Dear West Philly Local readers,

Sharpen your knives and carve carve carve your pumpkins! There are only four days remaining to enter our Pumpkin Carving Contest with a chance to win awesome prizes from local businesses. Remember that neighbors of all ages are welcome to participate (we have the Kids category, too) and you don’t have to be a Michelangelo to enter the contest. You never know which pumpkins can win, especially in such categories as Funniest, Scariest and Best Philly-themed.

And here’s the list of the businesses who kindly agreed to support the contest and their prizes (please note that Honest Tom’s Taco shop has recently been added to the list): Aksum (a gift certificate), Curio Theatre (two tickets), Dock Street Brewery (a gift card), Four Worlds Bakery (a gift card), Cafe Renata (a gift certificate), Honest Tom’s Taco Shop (a gift certificate), Lil’ Pop Shop (a gift card), Penn Museum (two general admission tickets), and VIX Emporium (a gift card + tote bag).

For more information on how to enter the contest, click here.

Photo courtesy of Bartram’s Garden.

This Saturday, Oct. 26, Bartram’s Garden is celebrating the second anniversary of the Community Farm and Food Resource Center and inviting everyone to join them. The event will take place from noon to 3 p.m. and will include “garlic planting, cider pressing, cooking and food preservation demonstrations, face painting, sack races, hay rides and more!” There will be some entertainment too, with music by DJ DuiJi 13 and a live performance by Hard Work Movement. Check out this page for more information.

UC Green members will also be onsite to offer free trees to everyone who wants one. UC Green has received a grant from CSX to purchase 80 trees and wants to share them with the community. If you are interested in one of these container-sized trees (5 ft. tall), come to Bartram’s this Saturday between noon and 3 p.m. to pick up your free tree and receive planting instructions. For more details and to reserve your tree please call 215-573-4684.

Pirate scene at the Haunted Garden (Photo by Elizabeth Campion).

One of the big neighborhood draws on Halloween night is the haunted garden near 46th and Springfield, where throngs of young and old come to get good and scared. This year the garden will move about 100 feet away to the seriously spooky basement of the Saint Francis de Sales School (more on that soon).

Everybody loves this event and it is getting bigger every year (literally thousands now), so more volunteers are needed to make it a success. This is a great chance to get involved with something that has become a West Philly tradition.

Squirrel Hill resident Elizabeth Campion, who has co-hosted the event for many years, has sent us a list of the ways you can help and the times people are needed:

• Trip to the wholesale store. The organizers are buying 3,000 candy bars and thousands of pieces of fruit. You need a driver’s license for this one. Bonus if you have a vehicle. Any time Wednesday afternoon, (10/30), through 1 p.m. on Thursday/Halloween.

• Moving decorations from a garage near 48th and Cedar to the site.  Wednesday evening, (10/30), from about 4-8 p.m. Donate an hour or two if you can.

• Decorate!!! Help design and decorate sets. Wednesday evening, 10/30, from 6-9 p.m. and Thursday (Halloween day) from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. – whatever hour(s) you can spare.

• Stage carpenters. The organizers need one or two “stage carpenters” folks who know their way around duct tape, ropes, hooks and pulleys. Wednesday evening, (10/30), from about 6-9 p.m.

• Distribute treats. This is an ideal job for seniors, or families. Volunteers wait for the visitor to say “Trick or Treat” and respond with “Happy Halloween” and a treat.  Show up 10/31 at about 4:30 p.m. and leave when we run out (about 8 p.m.).

• Actors. Actors bring the sets alive. Families and Frats can coordinate as Pirates for the “Shipwreck,” or as Wait-Staff and Customers at “Dooley’s Deadly Diner” or Scarecrows at the “Poisoned Pumpkin Patch.” “Actors” must commit 10/31, 4:30-7:30 p.m. All volunteers are asked to come in costume, but some costume items can be borrowed from the organizers.

• Photographers. The organizers need people who have their own cameras and are willing to upload their cards to the Picasa site. Technical support will be provided if necessary. Photographers must commit 4:30-7:30 p.m. on 10/31. Can work as a team as long as there is continuous and overlapped coverage.

