Fall is here, which means it’s time to spend more time outdoors and enjoy the beautiful weather. Check out these fun events and activities happening in West Philly’s Clark Park:

• Clark Park Youth Soccer League is returning this fall and registration is currently open for children ages 4 to 9. The 2021 Fall Season kicks off this Saturday, Oct. 2 and will continue until early November. Groups will be smaller this season due to COVID safety. The program meets every Saturday in the park’s “Bowl” near 43rd and Chester. This is a low-cost program run by volunteers. For more information and registration, go here.

• On Saturday, Oct. 2, from 9:00 a.m. to 12 p.m., the University of the Sciences (USciences), located near the southwest edge of the park on Woodland Ave., is hosting a free Bicentennial Block Party for the community. The event will kick off a month-long celebration of the university’s 200th Anniversary. The event will include the following performances and activities for all ages: Continue Reading

The 2019 Baltimore Avenue Dollar Stroll (Photo by Lora Reehling).

Baltimore Avenue Dollar Strolls, typically taking place twice every summer, have always been very popular, drawing huge crowds of both West Philly residents and guests. But this year, the event is returning with a new take, after taking a break last summer due to the pandemic.

On Saturday, Sept. 25, from 12 – 4 p.m., visitors are invited to stroll up and down Baltimore Avenue between 40th and 52nd Streets to visit local small businesses and restaurants during the Baltimore Avenue Saturday Stroll. Although there won’t be $1 offers from most participating businesses like during the Baltimore Avenue Dollar Stroll, they will offer Stroll specials, discounts, and unique offerings during the event. Continue Reading

The annual Lancaster Avenue Jazz & Arts Festival will return virtually this year and will be streaming live at lancasteravephilly.com/jazzfest beginning at noon this Saturday, Sept. 18. The festival offers a tribute to Grover Washington, Jr.

This is the 15th season for the festival, organized by staff at People’s Emergency Center (PEC) and a planning committee of neighborhood residents.

Musicians in the lineup must perform at least one piece by the Philadelphia-based saxophonist, known for hits like “Magic Man” and “Just the Two of Us.” The Grover Washington Jr. Tribute Legacy Band headlines the event. Other performers include Glenn Bryan and Friends, The Lady Hoofers Tap Ensemble, Denise King and Friends, Chris Aschman and Trinidelphia, TC THE 3RD, and Greg Moore and Actual Proof. The line-up was curated by Leo Gadson of The Producer’s Guild of Philadelphia. Continue Reading

As the Delta variant began spreading earlier this summer, some Philadelphia area businesses, mostly restaurants, started requiring proof of COVID vaccination for entry. Other businesses, who do not require proof of vaccination, have to ask their customers and staff to mask up, according to updated citywide rules. In West Philly, the following businesses and event organizers are currently requiring proof of vaccination (and some of them masks, too):

• World Cafe Live is reopening its indoor space at 30th and Walnut for in-person events on September 29th after hosting events online for more than a year. The popular West Philly music venue has recently posted an update on its COVID-19 policy, which now includes proof of vaccination:

“Until further notice, all guests will be required to show proof of full COVID-19 vaccination for entry to World Cafe Live. Negative tests will not be accepted at this time.” Continue Reading

“Hotels” for wild bees created by artist Thomas Gartside.

Philadelphia artist Thomas Gartside has created a set of “hotels” for wild bees – temporary lodgings that can provide shelter for bees threatened by population loss across the region. These works – part art sculpture, part garden-ready functional habitat – will be on exhibit at the Art on the Avenue Gallery in West Philadelphia, and be silent-auctioned over the run of the exhibit.

The exhibit, Inhabit: three variations on domesticity, kicks off this Thursday, Sept. 2 at 5 p.m. at the gallery located at 3808 Lancaster Ave. It will feature 16 unique “bee hotel” art pieces by Gartside that will be auctioned off. The proceeds of the auction will support PennEnvironment’s work to fight bee die-offs through tackling bee-killing pesticides, habitat loss and climate change. Continue Reading

Theatre in the X is returning to Malcolm X Park after a year hiatus and will present three evenings of a new production, The West Philly Meeting. The new play by the innovative Black theater troupe was created with the West Philly community in mind and is based on the community input.

The process began in early 2020 with in-person West Philly community meetings that helped devise the new theatre piece. Two significant and tragic historic events are the basis for the new play – the 1985 MOVE bombing and summer 2020 protests and teargassing of protesters by the police on 52nd street, according to an article by The Philadelphia Inquirer.

The new piece, written by Dwayne Alistair Thomas and directed by Katrina Snobe, brings the characters and the audience together to find “the solution to heal what ails them.” Continue Reading