- Frankford Garden Club Meeting
When – Tue, April 27, 6:30pm – 7:30pmWhere – Wissinoming Recreation Facility (map)Description – we need to iron out Plant Sale plans and plan more trips! Bring your ideas and a bite to eat. Coffee and tea provided by Nancy. - Groundbreaking of the restoration of the historic house at Greenwood Cemetery
When – Fri, April 30, 10am – 11amWhere – Greenwood Cemetery – Adams Avenue (map)
- Frankford Special Services District Board Meeting
When – Mon, May 3, 8:30am – 9:30amWhere – St. Mark’s Church, 4442 Frankford Ave, Griscom Street entrance. (map)Description – Open to the public.
- Rachael Ray Shines on Frankford High
When – Mon, May 3, 10am – 11amWhere – TV ABC (map)Description – Rachael Ray show comes to Frankford.
- PSA 1 meeting
When – Tue, May 4, 7pm – 8pmWhere – Aria Health, Frankford and Dyre Streets, second floor conference room (map)Description – Patrol Sector Area 1 – bring your crime issues directly to the 15th district captain.
- Frankford Civic Association Meeting
When – Thu, May 6, 7pm – 8pmWhere – Frankford Hospital – 2nd floor conference room (map)
- Frankford Garden Club Annual Day-Before-Mother’s Day Plant Sale
When – Sat, May 8, 9am – 10amWhere – In Front of the Frankford Library, corner of Frankford Ave and Overington St (map)Description – We will have “Growing from Seed” Workshop at the Sale and at the Park VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
- LOVE Your Park Day in Overington Park Planting, Mulching Flower Beds and “Growing From Seeds” Workshop
When – Sat, May 8, 12pm – 3pmWhere – Overington Park (map)Description – LOVE Your Park Day in Overington Park Planting, Mulching Flower Beds and “Growing From Seeds” Workshop
- Historical Society of Frankford program
When – Tue, May 11, 7:30pm – 9:00pmWhere1507 Orthodox St., Philadelphia, PA 19124 (map)Description – FRANKFORD’s “SLOW FOOD” EFFORTS and LEGACY HSF Collections and Frankford Friends School Students HSF’s 2010 exhibit features aspects of food in Frankford and the Northeast. Frankford Friends School students have been researching food, urban farming (such as Kensington’s Greensgrow Farms — national leader in urban farming), and other aspects of slow food. View HSF’s display of historic food use, preparation, and storage items.
- Happy Birthday Frankford High Open House
When – Sat, May 15, 10am – 3pmWhere – Frankford High, Oxford Ave. & Wakeling St. Philadelphia, PA 19124 (map)Description – Join us for a full day of fun, food and reminiscing!! FHS students, staff and alumni are invited Be a part of the fun! Tours of the Building Memorabilia rooms Gathering spaces for clubs, teams, and music groups Frankford Souvenirs Tickets will be on sale for the 100th Anniversary Banquet November 26th Current
- Italian Style Family Dinner
When – Sat, May 15, 4:30pm – 8:00pmWhere – St. Joachim’s Church, 1527 Church Street, Phila., PA 19124 (map)Description – MARK YOUR CALENDAR Every Third Wednesday from September thru May Italian Style Family Dinner The Dinners will be served from 4:30 PM to 8 PM in Fitzmaurice Hall Take-out will be available. COST: $8.00 for Adults, $4.00 for Children. Come Join us!
- ANTIQUE (and COLLECTIBLE) APPRAISAL FAIR
When – Sun, May 16, 10am – 3pmWhere – Historical Society of Frankford, 1507 Orthodox Street, Philadelphia, PA 19124 (map)Description – ANTIQUE (and COLLECTIBLE) APPRAISAL FAIR Annual fundraiser. Have your cherished items appraised by local appraiser/auctioneer Barry S Slosberg. Who knows — you may have a priceless treasure just waiting to be discovered! Cost: $8 per item; maximum 3 items per person.
