Here’s some information on Easter egg hunts happening in the area this weekend. If you know of more egg hunts, please post information about them in the comments below.

Saturday, March 26

Easter Egg Hunt at Clark Park (43rd and Chester)

Easter Egg Hunt at Clark Park will take place from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. Kids up to age 8 are invited. Along with the hunt, there will be some crafts and raffle prizes at the end. This year’s raffle prizes include: gift cards to Renata’s Kitchen, The Nesting House, Clarkville, VIX Emporium, and West Philly Foods. Be sure to get to the park (by the toddler playground) to register for the egg hunt. Registration will begin at 10:45 a.m. and will close promptly at 11:15 a.m. This annual event is organized by Renewal Presbyterian Church.

Spring Egg Hunt at Walnut Street West Library (40th and Walnut)

There will be two egg hunts: 10:30-11:30 a.m. for ages up to 6 and 12-1:30 p.m. for ages 7-12. Join the Friends of Walnut St West Library for snacks, stories, games and books to take home!  Continue Reading

The annual TreePhilly yard tree giveaway is currently underway. Property owners who want to receive a free tree for their yard or lawn this spring are encouraged to register. To do that, go to the registration page on the TreePhilly website (see below), select up to two trees (various species are available, including fruit trees!) and pre-register for one of the tree pick-up events scheduled to take place in April and May at various locations throughout the city.

John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge will host a yard tree giveaway on May 21 in Southwest Philadelphia – at James Finnegan Playground (6801 Grovers Ave.). To pre-register for this event, click here.

Registration ends on April 1, 2016. For more information about available tree species and other giveaways, visit: http://treephilly.org/spring16freetrees.

Photos West Philly Local

Editor’s Note: After this story was printed, Spruce Hill Community Association’s zoning chair Barry Grossbach said that they “begged the owners of 243 [S. 45th St.] not to take the building down. My impression is that they are building a multi-unit structure.”

Developers continue to buy properties and land around Penn and Drexel and turn them into apartments buildings mostly aimed at students. The photo above is from a new project at 41st and Ludlow. Ludlow Brothers LLC purchased a single family home at that location in 2014 and demolished it to make room for a four-story apartment building.

Another Spruce Hill development project, luxury apartments on S. 45th Street between Spruce and Locust, has been completed. As was reported earlier, an old West Philly row home at 245 S. 45th St. was demolished to make room for the new four-story 15-unit building. However, we recently noticed that another old row home, right next door to the new apartment building was also being torn down:

It’s not clear yet what is coming in its place. The 5-bedroom home at 243 S. 45th St. was sold last summer for $399,000 to developer South Fortyfive 243 LLC, according to property records.

On Saturday, March 19, parents and caregivers of preschool-age children are invited to meet representatives of about a dozen local early childhood education programs and learn more about available preschool and daycare options in the area. All at the same time and place! The West Philly Early Childhood Info Day is organized by a recently formed West Philly Early Childhood Consortium, and the following centers will participate in tomorrow’s event:

• Children’s Community School (1212 South 47th)
• The Little Green School House (219 South Melville)
• Little Learners (4630 Woodland)
• Dreamscape
• Past Your Bedtime Child Care (4946 Parkside, 2009 North 63rd)
• Little Pearls (1247 North 52nd)
• TIES Tots (4431 Walnut)
• Saint Mary’s Nursery School (3916 Locust Walk)
• Parent Infant Center (4205 Spruce)
• West Philadelphia Cooperative School (4625 Baltimore)

At this free event you can learn about local programs, ask questions one-on-one, and get info on choosing the right program for you. Also, feel free to bring your kids to this event – it will include a children’s book sale and free activities for your little ones.  Continue Reading

Prisoner’s Song, a powerful performance created by composer Gelsey Bell and visual artist Erik Ruin about the prison experience will be presented at The Rotunda (4014 Walnut St.) on Friday, March 18, 8-10 p.m.. The presentation is a fusion of art and activism and will give the audience the chance to speak to formerly incarcerated men who lent their stories to beautiful music and huge wall projections.

Performance photo by Michael Yu.

Using shadow puppets and projections alongside a variety of musical idioms, the piece draws on historic ballads, poetry, audio interviews with people who have spent time in prison, and other primary sources to create a fragmentary encounter with the states of mind and heart prison engenders.

The event is working with Reconstruction, Inc., whose mission is to effect social change by forging individuals that were formerly incarcerated into an organized community of leaders working together to transform the criminal justice system, their communities and themselves.

The performance will be followed by a brief talk-back with the artists and various contributors to the project, including Hakim Ali and William Goldsby of Reconstruction, Inc., LuQman Abdullah and Emily Abendroth.

Admission is free, but an optional donation will be accepted at the door for Reconstruction, Inc.

Clark Park Youth Soccer coach Jean-Marie with one of his students, October 2015. (Photo courtesy of CPYSL)

A great and affordable local outdoor youth soccer program, Clark Park Youth Soccer League (CPYSL), will be back next month for its Spring 2016 season and is currently recruiting kids and volunteer coaches.

The spring season will start on Saturday, April 2 and end on May 21.

The program provides soccer instruction and intramural games for children ages 5-11 on Saturdays each spring and fall at Clark Park and emphasizes enjoying the game of soccer while learning soccer skills. Each 90-minute session includes both skills training and a game.

Children are assigned to teams by age:

– Mornings (10:30-Noon): ages 5 to 6.5 and ages 6.5 to 7
– Afternoons (Noon-1:30 pm): ages 8 to 9 and ages 10 to 11

Families can fill out an online application and submit their payment online at this link; register and pay by mail (download registration form here and mail it to CPYSL by March 28); or register in person at walk-in registration on April 2.

The all-volunteer-run program is also currently seeking volunteer coaches. If you like soccer and enjoy working with kids, email clarkparksoccer@yahoo.com  Continue Reading