Do you love Clark Park and want to help tidy it up for the summer? Here’s a fun opportunity for volunteering on Saturday, April 19, from 12 – 3 p.m.. The Fairmount Park Conservancy will be conducting a spring clean-up at the park in honor of Earth Day and volunteer help will be greatly appreciated. Help is needed with such activities as leaf raking, branch collecting, flower and tree planting, mulching, trash and debris removal, weeding, and sweeping.

But here’s the fun part: The first 30 volunteers at the clean-up event will receive gifts such as a daypack, aluminum water bottle, locally-sourced bandana and – for those aged 21 or over – three wooden nickel tokens, each good for a pint at the after-party. The party will be held at Local 44, a neighborhood pub specializing in craft beer, and will include free samples of Local 44’s comfort food. The after-party is sponsored by Great Lakes Brewing Company.

If all this sounds pretty good to you, go here to sign up.

Earth Day is celebrated on April 22 worldwide.

UPDATE (4/16/2014): There has been a great response to this volunteer opportunity and there are no more “free beer” spots available, according to the Great Lakes Brewing Co. Earth Day website. But all volunteer help is appreciated.

Editor’s Note: Go West! Craft Fest is this Sunday, Dec. 15, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. at The Rotunda and not Saturday as it was originally reported in this post. Also, we have received a note from Play On, Philly! that their holiday concert has been postponed until after the New Year. We will keep you posted on a new date.

There are a lot of things happening in West Philly this weekend and we hope that the cold weather won’t deter you from checking out local holiday shopping events, music, films, theater, Christmas caroling, and other fun stuff. Our Events Roundup is below. For more events or if you want to submit an event, go to our Events Calendar. Also, don’t forget about ongoing events, like Holiday Craft Show and Sale at UC Arts League, and other holiday shopping and giving opportunities. If you need a Christmas tree, check out this post.

Friday, December 13

All day – The Gold Standard Cafe (48th & Baltimore) is donating one third of their total proceeds to Kingsessing library. Your donation will go to serve the library’s reading and educational needs.

5-10 pm – Neighbors are invited to get together to celebrate the season at The Cedar Works‘ first Holiday Party and Sale. 14 artists who call The Cedar Works home will be selling their works for holiday gifting.

5-10 pm – This Friday is a special holiday Second Friday on Lancaster Avenue, with festivities spanning from 34th Street all the way up to 41st. Enjoy great music, fine food, and good vibes.

8 pm – Gender Comedy: A Less Stupid Twelfth Night Gay Fantasia opens at Curio Theatre (48th & Baltimore).

Saturday, December 14

2 pm – International House Philadelphia (37th & Chestnut) invites families for its Family Matinee program, featuring a special holiday screening of The Nightmare Before Christmas. The film is a Halloween-Christmas hybrid and audience favorite. Tickets are $5; free for IHP members.

2-5 pm – Neighbors are invited to build their own gift baskets at Milk & Honey Market (45th & Baltimore). Create unique and inspired gift baskets filled with local products and thoughtfully selected books and goods and also enjoy free hot cocoa!

3 pm – University Lutheran Church (3637 Chestnut St) presents harpsichordist Marcia Kravis with her solo program, Dr. John Bull and Company: Music from the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book.

3:30 pm – Stop by Penn Museum (3260 South St) for “Unwrapping the Mummy: Hollywood Fantasies, Egyptian Realities,” a presentation by Dr. Stuart Tyson Smith, Chair of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara. Dr. Smith explores some modern myths about mummies, and the fascinating insights that can be gained from studying the “equipment” buried with mummies for the afterlife.

Sunday, December 15

All day – Enjoy delicious organic and locally made popsicles at Lil’ Pop Shop before it closes until February 1, 2014.

11 am – 5 pm – The winter edition of Go West! Craft Fest is finally here. VIX Emporium boutique and As the Crow Flies & Co. online are teaming up to bring over 40 vendors – local artists, craftspeople and designers – to The Rotunda (40th & Walnut). While shopping, don’t miss the opportunity to enjoy frozen treats from Weckerly’s Ice Cream and vegetarian-friendly fare from Black Orchid Foods.