Tag: frankford high school
Coming Up in Frankford
- Deni Playground Cleanup
When – Sat, April 10, 9am – 2pmWhere – Deni Playground, Church Street at Leiper Street (map)
- Frankford Parks Cleanup
When – Sat, April 10, 9am – 12pmWhere – Wilmot Park, across from the Second Baptist Church of Frankford at Mulberry and Meadow streets (map)Description – Frankford residents who have been working on plans to improve some small local parks will meet in Wilmot Park at 9 a.m. on Saturday, April 10, across from the Second Baptist Church of Frankford at Mulberry and Meadow streets. They and other volunteers will be participating in the Mayor’s Citywide Cleanup. Jason Dawkins, an aide to Councilwoman Maria Quinones-Sanchez (D-7th dist.), said during the group’s meeting on Monday that cleanup efforts will focus on: ¥ Wilmot Park on the 1800 block of Meadow; ¥ Hedge and Plum Recreation Center, on the 1600 block of Orthodox St.; ¥ A small parcel next to Hedge and Plum; ¥ A vacant lot across from Hedge and Plum; ¥ The Gambrel Recreation Center, at Wakeling and Ditman streets; ¥ A small parcel at Duffield and Meadow streets; ¥ A small parcel at Tackawanna and Wilmot. For the mayoral cleanup day, Dawkins said, the city will provide brooms, gloves, rakes, shovels, bags and graffiti-removal kits. Volunteers may bring other equipment they think they might need, such as rope, twine, mowers or weed-whackers, but they should not bring gear such as chain saws.
- Overington Park Cleanup
When – Sat, April 10, 10am – 1pmWhere – Overington Park – Leiper and Orthodox Streets (map)Description We lost two trees in the storm on Saturday. One, the top was blown off and the other uprooted after all the rain. We reported the downed trees and are waiting for the clean up . Good news PHS is planting more trees in our park. Starting April 5th for two weeks they will be planting around the city. We are to get around 10 new trees. They came out and looked at our park and fell in love. We want everyone to love Overington park so come out and enjoy it! We are holding a clean up on April 10th from 10 till 1. We will mulch our new trees and clean out our flower beds, getting a start on the spring growing cycle. We need your support so come out and join us for a positive experience in Frankford, making this a beautiful place to live.
- Grand Army of the Republic Museum Open House
When – Sun, April 11, 12pm – 5pmWhere4278 Griscom Street, Philadelphia, PA 19124 (map)Description – Presentation at 1:30 PM: “Bloodshed on Lafayette Square” The assassination attempt & attack on Seward Hugh Boyle
- Historical Society of Frankford program
When – Tue, April 13, 7:30pm – 9:00pmWhere – 1507 Orthodox St., Philadelphia, PA 19124 (map)Description – Following a brief introduction to the founding generations of the Greenwood and Bault families, Torben Jenk will share a sideshow of Globe Dye’s monthly one-page illustrated publication “LOCAL COLOR, For Insiders Only” (published at least from 1942 through 1969). “LOCAL COLOR” is an incredible visual record of the social traditions of Frankford, including wonderful brief stories and photos within the Globe family of the employees, births, marriages, retirements, plus improvements to the products and factory. One favorite article is: “Passing Of An Old Globe Custom. It’s only a matter of five or six years since brides-to-be left the plant after the Globe wedding celebration, arrayed in a mock bridal veil, and leading a tiny pig, a duck, or a turkey, amid laughter and good wishes from the girls they left behind. There was nothing official about it, but it was one of the perquisites of a job with Globe, spontaneous and gaily ushering a friend on her way to happiness. In the early days, when this ‘custom’ originated, Frankford was on the edge of the big city. Young couples often set up housekeeping where there was a bit of land on which to keep a pig or raise poultry. Today, there is no pig, no duck or turkey due to the meat shortage. But the gay send off is just as hilarious as ever, the bridal array faked as cleverly, and the feeling just as deep. It’s the spirit of the occasion that counts, not its form. It’s only two or three months ago that we saw Albina Krull leaving, arrayed in her bridal costume to be come Mrs. Albert McGarrigle.” (October 1946, attached, with photo of Albina Krull with veil and piglet on leash!). Please bring your own mementos of Globe Dye, and other social traditions of Frankford, to share with the audience. Copies of “LOCAL COLOR” will be circulated.
