Wauwatosa’s newest park, Firefly Grove Park at 116th Street and Gilbert Avenue, has had an undeniably successful first year so far.
From its grand opening in May through its popular weekly Firefly Fridays and the many visitors who have come from afar to see its signature troll statue, Mama Rosa, the park has been a welcome addition for west-side residents, including the families now enjoying the park’s snow sledding hill.
A big part of that success is credited to the work of the Friends of Firefly Grove Park, a nonprofit organization that neighbors created at the same time as the park opened, to support the city, organize events and provide additional enhancements to the park.
The Friends group now is looking ahead to an active 2026 at Firefly Grove Park and soon expects to proceed with its efforts with the backing of a formal partnership with the City of Wauwatosa. The city and the nonprofit have negotiated a “memorandum of understanding” for that relationship, which was endorsed Dec. 9 by the Common Council’s Community Affairs Committee and will be taken up by the full council at its Dec. 16 meeting at City Hall and on Zoom.
Robin Brannin, a council member representing District 3 and president of the Friends of Firefly Grove Park board, said in an interview with Tosa Forward News that the group is looking forward to building on the success of the park’s first year.
“There’s so many people from the neighborhood who are walking and biking over, which has been fantastic,” Brannin said, especially for residents who previously didn’t have access to a park close by. “This area [on the city’s west side] had basically been a park desert, and now we have this amazing green space.”
Brannin abstained from committee’s vote on the memorandum of understanding Dec. 9, as did Amanda Fuerst, a council member from District 7 who serves with Brannin on the Friends group’s board. The rest of the committee voted unanimously to recommend the agreement, after hearing a brief presentation from Alex Krutsch, the city’s parks and forestry superintendent.
“It allows both entities to fulfill a role that they’re best suited for,” Krutsch said. “The Friends group can support the park through volunteerism, fundraising and programming. And then the parks division will continue through day-to-day operations, and all final decision-making in the park will reside with the city.”
He also specified that the agreement would provide guidelines for activities organized by the Friends of Firefly Grove Park, ensuring that the park remains open to the public in ways that are respectful to its neighbors.
The park sits on a parcel of city-owned land adjacent to the city’s Department of Public Works facility and the Wauwatosa Police Department. The concept of a park at or near that location had been discussed by Wauwatosa leaders and the community for years, and those discussions finally materialized this year as Firefly Grove Park through funding entirely from grants received by the city.
The park was a big hit from the day of its May 28 opening, and the city has numbers to measure how big: In its first month, the park was visited by more than 62,000 people, most of them from outside of Wauwatosa, according to an update posted to the city’s website in August. The city calculated the economic impact of those visits at $4 million based on typical tourism industry models intended to account for spending on dining, shopping, lodging, gas and other expenses connected with travel.
Mama Rosa, the troll designed and installed by world-renowned artist Thomas Dambo, certainly played a role in attracting that many visitors.
“These numbers show just how much Mama Rosa and Firefly Grove Park are drawing people to Wauwatosa,” said Beth Gleesing, the city’s tourism specialist, said in the August update. “It’s exciting to see visitors from across the country exploring our city, supporting local businesses, and creating memorable experiences.”
The sudden attention to the park also initially caused some frustration among neighbors about traffic and the increased use of street-side parking. But generally, Brannin said, the neighborhood has been both supportive of the park and actively taking advantage of its amenities, including a playground and “pump track” for bicycles.
Mama Rosa may be big draw for outside visitors, but the statue is just one of many features that neighbors have come to love. “We kind of see her as watching over the park,” Brannin said. Many neighbors also have made Firefly Fridays part of their weekly routines, with the events’ live acoustic music and food trucks. The Friends group also recently hosted a “yoga in the park” event and hopes to schedule more events like that in 2026.
The collaboration with the city is key, she added. For example, the city installs dog waste stations; the Friends refill it with plastic bags. The city provides trash receptacles; the Friends organize volunteer cleanup events to ensure the park stays looking its best.
The Friends also are active in promoting the park on social media, and the group coordinates other quality-of-life initiatives that aren’t feasible for city staff, such as stocking a Healing Hut with firsts-aid supplies.
“It’s been — I would even call it life-changing for the neighbors,” she said, noting that her son and his friends spent hours a day riding their bikes on the pump track during the summer.
"There's so many families and residents that are excited for it,” she said.
- David Paulsen, a Tosa East Towne resident and editor of Tosa Forward News, has more than 25 years of experience as a professional journalist. He can be reached at editor@tosanews.com.