5 pm – The Friends of Clark Park invite you to come raise your voice with your neighbors in singing traditional Christmas carols around the Community Christmas tree (Clark Park “B”, near 45th & Regent). Refreshments will be served afterwards. This one always seems to work out much better after an Eagles win, so go Birds. For more info call 215-222-2255.

We love Fall in West Philly! Check out this photo by reader Eva Jacobs.

Peoplehood Parade returns to West Philly streets and Clark Park this Sunday. Archived photo / West Philly Local.

Local parks will host some great community events on Sunday, Nov. 3.

The Spiral Q Theater is bringing its giant puppets back for the annual Peoplehood Parade that will kick off at 1 p.m. near the Paul Robeson House (4951 Walnut St.). The parade will proceed to Clark Park (45th and Chester Ave.) where it will be followed by a pageant at 2:15 p.m. Here’s some more information from the event’s Facebook page:

Join in the Parade!
Individuals, families and friends – all are welcome!
Come to the Paul Robeson House at noon to get a spot in the parade.
Bring your own puppet, costume, fancy parade outfit, your art and/or your heart and jump into the action or join in a Spiral Q section.

The parade organizers are also looking for volunteers who can provide help to seniors from the Renaissance nursing home who would like to join the parade and the action at Clark Park. Volunteers are asked to come to the home between 12:30 and 1 p.m. and bring the seniors in wheelchairs outside to wait for the parade, join the parade as it passes, and then stick with them until about 3 p.m. and bring them back to the home. The nursing home is located at 4712 Chester Avenue, which is a few blocks from Clark Park. If you would like to volunteer please contact Liza Goodell at community@spiralq.org.

Also this Sunday, Vineyard Community Church is inviting community members to a free “Fall Festival” for children in Malcolm X Park (51st and Pine). The event will take place from 1 to 4 p.m. and will feature fall themed arts and crafts, games, and activities.

Looped In, three social seating structures, popped up in Clark Park’s northern section earlier this week and will stay for a few weeks.

Clark Park was buzzing today, with several events taking place at the same time. Philly’s first Pétanque tournament was held in the circle of the northern section of the park. The tournament participants were trying to concentrate on their shots while the sounds from a kids’ concert, organized by the acclaimed Tune Up Philly afterschool program, and from Clark Park’s Farmers’ Market filled the air. The pétanque players also tried to avoid hitting new seating structures, called Looped In, which were installed in the circle a couple of days ago. Check out more photos below.

Local kids enrolled in the “Tune Up Philly” afterschool program performed on Saturday in Clark Park.

You can use the Looped In seating any way you like.

The 1st Philadelphia Petanque Tournament was held in Clark Park today, in the same circle where the Looped In structures were installed. The French game of boules is rapidly gaining popularity worldwide.

The Clark Park Farmer’s Market is every Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Here’s an assortment of events happening in the area this weekend. We hope this list is not too overwhelming. Enjoy your weekend and the warm weather while it lasts. For more upcoming events or if you want to submit an event, visit the West Philly Events Calendar.

Friday, October 4

Bindlestiff Books hosting author Stewart Acuff – 4530 Baltimore Avenue – 7:00 p.m. – This Friday, Bindlestiff Books will host Stewart Acuff, author of Playing Bigger Than You Are: A Life in Organizing. Acuff has spent more than 30 years as a union organizer, including several successful organizing campaigns in the south and serving as national Organizing Director for the AFL-CIO from 2001-2008. The event will be at the bookstore; copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing.

Photo by Kyle Cassidy.

Romeo and Juliet – Curio Theatre (4740 Baltimore Avenue) – 8:00 p.m. – Curio Theatre Company is continuing its season with a production of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Curio is taking a very different look at the story by exploring gender roles – they made the decision to case Romeo and Juliet as two teenaged daughters of warring families. The young women fall desperately in love and set off a heartbreaking chain of events.  The same-sex casting proves the universality of Shakespeare’s immortal tragedy of pure, teenage love. Previews begin October 3. The show opens Friday, October 11 and runs through November 2. All performances are at 8 p.m. For more info and tickets ($20), go here. Continue Reading