- Italian Style Family Dinner
When – Sat, April 17, 4:30pm – 8:00pmWhere – St. Joachim’s Church, 1527 Church Street, Phila., PA 19124 (map)Description – MARK YOUR CALENDAR Every Third Wednesday from September thru May Italian Style Family Dinner The Dinners will be served from 4:30 PM to 8 PM in Fitzmaurice Hall Take-out will be available. COST: $8.00 for Adults, $4.00 for Children. Come Join us!
- Northwood Civic Association Meeting
When – Tue, April 20, 7pm – 8pmWhere – St. James Lutheran Church, at Castor Avenue and Pratt Street. (map)
- Frankford Special Services District Board Meeting
When – Mon, May 3, 8:30am – 9:30amWhere – St. Mark’s Church, 4442 Frankford Ave, Griscom Street entrance. (map)Description – Open to the public.
- Rachael Ray Shines on Frankford High
When – Mon, May 3, 10am – 11amWhere – TV ABC (map)Description – Rachael Ray show comes to Frankford.
- Frankford Civic Association Meeting
When – Thu, May 6, 7pm – 8pmWhere – Frankford Hospital – 2nd floor conference room (map)
Rachael Ray Shines on Frankford
Breaking news from the Inquirer:
Frankford High School got a surprise this morning when celebrity chef Rachael Ray announced an extreme make-over of the school’s culinary classroom to honor teacher Wilma Stephenson, whose take-no-prisoners style was the focus of the 2009 documentary, Pressure Cooker.
Ray announced the surprise renovation via video and the work is to be completed by the time students return from spring break Monday. The Rachael Ray Show, which airs locally at 10 a.m. on 6-ABC, is providing state-of-the-art equipment and school district staff will work around the clock to get the job done.
Congratulations to Wilma Stephenson on a job well done. Read the rest of the story here.
Lessons We Can Learn From Frankford High School Truancy Incident!
Hanukkah 2009 is now history, Santa and the reindeer have landed on our roofs, Kwanzaa began Saturday and the Three Kings will arrive next week. These celebrations allow us time to reflect on the true meaning and intent of these special events and to better ourselves and our world. I would like to share some reflections regarding the events of October 29th at Frankford High School and what meaning we can find in this event.
We go to school to learn. Many question what our children are learning and how well they are learning it. But off to school they go. Rules and laws should be in place to protect us. But sometimes things go terribly wrong. PA law mandates that children must attend school between the ages of 8 and 17. However, in Philadelphia, the starting age for mandatory school attendance is 6 years old. There are those, for whatever reason(s), do not regularly attend school and are labeled as truant. The PA Department of Education defines truancy as any unexcused absence from school. Truancy has been cited as a BIG problem in the School District of Philadelphia schools. To address truancy in its schools, the School District of Philadelphia has implemented a plan called ATIPS (Attendance and Truancy Intervention and Prevention Services). If you read the details of this plan, “police stop students who are on public streets or in/around public areas between the hours of 9:00 AM and 11:30 AM every (non-holiday) weekday during the regular school year. The officer first asks for documentation and checks the student’s identification to confirm the student’s name and assigned school. If the student does not have documentation, s/he is escorted to their home school, the nearest age-appropriate school or to one of the district’s Truancy Support Centers.” So the goal appears to be to get students to their schools to learn.
Here’s the scoop regarding the outcome of the investigation! Stopped one block from school, this student admitted he “mouthed off” to the officers by telling them he was already late and continued to walk the one block to school instead of getting in the van that would have taken him to school anyway. Lesson #1 – Let us be respectful in our dealings with each other – old to young – young to old and everyone in between. Our encounters should be positive experiences.
