The Friends of Clark Park has released a tentative list of large events for this spring, summer and fall. The events still need to go through the permitting process of the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation. Because of the ongoing construction at the “A” park, all of the large events this year will take place in the “B” or “C” parks below Chester Avenue.

One recent fixture on the summer park calendar, the annual music festival Best Fest, will not take place this year.

The Friends of Clark Park has recommended that no large events take place in Park A this season.

Here is the tentative schedule:

April 16/23: Uhuru Flea Market
May 7: Spruce Hill May Fair
May 14: Uhuru Flea Market
June 28: Uhuru Flea Market
June 25: Summer Solstice Festival
July 23: Uhuru Flea Market
August 20: Uhuru Flea Market
September 10: Woodland Avenue Reunion
September 17: Fall Equinox Festival
September 17: Uhuru Flea Market
(These two events will coordinate space-sharing)
September 24: Youth Soccer Fall Season
October 15: Uhuru Flea Market

Join fellow tree enthusiasts (tree pruning enthusiasts to be exact) for the Second Annual Limb-Up this Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Woodlands Cemetery (40th and Woodland).

The Limb Up is a discussion/workshop in starting a neighborhood pruning club. The event also includes pruning instruction followed by a potluck lunch. The workshop will take place outside the cemetery’s main gates. No experience is necessary.  The lunch and discussion will follow at the cemetery mansion, which will be open at 9:30 a.m. for potluck drop offs. Please RSVP to Christine at cwilleford – at – pennhort.org.

The Limb Up  is sponsored by the Pennsylvania Horticulture Society and its Tree Tenders program and UC Green.

While many of us were slogging through the snow a lot of folks were over at Clark Park having fun. If you know people in the pictures, leave a comment below. We’re trying to put names to faces. Send us your storm photos and we’ll try to get them up on the site – editor – at – westphillylocal.com .

– Mike

If you can stand the wind – and it is brutal at times – there is good sledding to be had at Clark Park today. A nice little ramp has been set up near the maintenance building. See more photos on our Flickr feed. About a foot of snow fell in West Philly overnight.

Construction of the new playground at Alexander Wilson Elementary School (1300 South 46th), a project that has been years in the making, began today.
A member of the construction crew that was beginning to assemble the playground equipment said that phase would be done by Friday, “if all goes well.” Another crew will then lay down a rubber ground surface.
The playground has been near the top of the Spruce Hill Community Association (SHCA) wish list for many years and became a reality after a $50,000 grant from the Hamels Foundation, the charitable organization run by Phillies Pitcher Cole Hamels and his wife Heidi. The grant was the Foundation’s largest made to a Philadelphia public school this year. Mary Goldman of the SHCA’s Youth and Education Committee was instrumental in arranging the funding for the playground. Community members from the school and a variety of organizations have been raising funds for the playground for about 20 years.
The 183-square-foot facility will provide 21 activities and will be able to accommodate about 70 children at a time.