To pedestrians walking down Main Street on Friday, the streetscape might have looked a bit odd.

Instead of cars parked parallel to one another in the metered parking spaces in front of 118 S. Main St., there were potted plants and sculptures laid out amid couches, chairs and rugs. Dogs lulled about; Ann Arbor locals read the newspaper, checked their e-mails and even played on a large wooden teeter-totter set up along two street parking spaces.

This was the first year Ann Arbor participated in (PARK)ing Day — an annual worldwide event. Created in 2005 by Rebar, an art and design studio in San Francisco, Calif., (PARK)ing Day is held to brainstorm new ways to use public space in urban areas.

The grassroots movement has spread to cities across the world, said Joel Panozzo, a freelance graphic designer who sponsored Ann Arbor’s (PARK)ing Day premiere. Panozzo decided to set up a temporary park outside Workantile Exchange — a coworking space on Main Street that encourages group events such as (PARK)ing Day — after waiting and wondering why no one else in Ann Arbor had participated in the past.

“After complaining that it wasn’t happening for so many years, I was like, ‘Guess I’ve got to do it myself,’” Panozzo said.

Panozzo explained that the park in front of Workantile Exchange was loosely organized, with a call to Ann Arbor gardening store Pot & Box for a few loaned plants, as well as an invitation to young musicians at Ann Arbor’s Community High School who played music for part of the day.

“It’s a completely open source project, which means every group adapts it a different way and does different things with it,” Panozzo said.

Panozzo described his goal as merely to spark a conversation about public-space use.

“My intention is to just open the dialogue … (for people to) just stop and be like, ‘What are these people doing here? Why are there trees and plants in a parking spot?’” Panozzo said.

City Council member Sandi Smith (D–Ward 1), who sits on the board for the Downtown Development Authority, said she supports (PARK)ing Day and the idea behind it.

“Personally I absolutely love it,” Smith said. “There is an element, I think, of creativity and playfulness in it. I think it makes people stop and pause and think about things a little bit. You’re not used to seeing a potted palm and a couch in a parking space on Main Street, so it just makes one reconsider their paradigms.”

While this year’s event was relatively small in scale — Ann Arbor had two metered spaces — other cities reserved hundreds of metered parking spots. Panozzo admitted that little promotion was done for the event.

“I hope that this year is almost just like a launching pad for people to know the event exists for future years,” Panozzo said.

As midday drew close, Panozzo described the course of the day as having surpassed expectations, with a peak of 25 visitors at one point filling every chair. However, Panozzo said there are many elements to consider before planning next year’s event, like getting other groups and organizations involved and helping the event to grow citywide.

Joel Batterman, a graduate student in the University’s Urban and Regional Planning program and a participant in the event, said it was good to see people benefiting from a space that is typically used for an explicit purpose, but he too saw greater potential for next year.

“I’m a student, and you know, I think it would be wonderful to have more places next year closer to campus,” Batterman said. “Maybe I’ll take the wheel on that.”

Rachel Pastiva, manager of Main Street’s Crazy Wisdom Bookstore and Tea Room, said she was pleasantly surprised to walk into her store and see plants set up out front. She added that she wished she had known about the event beforehand.