A great neighborhood event, the Baltimore Avenue Dollar Stroll, returns on Thursday, June 25 with $1 bargains, live music and entertainment. Over 30 neighborhood businesses will be on hand, selling everything for a buck – food and drinks, gift certificates and theater tickets, art prints, plant starts and more – along Baltimore Avenue, between 43rd and 51st streets. The event will be held from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.

The map of business locations and their offers is below. Expect long lines by Desi Village (samosas & mango lassis!), Milk & Honey (ice cream!), Dock Street (beer!), Mariposa Food Co-op (banana whips!) and some other locations. Take your kid to Redcap’s Corner to pick up some $1 Pokemon cards and mini figures. And make sure to stop by and say hello to newcomers, such as Café Renata who will be serving delicious iced coffee, 8 Limbs Academy who will be offering short kickboxing lessons, and Spirited Tattooing who will be selling stickers and art prints.  Continue Reading

Warrington Community Garden (photo from ngtrust.org).

June 20th is the second annual Community Gardens Day in Philadelphia. The celebration is sponsored by the Neighborhood Gardens Trust (NGT), an organization that helps preserve community gardens. Thanks to NGT’s work, Community Gardens Day was recently officially recognized by the city.

From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, 45 community gardens throughout the city will host free activities, such as tours, demos, work days, family activities, and other special programs. This is a great chance to visit your neighborhood garden, show your support and participate in activities (click here to find a community garden near you).

A celebration will also be happening tomorrow at Warrington Garden at 4731 Warrington Ave. Guests are welcome to explore this green oasis and take part in the following activities: tours of the garden, scavenger hunt for children, photo display from the garden’s archives, herb identification, medicinal plant walkthrough (at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.), and an art project organized by the University City Arts League (from 1 to 3 p.m.). Light refreshments will be served.

The City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program will unveil a new mural in Southwest Philly on Saturday that honors the commitment of incarcerated fathers to their children.

The mural, entitled Fathers and Children Together (FACT), will be installed at 55th and Woodland on Saturday (the day before Fathers’ Day) at 11 a.m.. The public is invited and light refreshments will be served.

The mural is the result of collaboration between the Mural Arts Program, the United Community Action Network at SCI Graterford, the maximum security state prison outside of Philadelphia, and the Fathers and Children Together (FACT) program. The FACT program helps incarcerated fathers reconnect with children in the hopes that they can become positive role models and encourage their kids to choose education over incarceration. During FACT session inside Graterford, kids are able to interact one-on-one with their fathers.

About a third of the mural, which is painted on parachute cloth, was painted inside Graterford. Christy Bottie, who has led art workshops in the FACT program, is working on the rest of the mural with lead muralist Ernel Martinez.

Drawings created together by fathers and their children during FACT sessions make up the border of the mural.

Here are a few chances to visit Curio Theatre before it closes its doors until the next season. The local theater company will present a series of free performances this weekend and on Monday, June 22.

CuriosiTeens! (Photo courtesy of Curio Theatre Company)

Curio’s young company, CuriosiTeens! will present three performances of Bang Bang You’re Dead, a powerful drama written by William Mastrosimone in the wake of the school shootings of the late 1990s. The goal of this production is to search out and answer a very complex question: “Why?”. The first performance is tonight at 7 p.m., and there will be two shows tomorrow (Saturday, June 20) – at 2 and 7 p.m. All shows are on Curio’s Main Stage (48th and Baltimore). Please call 215-525-1350 or email steven@curiotheatre.org to reserve your tickets.

On Monday, Curio’s 2015 New Play reading series concludes with Antagonyms written by Rachel Gluck. “When a man returns to his home city after fifteen years of running, four people must struggle to maintain control over their lives, and keep the past in the past.” The play is directed by Jack Tamburri. The cast features Isa St. Clair, Trevor Fayle, Colleen Hughes and Andrew J. Carroll. The performance starts at 7:30 p.m. on Curio’s Corner Stage, 48th and Baltimore Ave.

If you live in the Garden Court neighborhood (see map), read on. Residents are invited to Garden Court Community Association‘s annual meeting this Thursday (June 18). The meeting will take place at Community College West, from 6 to 9:30 p.m and include the following agenda:

Old West Philly High School building at 47th and Walnut.

• Hear about progress on the development planned for the former West Philadelphia High School building. As you probably know, the former West Philadelphia High building is slated to become a 300-unit apartment complex with ground floor retail. A development of this magnitude will no doubt have a dramatic impact on the community. Come out to hear about the status of the project, and ways in which the developer, Andrew Banks, aims to engage community members.

• Vote in Garden Court’s 2015-2016 board. Come meet the nominees and exercise your right as a member to vote in the 2015-2016 board.

• Learn about GCCA’s latest happenings, from education to business district to zoning.  Continue Reading

The first Open House for the 30th Street Station District Plan Open House took place on January 2 and was well attended. (Photo from phillydistrict30.com)

On Wednesday, June 17, there will be another opportunity to learn more about the 30th Street Station District Plan, a joint planning project for the area surrounding 30th Street Station. The second open house for the project will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. at the station’s Amtrak building (30th St entrance).

Nearly 300 people attended the first open house on January 28 and participated in a survey. This Wednesday, open house attendees can see results of the survey (click here for the summary).

There will also be opportunities to:

• Meet the project team
• Gain a better understanding of the plan
• View early design ideas and provide input
• Learn what’s next for the plan

The 30th Street Station District Plan is a joint effort by Amtrak, Drexel University, SEPTA, Brandywine Realty trust, and other public and private stakeholders. More information about the project is available at: www.phillydistrict30.com.