• Pack. Saturday, 11/2, from Noon-4 p.m. If you can differentiate between a spider and a pumpkin, you can help sort and pack. You will be paired with Cub Scouts who can do the bending and climbing.

If you would like to help with one or more of these activities or if you have questions, please contact Elizabeth at: home.in.phila@juno.com

Detective Joe Murray of PPD’s Southwest Detectives Division with his father at a recent family wedding (Photo provided by Det. Murray)

Use Twitter? Then you know Detective Joseph Murray of the Southwest Detectives Division (or at least you should).

Det. Murray, known around West Philly as “The Tweeting Cop,” began using message boards in 2006 as a way to connect with the community he serves. That social media engagement evolved into Twitter three years later, when the 33-year-old detective opened an account under the (retired) handle, @TheFuzz9143. Now tweeting under @PPDJoeMurray, Det. Murray updates West Philadelphians about crime, missing (and sometimes then found) pets, and even his favorite Pearl Jam album—while also opening the digital floor for tips and feedback—on a near-daily basis.

But Det. Murray’s community involvement doesn’t stop with the computer screen. Well aware that his position with the Philadelphia Police Department (PPD) is considered a “desk job,” the third generation police officer makes a concerted effort to also have a physical presence, whether it’s through cruising West Philly in his car, buying coffee at Green Line or Rival Brothers, popping into a few local businesses for a quick hello, or checking up on old complaints he’s received. “It’s up to me to engage people so I try to do my best,” Murray, who was promoted to detective in 2005 at 25-years-old, wrote to West Philly Local in an email.

And his efforts are noticed by the city at large. This September, Det. Murray, along with 52 other emergency responders (including Southwest colleague Lt. John Walker), received an Award of Valor from the National Liberty Museum for his valiant work nearly 14 years on the force—which includes closing the 2011 triple shooting at Lorena’s Grocery Store on the 800 block of North 50^th Street. The shooting, which resulted in the deaths of siblings Porfirio and Lina Nunez, and Porfirio’s wife Carmen—employees of Lorena’s Grocery Store—is one of Murray’s recent cases that he finds most heartbreaking among the “far too many.”

“A family from the Dominican Republic was assassinated for no reason. A robbery with nothing taken,” Det. Murray wrote to West Philly Local. “That gets my blood pressure up even typing it now. There was satisfaction when we caught the killers but that does not bring the family back.”

For Det. Murray, the cases that “help everyone involved”, though, balance the distressing ones like the 2011 triple murder. And he’s especially encouraged when he never sees a person he’s booked or their name again. “I have come across thousands of people as a detective. A lot of times I see them a few years down the line working in a restaurant or at a store. That makes you feel good to see,” he wrote.

West Philly Local had a chance to chat with Det. Murray about being honored by the National Liberty Museum, his love for West Philly, the importance of engaging the community, and—of course—donuts.

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Great news for our little neighbors and their parents – the Halloween Tot Parade, a fun annual tradition in the Spruce Hill neighborhood, is scheduled again this year, so make sure to show off your bootastic costumes and have fun with your friends and neighbors (and West Philly Local will be there too to snap some photos). Here are more details from the Spruce Hill Community Association website:

The date is Thursday, Oct. 31 (no rain date). As it has for the last several years, the parade will start gathering after 4 p.m. on 45th St. just north of Baltimore Ave. (next to Milk and Honey). The kick-off time is 4:30 p.m., when marchers, led by drummers from the Penn marching band, will go north on 45th to Larchwood Ave., down to 43rd St., and then on to the 4200 block of Osage. There the block residents will welcome them – as always – with cider and goodies and some amazing Halloween decorations. The University City District will be assisting in directing traffic around the parade route. Parents, please be alert while crossing Baltimore Ave. and other busy streets. Parking on the 4200 block of Osage will be restricted Thursday afternoon to accommodate the parade. Overnight parkers will be able to get their spots once the clean up is done and all the ghosts and goblins are safely home.

Photos by Mike Lyons/West Philly Local.