Posted on 04 December 2014 by WestPhillyLocal.com
The University City Arts League (UCAL) is excited to bring back its annual Holiday Craft Show, which kicks off on Friday, Dec. 5. UCAL’s Holiday Craft Show is a neighborhood art and shopping tradition, which features work by more than 30 craftspeople. This is another great chance to find unique handmade holiday gifts. Your purchase will also support the crafters who will get a percentage of the sales.
The opening reception is on Friday, from 6 to 8 p.m. If you can’t make it on Friday, don’t worry – the craft show runs through Sunday, Dec. 21, when the closing reception will take place from 4 to 6 p.m. The UCAL gallery, where the craft show takes place, is open daily: Monday-Friday 3 – 8 p.m.; Saturday & Sunday 12 – 6 p.m.
UCAL is located at 4226 Spruce Street. For more information, visit the UCAL website.
Posted on 04 December 2014 by Mike Lyons
As the holidays approach and trips to stores increase, the pesky plastic shopping bags can start to pile up. Many people just put them in the blue curbside recycling bin. Plastic is plastic right? Nope. Not only do they not get recycled they can get stuck in the recycling machinery and jam things up.
You can probably guess how bad these things are for the environment. If not, here’s a reminder. Also, there’s the ongoing debate over whether they should be banned or taxed.
So what to do? The easiest solution is to carry a reusable shopping bag. But if that’s not your style or you always forget yours, you might be able to return plastic bags to nearby grocery stores. Here are a few places where you can turn the bags in:
• Fresh Grocer at 40th & Walnut, in the lobby near the elevators.
• Whole Foods on Callowhill.
• Shoprite at Parkwest Town Center, near 52nd and Parkside.
Are there other places that you know of? Please leave a comment and we will compile an ongoing list.
Posted on 03 December 2014 by WestPhillyLocal.com
Bartram’s Garden signature wreath. (Photo courtesy Bartram’s Garden)
There will be a few local holiday shopping opportunities this week, which we are happy to pass along. We’ll start with a great festive annual event at the historic Bartram’s Garden.
On Saturday, Dec. 6, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Bartram’s Garden will be holding a Greens Sale and Holiday Market. The Greens Sale is a great opportunity to shop for beautiful handmade wreaths, centerpieces, and pine roping. Fresh evergreens and poinsettias will also be available for sale. There will also be an opportunity to decorate your own wreath at the DIY craft station or you can just purchase one made by volunteers.
The holiday market is a new event at the garden. It will feature local vendors and unique gifts for everyone on your list, including jewelry, pottery, handmade bags, natural apothecary and more! The event will also feature music and fresh apple cider.
The Bartram House, a national historic landmark, closes for restoration work next year, so guests are also invited to its tour while it’s still open.
Bartram members will get first pick of this year’s selection of wreaths and fresh cut greens during the preview party on Friday, December 5.
Bartram’s Garden is located in Southwest Philadelphia, at 54th Street and Lindbergh Boulevard (#36 Trolley line). For more information, click here.
Posted on 02 December 2014 by Mike Lyons
Curtis (left) and his crew. (Archived photo / West Philly Local).
There are a few things around that signal the arrival of the holiday season. The squirrels bulk up a little for the winter, parking is a little easier to come by as the students start leaving and, like clockwork, Curtis and his amiable crew set up their Christmas tree operation at 50th and Baltimore (just like they have every year for 25 years or so).
This year, they began selling trees on the triangle in front of Dock Street the day after Thanksgiving and will continue right through Christmas Eve. The selection is good – different sizes, types and prices. They also have stands if you need one of those and they will tie up your tree so it can go in your grocery cart (or on your car).
Curtis is typically open every day from 8:30 a.m. to 11 p.m..
We’ll keep you posted on other spots to buy a tree around the neighborhoods, but as usual Curtis gets first mention of the season.
Posted on 02 December 2014 by WestPhillyLocal.com
Today is #GivingTuesday, a nationwide campaign encouraging people to support not-for-profit organizations. We’re joining in and would like to remind our readers that there are dozens of great non-profits in West Philly, working on improving communities and schools, and providing help to those who need it most. Please visit our Civic Life page and choose an organization you would like to support. We will also be tweeting and re-tweeting #GivingTuesday messages from local non-profits throughout the day (@westphillylocal). Here are some of them:
While many non-profit organizations would appreciate a monetary donation today, others are seeking volunteers. Repair The World: Philadelphia is teaming up with the West Philadelphia Alliance for Children (WePAC) to reopen a school library that has been closed for over a decade. Volunteers are welcome to help these organizations clean up the Andrew Hamilton Elementary School library this afternoon, from 4 to 7 p.m. The school is located at 5640 Spruce Street. Here’s the flier:
Posted on 01 December 2014 by Mike Lyons
Like helping clean up a park, organize a block party or attend a civic meeting, the holiday shopping season can offer a chance for community engagement. Where you shop and what you buy matters.
Here are five reasons we hope you will buy local during the holidays (and the rest of the year too for that matter):
1. An estimated 68 cents of every dollar spent locally goes back into the community. So you get to help feed this virtuous circle of convivial commerce. That makes you awesome in our book.
2. Local non-profits receive an estimated 250 percent more assistance from local businesses than they do from national chains. When was the last time Applebee’s offered to cater a University City Arts League event? That’s what we thought.
3. You can find high-quality, locally made items. For example, VIX Emporium sells locally made nail polish with West Philly themed colors like “Kingsessing Crimson.” You think you’re going to find that at Target? No mam.
4. Small business owners are our neighbors and friends. Typically, they’re in the neighborhood for the long haul. Among other things, that means we can yell at them if they don’t shovel the snow in front of their shop.
5. Locally owned small businesses don’t need much to operate so they are better for the environment. They don’t tax the infrastructure or gobble up tons of land. Local businesses are usually located along a public transportation route, they often have bike racks and they very rarely have big parking lots.
For those reasons and a ton of others we are doing our best to promote local businesses this holiday season. Pleas check out our annual “Buy Local for the Holidays” campaign page to see what our partners – local shops, restaurants, arts, and other organizations – have to offer this holiday season.
The University City Arts League (UCAL) is excited to bring back its annual Holiday Craft Show, which kicks off on Friday, Dec. 5. UCAL’s Holiday Craft Show is a neighborhood art and shopping tradition, which features work by more than 30 craftspeople. This is another great chance to find unique handmade holiday gifts. Your purchase will also support the crafters who will get a percentage of the sales.
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