A chilly Saturday morning didn’t stop community volunteers from lending a hand at Love Your Park day on November 15! Over 40 volunteers joined us at Tacony Creek Park to plant eight American Elm trees and crocus bulbs, remove graffiti, clean-up trash, and build birdhouses for wrens and chickadees. It was great to see many enthusiastic friends and neighbors who wanted to “dig and plant a tree!”
After a morning of hard work, volunteers enjoyed pizza, donuts, and apples and celebrated the afternoon with a Fall Festival filled with fun craft activities including making buttons and pinecone birdfeeders!
A special thanks to Fairmount Park Conservancy (FPC) and Philadelphia Parks & Recreation (PPR) for sponsoring this event twice each year to support our neighborhood parks. We are grateful for the generous donation of trees and bulbs, and thankful to Luke Rhodes (FPC) and Rob Armstrong (PPR) for joining us to help beautify the park.
We would also like to thank:
- Jordan of the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education: for bringing Madagascar hissing cockroaches and worms, and teaching us about decomposition and composting.
- Peter Kurtz of the Pennypack Environmental Center: for showing us how to craft beautiful wooden beads into bracelets and necklaces, and for carving fun wooden toys such as flying helicopter blades.
- Ifaen of the Philadelphia More Beautiful Committee: for providing information and resources on how to become a block captain and encouraging our young generation to be leaders in keeping our streets clean.
- Michelle Feldman of Keep Philadelphia Beautiful: for providing much needed information on the do’s and don’ts of recycling.
- Angel, Manny and Roman of Simple Cycle: for providing information on their great work making bicycles more accessible to city kids.
- Boris of Maker Park: for showing children and adults how to paint and take home a piece of nature with colors from the garden.
- Hannah and Gracie, the Juniata Spokesdog: for teaching the community about the importance of picking up after your dog, and handing out doggie bag dispensers.
- Uzoma of the Department of Human Services: for informing neighbors on the importance of awareness on domestic violence, and the resources available for help.
- Philadelphia Mounted Police: for putting a smile on everyone’s faces by being there with the horses and supporting our efforts to keep our community and park safe.
- And last but not least, our TTF interns: Doug Kripke, Emilie Wetzel, Allison Ostertag and Richard Vereneck and our TTF volunteers: Francheska and Bianca.
To all our wonderful Tacony Creek Park friends and neighbors: Thank you all so much for participating and “Loving Your Park” with us! Your continued support and dedication are inspiring!
Join us again on I St and Ramona Ave on December 3 at 9:30AM, where you can admire the improvements made by the community, and enjoy a nature walk in Tacony Creek Park!
View more event photos here. For more information and to RSVP, contact Doryán at doryan@ttfwatershed.org or 215.744.1853
