This weekend there’s an opportunity to show your love for your local parks as many events are scheduled in the area as part of the “Love Your Park” week held citywide. Here are some details:

The Porch Beer Garden (The Porch at 30th Street Station)

Thursday & Friday (May 16 & 17), 3 – 8 p.m.

The Porch at 30th Street Station is hosting a two-day beer garden this Thursday and Friday. There will be live music by Perseverance Jazz Band (May 16), The Red Hot Ramblers (May 16), and Polkadelphia (May 17). Beer will be served by Bridgewater’s Pub and the following gourmet food trucks will show up at the event: The Cow and The Curd (battered fried cheese curds), Local 215 (locally sourced seasonal foods), and Sum Pig (gourmet comfort food). For more information, visit the event’s Facebook page.

Picnic in Cedar Park (50th & Baltimore)

Friday, May 17, 6 – 8 p.m.

Cedar Park is celebrating “Love Your Park” week with a community picnic. You can bring your own food or pick up a coupon for a “picnic special” you can redeem at Cedar Park area businesses, including The Gold Standard Cafe, Dock Street Brewery, Hibiscus Cafe, Little Baby’s Ice Cream and more. Click here for more details.

Barkan Park Clean-up (50th & Spruce)

Saturday, May 18, 2 – 4 p.m.

Show your love for Barkan Park this Saturday and help with clean-up, weeding, and planting. Tools and refreshments will be provided. For more information call Mark at 215-476-2983.

Party in Clark Park (43rd & Baltimore)

Saturday, May 18, 4 – 8 p.m.
The Friends of Clark Park are hosting a party in Clark Park in observance of “Love Your Park” week and everyone is invited. This free community event will include food, music, games and the park’s first Beer Garden. At the party enjoy performances by West Philly based Pakistani musician Umer Piracha, The Philadelphia Women’s Slavic Ensemble and On The Water. And here are the food vendors at the party: MiniTrini (gourmet Trinidadian food), The Cow and the Curd, Taco Angeleno (new West Philly based taco truck), and Lil’ Pop Shop. Beer will be served by Dock Street and actually will cost $5, but if you join The Friends of Clark Park at the event you will receive a free beer ticket and can buy the next beers for $3.

By the way, also on Saturday Clark Park “B” at 43rd and Chester will be hosting Uhuru Flea Market from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., so you can spend the whole day at the park, especially since the weather is expected to be nice and sunny.

The Cedar Park Neighbors community association is holding its annual membership meeting tonight at Calvary Center for Culture and Community (48th & Baltimore) and community members are welcome to attend. The annual Board of Directors election for current CPN members will also take place (voting will be from 6:30 – 7:30 p.m.) The general program will start at 7:00 p.m.

The meeting will include the following agenda:

•  Introduction of nominees and standing Board Members
• Update on the AVI Townhall meeting
• Update on “Future of the Neighborhood” survey
• Featured Speaker: Iola Harper, Enterprise Center Senior Director of the Acceleration Group
• Community announcements
• Representative from Police District will speak
• Recognition of long dedication to CPN by Karen Allen, Dorothy Berlind, Laurie Friedman, Victoria Iannotta, and Joanne Pham
• Announcements of new Board Members (polls close at 7:30 pm)

For more information on the candidates running for the board election, including their bios, please visit the Cedar Park Neighbors website.

Here are a couple of shots from the neighborhood featuring volunteers cleaning up Cedar Park and wonderful spring blossoms.

Last fall we wrote about a new development project in Cedar Park – the conversion of an old warehouse near 49th and Pentridge into office and studio space called The Cedar Works. The renovation of the historic building at 4919 Pentridge Street, which took a full year, is now complete and residents are invited to the Grand Opening party this Saturday (Apr. 13), at 7 p.m. to check it out.

Andy Peifer, one of The Cedar Works’ owners and long-time Cedar Park resident (his family lives just around the corner), says that the 15,000-square-foot property has had occupancy since February and now has 17 of the 21 studios rented. The tenants are a mixture of artists and professionals with a variety of media and work represented: pottery, spinning and dyeing of wool, jewelry and leather working, mental health therapy, guitar building, oil painting, sketching/drawing, web development, photography, interior design, printmaking, and writing/publishing.

At the grand opening party guests can meet local artists and visit their studios and check out the new community meeting and event space. This space is also already being well used for events, such as Philadelphia Folklore Project, Honoring our Elders, etc., training (Training for Change, Action United), and meetings (Quaker meeting, AIDS Policy Project).

“We are looking forward to becoming an additional resource for the Cedar Park neighborhood,” said Andy.

For more information about The Cedar Works, visit: thecedarworks.com.
 

Police are investigating another shooting outside of a residence in the Cedar Park neighborhood last night, on the same block where a man was shot and wounded last Friday. Police say shots were fired Thursday night around 6:30 p.m., on the 4900 block of Catharine Street.

Officers from the 18th District responded to a call of “a person with a gun” and found eight shell casings. Police say no victims were present. The investigation continues.

A man who was reportedly released on parole was shot in both legs at around 6:30 p.m. last night on the 4900 block of Catharine Street, about 20 feet from the Cedar Park playground.

Police showed up soon after shooting was reported, but couldn’t find any victims. Later they found the 32-year-old man at Temple University hospital where he had been dropped off, according to GunCrisis.org. The victim is listed in stable condition. A house near where the man was shot has been associated with criminal activity, according to a neighbor. Apparently, it was a shootout between two people.

GunCrisis.org reports that the shooting was one of at least a half-dozen across the city last night.

Some residents near the corner of St. Bernard and Springfield are reporting that they heard between four and six gunshots and screaming just before 3 a.m. this morning outside of the African Cultural Center, which has been criticized in the past for late-night parties. They witnessed a lot of people running away from the center’s entrance, towards their cars to leave. Several police cars later arrived. At this point it’s not known if any arrests were made or if anyone was injured.

Several residents worked last year to bring attention to late-night events at the cultural center, which in recent years has been rented out by the owners for cover-charge events that typically run into the early morning hours. The problem is that the center, which also occasionally hosts wedding receptions and other events, is in a residential area.

– Mike Lyons