Starting later this year, D.C. parks, pools and recreation centers will be able to accept corporate sponsorship and ads. Today, we got a sense of what that might actually look like in practice.

This morning, Mayor Vincent Gray and D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton joined Mr. Peanut — yes, the Planters peanuts mascot — in opening Planters Grove, a new peanut-shaped section of Marvin Gaye Park in Northeast. (The City Paper first reported plans for the park two weeks ago.) According to a press release from the event, Planters Grove is the “second of three peanut-shaped urban parks to be built in the U.S. this year.”

The grove, which was created in partnership with The Corps Network, includes 39 fruit and nut trees, 67 serviceberry trees, a border of porch columns framing the actual peanut shape, a rainwater garden and plenty of azaleas. The initiative fits in with District plans to redevelop underutilized park space, and, of course, helps Planters promote the heck of out of its peanuts. (I’m not going to reprint any of the pro-peanut propaganda quotes I was sent, but they’re here if you want to look for yourself.)

Such promotional and marketing efforts will expand to all of the District’s park, pools and recreation centers this October, part of plan inserted into the 2012 budget as a means to cover cuts to the D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation in recent years.