Carol Jenkins (left) gardening at Clark Park with Lisa McDonald Hanes and Susie Pierce, gardener volunteers. (Photos courtesy of Friends of Clark Park)

Editor’s Note: This post has been submitted by Anna Selfridge, Vice President of Friends of Clark Park.

If you’ve strolled through Clark Park this past summer, you might have noticed the rejuvenation of the gardens along the park’s sidewalks and borders. This welcome change was the result of the new Gardening Program at Friends of Clark Park. The program is headed by Carol Jenkins, who has lived on the border of the park for 30 years.

“Since I spend so much time in Clark Park, I felt I needed to do something when I saw wild trees growing up through flowering shrubs, and weeds taking over flower gardens,” she said.

Carol joined the Friends following her retirement from teaching at Temple University specifically to put her green thumb to work.  Continue Reading

The Friends of Clark Park (FoCP) Membership meeting will take place on Monday, Oct. 19, starting at 7 p.m.

The agenda includes:

• Elections are scheduled for President, Vice President, Secretary, and half of the FoCP Board.

• A discussion is planned about trash removal in the park and associated problems.

• A discussion of various upcoming projects including folding chair replacement, new chess tables, and planning for next year’s events.

The meeting will be held at Griffith Hall Lecture Room A, 600 S. 43rd Street, on the University of the Sciences Campus. All are welcome.

From Kathleen Turner of Friends of Clark Park:

Weather forecasts call for rain by mid-morning, so Youth Soccer has been canceled for today. Have a safe and happy weekend — see you next Saturday!

Monday’s snow drew some observations by Holly Otterbein in City Paper about the changes at Clark Park. The story quickly lays out the two sides of the argument: “improvements” versus “clear cut.” Here’s the meat of the story:

“Indeed, the renovations — though aimed at providing better drainage, improved paths and more lighting — are the subject of no small controversy. The Clark Park revitalization, which has been in the works for the last 10 years, has drawn criticism from various locals, including eco-artist Aaron Birk, who wrote this September in an e-mail to City Paper and others, “Clark Park is going to be clear-cut in the next day or so. There is now a chain-link construction fence preventing anyone from setting foot in the park,” adding, “Let me know if you’re interested in helping organize an emerge ncy sit-in. I have a 50-watt megaphone.”

But according to the Friends of Clark Park, only 24 trees have been removed and that’s because they’re old, diseased or invasive.

“These trees were selected for removal after consultation with arborists from the Morris Arboretum,” says xBrian Siano, vice president of the Friends. “And preserving the tree canopy was one of the most important goals we had.”

Below is a copy of the (now 10-year-old) master plan for Clark Park. The folks at The Friends of Clark Park have said that they expect the “A” park to be open by this spring.
Clark Park Master Plan