Here’s a great opportunity for gardeners to get free compost and check out West Philly’s Dirt Factory. The Dirt Factory, which opened almost a year ago at 4308 Market Street, is inviting neighbors to Dirt Day on Saturday, May 18 where you can receive free compost created at the facility from waste contributed by local residents, attend free workshops and tour the facility. In addition, there will be free food from West Philly businesses, plantables, and even free buckets for collecting your compostable waste. The event will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and here’s the workshop schedule:
11 a.m. – noon: Making Your Own Compost featuring Christine Tilles, Penn State Extension Educator
1-2 p.m.: Vegetable Gardening with Compost featuring Jessica Herwick, Penn State Extension Master Gardener
Everyone can take home up to 10 gallons of compost for free at tomorrow’s event, and while there, take a tour of The Dirt Factory to learn how the compost was made. Attendees are requested to RSVP at compost@universitycity.org
Reminder: The Dirt Factory is open for compostable waste drop-off from 5-6 p.m. on Wednesdays. For more information go to: universitycity.org/dirt-factory
Founded in 2011 by Repstyles Crew members Steve “Believe” Lunger and Mark “Metal” Wong, Hip Hop Fundamentals work to “empower and educate” local youth by teaching academics and social issues through hip hop assemblies. Their new hour-long “Civil Rights Movement” show (view video below), which will be performed at 10 Philadelphia public schools, will use dance, history lectures, music, interactive workshops, and audience participation to showcase the critical role students played in advancing civil rights in the 1950s and 1960s. A free May 5 public performance of the show at Clark Park kicked off the crew’s fundraising efforts.
During the show, students will have the opportunity to unite to “overcome prejudice, breaking unjust laws, writing letters to elected officials, marching and protesting, and boycotting,” Hip Hop Fundamentals’ Education Director, Aaron “Professor Peabody” Troisi. Hip Hop Fundamentals five-performer cast will read samples from different Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. letters and speeches, including “I Have a Dream” and “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” as well as highlight examples of student leadership and involvement in the Greensboro Lunch Counter Sit-Ins, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and the Freedom Rides.
“Civil Rights Movement” will also illuminate hip hop’s connection to the historic movement, with particular focus on Afrika Bambaataa and other founders of the politically and socially-conscious genres. According to Troisi, in drawing this connection, Hip Hop Fundamentals will show how hip hop “is one of the many legacies of the Civil Rights Movement; an empowering modern culture in which young people play a critical role.”
The tour will kick off before the end of this month and last through the end of the school year. While Hip Hop Fundamentals is still hammering out schedule and location details, the crew hopes to perform in West Philly’s Samuel Gompers and Overbrook Elementary schools, as well as Dimner Beeber Middle School.
According to Troisi, all funds raised through Kickstarter will go towards tour overhead, which costs roughly $1,000 per show for performers, transportation, production, and other expenses, with no costs passed on to the schools. He said some of the money will also fund arts programming provided free to local high-need schools, and hiring local young dancers for HHP’s youth-teaching-youth mentorship framework.
“We are hoping to bring empowering arts programming back to Philly’s public schools. We are hoping to work with and educate the youth in our communities who need it most,” he said. “This campaign has been so successful, it is obvious that our city is starved for good, educational arts programming. We’re honored to be a part of providing that to youth in our city.”
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.
Neighbors, community leaders and experts are getting together this afternoon (at 4 p.m.) to discuss the future of University City High School that is slated for closure at the end of the 2013 school year along with 22 other Philadelphia schools. The school opened in 1973.
Strategies for the use of the building after the closure will also be discussed at the forum that will take place at Metropolitan Baptist Church, 3500 Baring St. The panelists include:
Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell
Algernong Allen, Baltimore Avenue Business Association
DeWayne Drummond, Mantua Civic Association
George Poulin, Powelton Village Civic Association
Emily Dowdall, Pew Charitable Trusts
Allan Domb, President Greater Philadelphia Association of Realtors
The discussion will be moderated by Solomon Jones of AxisPhilly and filmed by NBC 10.
Three more parklets, public seating platforms that replace parking spots, are coming to the University City area this week. A new parklet was installed near Manakeesh Cafe on Walnut Street near 45th on Tuesday. Two parklets, with new design developed by Philadelphia’s Shift Space Design, are returning to their last year’s locations today and Thursday – on 44th Street near Spruce, across from Honest Tom’s and Lil’ Pop Shop, and on Locust Street near 40th, across from Ramen Bar and Keswick Cycle.
Elementary school students from at least two West Philadelphia schools plan to walk out of their classrooms tomorrow (Wednesday, May 15) and travel with their parents to City Hall to protest the proposed school budget cuts.
Students and their parents from Powel Elementary and Penn Alexander will join parents and students from the C.W. Henry School in Mount Airy in leaving school tomorrow morning to travel to City Hall to protest the proposed cuts, which would eliminate guidance counselors, music programs, assistant principals, nurses and librarians at most schools in the city. District officials have asked the city for $60 million to help make up the $304 million budget shortfall. They have also requested funding from the state and for union concessions.
“Our goal is to have City Council provide the additional $60 million in funding to put counselors, secretaries and after-school clubs back in the schools,” said Robin Dominick, who is helping to organize the walkout at Powel. Dominick estimates 20-30 families will take part.
Participating students and parents from Powel plan to leave at about 10:15 a.m. on the trolley for City Hall, where they will join with parents and students from C.W. Henry at between 10:45 a.m. and 11 a.m. at the northwest corner of City Hall.
Students wrote letters to city officials in school this week detailing how the cuts will impact them personally. They plan to deliver the letters to City Council members tomorrow, Dominick said.
A small but growing group of students and parents from Penn Alexander is also planning to attend the rally.
Hundreds of high school students walked out of their schools on May 9 to rally at City Hall in opposition to the cuts.
More details about the proposed budget are available here.
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