The officers followed the student to school. Once he entered the school, “the student was held down by one officer while another officer beat him.” Lesson 2 – Those with authority can never, ever abuse it. Power doesn’t give any person or country rights over another. The more power you have, the more restrained you must be when using it.
A Frankford High School staff member witnessed this incident and he wrote an email to the School Superintendent asking that the truth be heard. It has been. Lesson #3 – We must act with courage whenever the rights of one of us have been violated. It takes great risk to stand up to right a wrong but exercising our courage will help us do that.
Lastly, all involved in an incident like this are victims. The innocent deserve justice – the guilty need our understanding and help, too! Lesson #4 – we need to be sure those that work with our young people are well-trained and have the necessary skills to deal with the daily stresses and challenges they face.
Learning lessons from such events can help to prevent them in the future. These are the lessons we want to teach our young.
A modest note of departure from a long term visitor
From Christopher Wink:
Frankford won’t much miss me. That I know.
This neighborhood has been shaped for hundreds of years, thousands more, I suppose, when including Lenni Lenape men and women walking some form of Frankford Avenue. My time here, by comparison, has been simply inconsequential. Forty thousand people or so live here now, in varying states of fighting for, bettering, worsening, surviving and loving the gateway to the Northeast. I’ve just been one, but I’ve enjoyed my 13 months here enough that I hoped I might mark its conclusion.
I settled into the third floor of a big, renovated duplex on the 4600-block of Penn Street in November 2008. I wanted an affordable, culturally significant neighborhood independent of Center City but a short transit trip away. I’ve had that and leave with a sense of appreciation for Frankford.
I’ll miss being able to walk to the always welcoming and warm Frankford Library and around the corner to the hidden museum that is the Historical Society of Frankford. There are a dozen big, beautiful houses I’ll miss passing by, many of them chronicled here, including my favorite home in all of architecturally over-endowed Philadelphia. I’ll miss the chicken steaks from Leandro’s — no, not the original, but the one nearer and friendlier to me in my time here. I’ll miss playing basketball and the occasional lager at Billy’s Chili Pot.
I only lived in Frankford for 13 months. I must have called the cops 50 times and walked down those Margaret-Orthodox station steps twice that. I’ve sat on stoops with neighbors and took my bicycle along nearly all the streets of Frankford — by the great, big manses west of the avenue and the rowhomes to the east.
Of course, as people often say, this goodbye has no sense of finality to me. I’ll continue working with Frankford High School’s journalism club, and I’ll be around Frankford, Northwood and other civic meetings in my contributing capacities with NEast Philly, a hyperlocal news site for the Northeast.
But I know it’s not the same. Frankford is a neighborhood, perhaps even more than most in Philadelphia, that craves an authenticity that is hard to replicate outside of those boundaries around the creek, Torresdale, Castor and Cheltenham avenues. For whatever it’s worth, though, I’ll always see myself as a friend to Frankford. A year isn’t long enough to claim to know a neighborhood well, but I know it a little better.
I gave my landlord the keys and walked out of that one-bedroom apartment for the final time last week. I left for my El trip home thinking that there’s a fracture here in Frankford, one that also exists, to greater and lesser degrees, in the riverward neighborhoods that also share that rumbling, elevated mainstay. Some have argued that that big, dusty, blue train helped break the communities that existed here in the early second half of the 20th century. Today there are signs of departure from that. There are signs that the very same El that helped bring blight and drugs and crime will begin to bring another generation of communities that will hope to rebuild all the parts of Philadelphia its reaches.
Frankford will not be rebuilt tomorrow. But I’ll just be short El trip away to see that process unfold.
Christopher Wink is a freelance journalist. Earlier this month, he moved into his first home in Fishtown. You can see more of his work on his professional site here.
There is no doubt, we will be hearing his name again. Good luck Chris.
