system.”
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