Ryan Woods Day

A lifelong resident of Dorchester, Commissioner Ryan Woods has dedicated 24 years working for the City of Boston, starting with the summer jobs program in the Boston Parks Department, teaching the youth of Dorchester the basic skills of baseball.

In 2009, Commissioner Woods became the Director of Programming overseeing budgets and planning for all concerts, tree lightings and other events. In 2014, Commissioner Woods became the Director of External Affairs working as the spokesperson for our parks system and conducting fundraising and logistics for over 700 annual park events.

Beginning in 2018, Commissioner Woods took on the role as Deputy Commissioner where he executed 721 park events and participated in the RFP selection process for mobile vending, Swan Boats and Frog Pond operations.

In 2019, under Mayor Walsh, Woods became the Commissioner of Parks and Recreation and since then he has developed innovative virtual programming during the pandemic, invested in making all parks cleaner, safer and more accessible.

“I won’t be going far [...]. I’ll still answer your questions. I’m coming back to help run the tree lighting on December 5 on Boston Common [...]. You all have my number and I will always answer,” said Commissioner Woods.

The Council expressed their gratitude to Commissioner Woods for his work, and adopted a resolution declaring October 18, 2024 as Ryan Woods Day in the City of Boston.