malcolmxpark.org

Finally getting this little video together:

Volunteers from the Friends of Malcolm X Park, UC Green, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, the surrounding neighborhood and from across the city gathered in Malcolm X Park to help plant two young Sugar Maples. The trees were a surprise donation to the park, left over from the streetscaping around the newly refurbished Market St. section of the El.

Music: “Pine St.” by David Reyes (found in the Open Source Audio collection at Archive.org)

This morning, Malcolm X Park will see the addition of a handful of new trees to replace a few of those lost in recent years.  If you’re feeling spry, come out and join the effort!  9am to about 1pm.

The Friends of Malcolm X Park are looking for volunteers for two great upcoming events:

On Saturday, April 11th, the 15th Annual Malcolm X Park Easter egg hunt and party will get underway with more than a thousand children and their parents visiting the park.  This year, in addition to the usual festivities, we’ll be incorporating the planting of three brand new trees!  There’ll be lots more to do to help make the event run smoothly, so we hope you’ll be able to join us.  Please rsvp to me with an email indicating you can be there to help.

Then, on Saturday April 18th we’ll be gathering in Malcolm X Park along with the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society and Philly Green for the annual Spring Into Your Park events.  We’ll be cleaning the park and performing some minor maintenance to the benches and other park facilities.  Again, please send me an e-mail to indicate you’ll be joining us.  There’ll be a free t-shirt and lots of personal satisfaction for your generous efforts!

If you’re on Facebook, please join the Facebook Friends of Malcolm X Park and look for an event invitation in the next week.  And you can always stay up to date on the latest activities in Malcolm X Park with our Google Calendar. The weather’s getting warmer, and your neighborhood parks need you now more than ever!

UPDATE: Due to the snow and ice, we’ve decided to cancel the work day in Malcolm X Park.  Sorry for the late notice if you were planning to come out!  

Take a look here or here for alternatives.  

Please join us in Malcolm X Park for the 2009 MLK Day of Service!  We’ll gather in the park at about 9am and work till noon picking up trash, making a couple of repairs and maybe even tackling the out-of-control compost pile if we get enough people.  Please let me know if you’ll be joining us so we can plan for refreshments.  Or, if you’re on Facebook, you can join the Facebook Friends of Malcolm X Park and rsvp there. 

Here’s how it went last year: 

The Friends of Malcolm X Park showed up in force at the 2008 Party for the Parks at Galdo’s in South Philly.  Thanks to the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society for putting on another great event!  According to PHS calculations, volunteer park organizations like the Friends of Malcolm X Park contributed nearly 1.5 million dollars in labor to maintain and improve the city’s Recreation Department parks.  I suppose I have to mention that I was recognized as Friends of Malcolm X Park’s Volunteer of the Year, in part, for my work on this site.  

Walt Montague, Bill Johnson and Bill Johnson’s Pina Colada

Park president Gregorio Cojulun (standing), Linda Murray, and Nate Murray.  

Lois Pharr and Turquoise.  

We had a very nice turnout last night for the final concert in the Malcolm X Park Summer Heritage Jazz Series.  We’ll have some video up over the weekend or early next week of the great performance.  Thanks to all who came out last night and for all the great concerts this year in the park.  Remember that the Wednesday night dance parties continue all the way until October 1st.

Also, tonight in the park (from 3-7pm) Spiral Q Puppet Theater will conduct one of its “Community Builds” in advance of the Peoplehood parade.  And on Sunday, the members of Shalom House have organized a Prayer Vigil and walk from 48th and Baltimore to Malcolm X Park.  Both events, of course, are free.

Here’s a shot from last night taken by my “assistant,” a kid whose fascination with the camera will not be denied.  Sorry I can’t give you proper credit kid.  Next time:

If you walked through Malcolm X Park for much of July and August, you may have noticed that one of the picnic tables was seriously out of commission.

With a little help from Kerry, a volunteer from Outley House, we were able to get it bolted back together.

This was the scene a couple of weeks ago in front of Huey Elementary at 52nd and Pine across from Malcolm X Park. It’s like Road Rules but for Penn Dental Students.

That Road Rules tribute video’s a trip. It’s hard to believe the show ended (2003) before YouTube even existed (2005).

Thanks to everyone who came out last night to see Glen Bryan and Friends get the Summer Heritage Jazz Series started for Summer 2008! The music was as perfect as the weather, and everyone had a great time. The Malcolm X Park show is a bit of a homecoming for Glen Bryan, since he grew up right near the park back when it was still called Black Oak Park, and that rootedness is an added to dimension to his performances here. And a special thanks to Councilwoman Blackwell for helping make the series possible and NEVER missing a show! The next concert is Vocalist Ella Gahnt–who you also may have seen in attendance last night–on June 12th at 7pm under the gazebo. We’ll have a little video from last night’s show up shortly.

The Friends of Malcolm X Park are a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. If you’re interested in joining the group, please send me an e-mail or just come on out to our next meeting, Wednesday June 4th at 6pm in the park (weather permitting). Or if you’d like to make a donation to help create fun programming in the park, you can do so here:

Donald, a park area resident, came out a few weeks ago to carve up and remove much of a large tree branch felled in recent storms. Thanks for helping keep the park tidy!