If the loop playing of Wham’s “Last Christmas” at CVS hasn’t given it away already, the holiday season is here, with Thanksgiving just around the corner.

For many locals, the holidays mean planning a vacation or taking a trip back home for family quality time. But for others, the season means staying put in West Philly, be it because of circumstance or because loved ones are coming to you.

Your holiday staycation doesn’t have to turn out boring, though. After all, with all the great restaurants in the area you can embark in a week-long foodie tour that will satisfy your hunger and help you taste new flavors. But our little notch of Philadelphia proper has many other great gems to keep you and/or your family entertained during the season—some popular and historic, others hidden and in need of discovery.

In order to help your staycation take flight, West Philly Local put together a short list of places to play and sleep to help you plan your local itinerary—and discover the unique personality of our neighborhood.

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Saturday, Nov. 16, is LOVE Your Park Fall Service Day and you can show appreciation of your neighborhood park by helping with the Fall cleanup. Several West Philadelphia parks are participating in the event and neighbors are welcome to help beautify their park and prepare it for the winter.

Help may be needed with the following activities: leaf raking, general cleanup, mulching, tree and bulb planting, cleaning garden beds for winter, and others. The participating parks are:

–Barkan Park
–Cedar Park
–Clark Park
–Cobbs Creek
–Granahan Playground
–Lotus Gardens
–Malcolm X Park
–Morris Park
–Royal Gardens
–Saunders Park Greene/Willow Triangle

If you live near one of these parks and want to help, please go to: http://loveyourpark.org/volunteer/, select your park on the map to check what activities are scheduled and at what time and then fill out the sign up form.

Editor’s Note: West Philly Local is proud to present the second in a series of vignettes of local block captains drawn from Them That Do, a multimedia documentary project and community blog by West Philly-based award-winning photographer Lori Waselchuk. The first profile ran last week.

Maureen Tate became a gardener because of a killing.

In the 1980s, during the era Maureen calls the “The Crack Period,” Cedar Park neighborhood residents organized drug vigils on the corner of 49^th Street and Baltimore Avenue where they would stand in shifts all night and ‘stare down dealers’ to try to prevent them from doing business.

“We were trying to regain control of our streets,” Maureen explained.

Another intimidating location was the vacant lot at the corner of 49^th and Florence Avenue. “The corner lot was trashed all the time and it was dangerous,” said Maureen, who has been the block captain of 4800 Florence Avenue since 1982. “The neighbors were feeling really threatened.”

When a Vietnamese immigrant was murdered in his home next to that lot in 1983, she and her neighbors decided to act. They removed the trash, built flower beds and filled them with daisies, lilies, and tulips. They named it Florence Garden. “Our garden made us feel we were reclaiming that space and staking our presence.”

The transformation required patience, and several years of work. Maureen laughs when she thinks about how little she knew about growing things. “Everything I know about gardening, I learned at Florence Garden.”

She and a handful of others maintained Florence Garden for 20 years. It won second place in the city’s garden contest in 1989.

“It was beautiful.”

Eventually the city sold the property in a sheriff sale and developers built four townhouses.

Cedar Park is now experiencing a period of more stability and reinvestment. “It’s such a relief to see happy people on our street.” Tate remains very active on her block as well as with Cedar Park Neighbors. She continues to garden in public spaces, organizing crews to build and maintain flower beds around Cedar Park.

University City Chinese Christian Church.

It’s a big day tomorrow in Spruce Hill – the day for the Spruce Hill Annual Meeting where residents are invited to “mingle, vote, and discuss developments in the neighborhood.” The meeting will be held at a new location – the recently completed University City Chinese Christian Church at the northwest corner of 45th and Walnut. The church building is also used as a community space.

This meeting is an opportunity for neighbors to ask questions and offer comments about the future of the Spruce Hill neighborhood, which covers an area from 40th to 46th street and Market to Woodland avenues, and also a chance to renew your dues. By the way, all new and recurring SHCA members will receive a free Spruce Hill door decal while supplies last.

Martine Decamp, Philadelphia City Planning Commission’s new planner for the University City/Southwest and Lower Southwest region, will be the featured speaker at the meeting. Since the new zoning code went into effect in August 2012, Decamp will talk about the city’s remapping and rezoning efforts. She will also provide some insight into the Commission’s thinking as it developed its recommendations for future development in the Spruce Hill neighborhood.

Voting is a very important part of the meeting. Here is a list of candidates for the SHCA Board of Directors:

• Monica Calkins – president.
• Andy Cole – executive vice president.
• Mark Wagenveld – vice president (operations).
• Marie McCullough – secretary
• Judy Powers – treasurer.

Overall, 10 seats on the 20-member board are up this year and the Nominating Committee is recommending five newcomers and five incumbents. To see the full list of candidates, please follow this link: http://www.sprucehillca.org/shca-annual-election.

For more details about the meeting and to let your neighbors know that you’re coming, visit the event’s Facebook page.

The meeting begins at 7 p.m.

West Philly Local is proud to present a series of vignettes of local block captains drawn from Them That Do, a multimedia documentary project and community blog by photographer and videographer Lori Waselchuk. We profiled Waselchuk in 2011 upon the release of her book Grace Before Dying. She lives in West Philadelphia and Them That Do begins with stories close to home. West Philly Local will publish a ten-part series featuring a block captain profile every Wednesday.

Waselchuk is an award-winning photographer and author. She began Them That Do as a 2012 Pew Fellowship for the Arts.

Thirty years ago Gregory Pac Cojulun walked into his first neighborhood meeting. He walked out a block captain. “I was ambushed,” Cojulun said with smile that hinted that all was forgiven. “I just wanted to see how things were going and they nominated and voted for me.”

Now in his sixties, Pac Cojulun needs a cane to walk, but rarely sits down. He is still the block captain, but his bigger commitment is given to Malcolm X Park.

Cojulun likes to network on behalf of his neighbors. “I’ve met a lot of different people in different agencies. I’ve gotten to the point I can call people up and they recognize me.” He is also the president of the board that maintains Malcolm X Park, which he says can demand 60-70 hours of his time a week.

“Our park was a thug park in the 60’s and 70’s. Nobody wanted to come through it,” said Cojulun. Through a grant from the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society nearly twenty years ago, a small group of residents began to clean up and restore the park. Today the park is an active cultural and social center in West Philadelphia. Cojulun says that it has been a slow process to revitalize Malcolm X Park and the board’s ability to plan programming and make improvements depends on donations.

Cojulun’s pride, though, is apparent. During a recent theater event, he walked slowly around the park’s centerpiece, a large round gazebo, checking in on young and giggling high school actors. He proudly watches and greets them as they prepare for a theatrical performance. “We try to make sure everything is done right, and make sure the people are happy,” he said.

We can’t get enough of Philly Thriller. The popular local community dance project has grown since its introduction in 2009 and this year included 34 dancers and a long waitlist of those who wanted to be part of the project, according to its founder Rashida Holmes. If you missed Philly Thriller perform this Halloween check out the video below shot by Rich Wexler of Project Arts. Rich also spoke to Rashida about her project and chatted with some Philly Thriller dancers. Enjoy!