Here is an awesome opportunity for local food entrepreneurs to get financial and technical support for their growing businesses. The Enterprise Center is awarding selected businesses up to $50,000, including 15 hours (valued at $450) of kitchen time at the Dorrance H. Hamilton Center for Culinary Enterprises (48th and Spruce). Applications are currently being accepted for the Cooking Up Success! culinary competition in the following categories: Innovative Food Creation, Emerging Food Business, and Innovative Collaboration. Applicants’ businesses must be located in Philadelphia and Emerging Food Businesses must be within 0-6 months of operation in order to be considered for the award.

The Innovative Food Creation category is for entrepreneurs who have an innovative food product to be sold wholesale or in the form of a catering business. Applicants can select one of six sub-categories when they submit their business summary entry.

The Emerging Food Business category is for new or established brick-and-mortar businesses, including coffee shops, cafes, restaurants, and food trucks.

Finally, two or more entrepreneurs working together on a collaborative food product or business are welcome to submit their application in the Innovative Collaboration category.

All applicants must submit their business plan online by March 11, 2015.

Local culinary experts and professionals will select top finalists in each category, based on entrepreneurs’ business sustainability and product quality. Friends, family and associates then will vote on these finalists as they show off their dishes or products at the Cooking up Success! Philly Made event at the Culinary Center on May 19, 2015.

For more information and to submit your application, go here.

Snow emergency: In anticipation of a heavy snowfall expected to hit the Philadelphia area overnight and in the morning, the city has declared a snow emergency in effect starting at 6 a.m. on Thursday, March 5. If you parked your vehicle along one of the emergency routes the city wants you to move it. All vehicles remaining parked along the emergency routes after 6 a.m. will be towed. If your car is towed please call 215-686-SNOW.

Here are the snow emergency routes in West Philadelphia:

• Chestnut Street from Cobbs Creek Parkway to 20th Street
• Walnut Street from Broad Street to Cobbs Creek Parkway
• Woodland Avenue from Cobbs Creek Parkway to University Avenue
• 34th Street from University Avenue to Grays Ferry Avenue
• 38th Street from Walnut to University Avenue
• 63rd Street from City Avenue to Walnut Street
• University Avenue from 38th Street to 34th Street
• Island Avenue from Woodland Avenue to Enterprise Avenue
• Cobbs Creek Parkway from Walnut Street to Woodland Avenue
• Schuylkill Avenue from Market Street to Walnut Street

Trash collection: Snow emergency also means that there will be no trash and recycling pick up this Thursday because garbage trucks will be used for snow removal. If your trash collection day is Thursday please hold it until next Thursday. The Streets Department also announced that only trash and recyclables set out curbside will be picked up this Friday (no rear drive pick-up).

Schools: All public and Archdiocese schools will be closed on Thursday due to the snowstorm.

SEPTA: The following bus routes are currently on detour: 7, 9, 14, 19, 27, 28, 31, 32, 38, 44, 48, 52, 55, 56, 58, 62, 65, 84, 88, 90, 92, 93, 95, 97, 98, 99, 103, 104, 107, 109, 110, 111, 112, 114, 115, 117, 118, 119, 120, 125, 126, 131 and G. Information on the detours for specific routes will be published on the System Status section of the SEPTA website. Click on the weather icon next to the route for complete details.

Dear West Philly parents and guardians,

We have updated our Summer Camps page where you can find information not only on West Philly based camps but also on many camps in other parts of the city. Registration for many camps has already started (and some of them are already almost full!). Registration for some camps is expected to start this or next month. We will be updating the page as we receive more information.

If you are looking for a summer camp in West Philadelphia, check out the list below. These camps have already posted information about their Summer 2015 registration (please email editor@westphillylocal.com if you want your camp to be included in the listings).

Curio Theatre Summer Camp
University City Arts League Summer Arts Camp
Lavner Camps and Programs at UPenn (Fashion, Jewelry, Video Game Design, Coding, Robotics, Chess and more camps)
Neighborhood Bike Works Cycling Day Camp
“Anthropologists in the Making” Summer Camp at Penn Museum
Summer Sports Camps at UPenn (Baseball, Basketball, Tennis, Soccer, Gymnastics and more camps)
University City Field Hockey Day Camp
Summer Camp at PIC
Al-Bustan Camp: An Arabic Language and Cultural Day Camp
Camp Sojourner, Girls’ Leadership Camp
Summer Camp at Shofuso Japanese House and Garden
iD Tech Camps at UPenn
“Wildlife Warriors” Summer Camp at Philadelphia Zoo
NEW! West Philadelphia Cooperative School Summer Camp
Youth Summer Cooking Camp
YMCA West Philadelphia Branch Day Camp

Photo courtesy of William Street Common.

Anyone who has worked in the restaurant industry knows how unpredictable earning a living can be, especially with varying beliefs about tipping. Bottom line: for a server or a bartender, income can be completely arbitrary according to how customers are feeling at any given moment.

Restaurateur Avram Hornick wants to take the guesswork out of the tipping process with his new venture at 39th and Chestnut, William Street Common, which opened last week. He expects it to attract a crowd different from his other spots in the area, such as Morgan’s Pier.

“First, the whole purpose is social conversation,” said Hornick. “West Philly; what’s interesting about it is its diversity. I wouldn’t call it a melting pot, more like a jambalaya. The parts are separate. I would like to make the mixing of these parts possible here.”

William Street Common features long communal tables, beer garden style.  Continue Reading

If you missed the cat shelter making workshop organized by Project M.E.O.W. earlier this winter, here’s another chance. This Saturday, Project M.E.O.W. and Best Friends Animal Society are hosting another workshop, from 1 – 4 p.m. at Beaumont Warehouse (5027 Beaumont Ave) in West Philadelphia. At the workshop, you can learn how to build a simple shelter out of a plastic bin for cats in your neighborhood or for your own cat. What you can bring to help: 18 or 37 gallon Rubbermaid plastic bins with lids. Check out the event flier below for more information. Please email: philadelphiacats@bestfriends.org or info@projectmeow.org with questions or call 215-913-6013.

Neighborhood Bike Works (NBW), a great local non-profit teaching youth how to bike safely and how to repair bikes, is offering two FREE entry level after-school programs starting next month. Anyone ages 8 – 18 can join these programs (see more details below). Also, check out NBW’s Summer Cycling Day Camp. Registration for Summer 2015 is not available yet, but you can email camp@neighborhoodbikeworks.org with questions. NBW’s West Philly shop is located at 3916 Locust Walk (behind St. Mary’s Episcopal Church).

Earn A Bike
March 3 – April 16, 2015
Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4:00 – 6:00 PM
Youth learn the basics of bike repair and maintenance, safe urban riding, and health and nutrition while refurbishing an abandoned bike. Program participants get to keep the bike that they refurbish in the course! For more information and to sign up, click here.  Continue Reading