It has become a solid holiday tradition in West Philly: The Winter Express Shoppers’ Trolley will be back this Saturday, Dec. 2, touring Baltimore and Lancaster Avenues. This is a great opportunity to visit dozens of local businesses and to get a head start on your holiday shopping (while keeping your money in your neighborhood). Many participating businesses will be offering discounts off their retail items and other special offers.

Here’s how you can get on this trolley:  Continue Reading

Cedar Park Neighbors in cooperation with area churches and other nonprofit organizations, will again prepare and distribute food baskets for those in need during the holiday season. The 2017 CPN Holiday Food Drive is currently underway. The suggested donation is $36. Support at this amount will help CPN supply meals for two families.

In 2016, CPN was able to reach over 150 local families.  Continue Reading

Here’s some useful information on public transportation, parking, trash/recycling collection and hours/closings at local businesses during the holiday weekend. Happy Thanksgiving!

Parking

The Philadelphia Parking Authority is not enforcing meters, kiosks or residential parking time limits on Thanksgiving Day (Thu, Nov. 23).

SEPTA Thanksgiving Holiday Weekend Service

Thanksgiving Day – Thursday, November 23:
• Regional Rail, buses, trolleys and the Norristown High Speed Line will operate on a Sunday/Holiday Schedule.
• Detours will be in effect from 3 a.m. to 2 p.m. on and around the Benjamin Franklin Parkway on routes 2, 7, 17, 27, 31, 32, 33, 38, 43, 44, 48, 124 and 125 due to the Thanksgiving Day Parade.  Continue Reading

Photo via The Food Trust’s Facebook page.

This is Thanksgiving week, so if you’re planning to do last-minute shopping for your feast please note that the mid-week Clark Park Farmers’ Market, which usually takes place on Thursdays, will be set up on Wednesday, Nov. 22 this week. The market, which is located at 43rd and Baltimore, will have special pre-Thanksgiving hours: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. After tomorrow, the mid-week Farmers’ Market will close until next summer. The Saturday market is open all year round, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Both markets are run by The Food Trust. For more information on the vendors, go here.

To print this graphic, go to www.greenphillyblog.com

The holidays can be wasteful and on the day after it can be difficult to sort through what’s trash, what’s recycling, and what shouldn’t be thrown away at all. With this in mind, we’ve been reading the helpful work done by our colleagues at the Green Philly blog, where they compiled a simple infographic explaining what can and can’t be recycled.

Here are some of the most important lessons we’ve learned from them and elsewhere:

These are things you cannot recycle:

• Plastic bags
• Straws
• Light bulbs
• Greasy boxes/paper
• Takeout containers
• Styrofoam
• Napkins, tissue paper
• Broken glass

Not only are these items non-recyclable, they can potentially be dangerous for workers, whose job is among the more deadly in the nation.

Julie Hancher, editor of the Green Philly blog, said the website created the guide to simplify sustainability, which she said often confuses her readers.  Continue Reading

Here’s a reminder that the annual Halloween Tot Parade will be held in Spruce Hill on Tuesday, Oct. 31. As always, the parade will begin at 45th and Baltimore and end on the 4200 block of Osage Avenue (“Little Osage”). The parade is a great opportunity for families with young children to showcase their Halloween costumes (many parents are into it just as much as kids and some folks get really creative – check out photos from previous parades).

Gathering will begin at 4 p.m. outside of Milk and Honey on 45th Street and the parade will kick off at 4:30 sharp.

After the parade, Little Osage (4200 block) residents and local businesses will throw a Halloween block party with cider and baked goods.

For more Halloween events, check out our Events page. If you’re hosting an event, feel free to submit it here.