On November 16th, the Frankford community decided to turn the neighborhood green. We had multiple kinds of trees starting from Beautiful birch to pretty peach. We started with 150 trees and we left with zero.
The entire group, named the Friends of Overington Park, would love to thank, TreePhilly for helping us with this spectacular event. In the photo is Ericka. She is one of the nice workers of TreePhilly. So thank you Ericka for the help. We had lots of people smiling and saying ‘what a beautiful event to hold here in the neighborhood and I cannot wait until the next year.
Mecchi Stewart is a student at Frankford High School, member of the JROTC and reports for the Frankford Gazette.
By: Diane Kunze and the Friends of Overington Park
We had the best Fest ever! So many families came out to the park on Saturday Oct. 19th for our Fall Festival, that we ran out of everything, and had to rap up a little early.
We had a pumpkin patch, children’s games, a cardboard castle, and wanted station manned by sheriff John. Every parent wanted a picture of their kid in our wanted cutout, there were lines! We had an apple printing craft project, pretzels and of course CANDY!
It was a beautiful day with a turn out that topped all other events. New parents wanted to join our group next year to help make the event bigger and better. It was heart warming to see big tough guys grinning with joy at their little ones having so much fun.
Life sometimes can be ruff but in Overington Park the good times were rolling with Park Friends, JR ROTC, and neighbors coming together to make a wonderful day for families in our community. The world needs hope and good times. Thanks for the support Friends of Overington Park receives from our Councilwoman, state Rep, and our neighbors. You make it easy to share the happiness!
Please join us at our next event on Saturday Nov. 16th Love Your Park, when we will be hosting the Philly Tree giveaway, Cleaning up the park,and holding a tree care work shop! We will be going from 10 till 1 that day, so come out and pick up your tree, learn about caring for them and put our park to bed for the winter.
At Overington Park on Saturday November 16th there will be a cleanup from 10 to 1. The tree give away is from 11 to 1 and there will be tree workshops from noon to 1. That is a full schedule.
On Saturday, September 28th, the Friends of Overington Park had their annual “Art Under The Trees” event. This year, the president of the organization, Diane Kunze, decided to use master works from Andy Warhol’ pop collection to inspire the artists. The children and young adults got to pick which picture inspired them to chalk beautiful works of art onto the blacktop.
The chalk designs that the artists produced were magnificent with vibrant colors, and the creators wore those Crayola chalk sticks down to dust. This contest had four age catagories: 6 and under, 7-10, 11-15, and 16-19. From what I observed, the judges had a tough time picking a winner from the beautiful displays of art that covered the ground. One winner was picked from each age category and received a sketch book, art supplies, and a certificate of congratulations.
Congratulations go out to:
Amyia Topping (6 and under)
Alivia Miller ((7-10)
Christian Joyce & Gavin Hopkins (11-15)
George & Tyreek (16-19)
Along with the contest, they had a craft table with handmade crafts designed & crafted by Jennifer Mohr. This table was staffed by the artist herself and Lorraine Fortino.
Meals-on-Wheels receivers had a special treat put in their lunches. The children of Frankford produced beautiful works of art on paper using Crayola crayons and their imaginations which were to put in everyone’s lunch following this event. This part of the event was created by Lisa Handy.
Thanks go out to Carlos Correa and Noah Gibson of the Jr. R.O.T.C. of Frankford High School for volunteering their time to organize and distribute the art supplies, contestant sign-ups, and giving out pretzels to the crowd. The instructor of the Jr. R.O.T.C., Joe Fraioli, made an appearance to say hello and thank you to his men staffing the table.
What a wonderful day it was with cool temperatures, sunny skies, and a love for art under the long living tree’s of Overington Park. Special thanks from the Friends of Overington Park go out to all the people who help & volunteer their time to make all their events possible; Nona Bloom, John Neugebauer, Maryanne Seifert, Linda Heywood, Jr. R.O.T.C., Janet Bernstein & Frankford Garden Club, and this is just to name of few THANK YOU.
Come out for some other events happening in Overington Park: November (Love your park clean-up) & December (Caroling in the park). Please see the Frankford Gazette website for dates, times, and other events happening in your Frankford community. Keep the Frankford spirit alive and get involved with the fun!
For more information on Friends of Overington Park go to their Facebook page at: Friends of Overington Park
Inquires and contributions can be sent or obtained at:
Friends of Overington Park
1344 Overington Park
Philadelphia, PA 19124
Overington Park, located at Leiper and Orthodox Streets, has been named a recipient of the Community Greening Award by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. Evaluators from the PHS visited 89 gardens statewide evaluating sites based on plant variety, design, use of space, and horticultural practices.. There will be a reception on December 10th at the Governor’s residence hosted by Mrs. Corbett, the First Lady, for the winners.
Congratulations to the Friends of Overington Park on the honor and thanks to all of you for your hard work that brought this honor home to Frankford.
