Friends of Clark Park

Sunday, February 8, 2 Pm, Griffith Hall, east side of 43rd just north of Woodland, Free Admission

Dickens fans and neighbors of Clark Park are organizing this year’s fun, festive Charles Dickens Birthday Party. You’re cordially and merrily invited to join us! Sponsored by The Friends of Clark Park, we’re having an afternoon of drama and music near the site of Frank Elwell’s beautiful sculpture of Dickens and Little Nell.

 The indoor, on-stage portion of the festivities will be held in Griffith Hall of the University of the Sciences, 43rd and Kingsessing, across the street from the southern tip of Clark Park. Admission is free.

Actors Ceil Mann and Larry Beck, along with members of the Curio Theater Company, will perform scenes from The Pickwick Papers and Oliver Twist. Young Sophie Pettit, accompanied by her father, the writer and local Dickens ambassador Edward G. Pettit, will enact a scene from The Old Curiosity Shop. We’ll also have a special performance inspired by the new benches recently installed at the statue. Several Dickens fans will read the quotations emblazoned on the benches and they’ll give us a taste of the scenes from which the quotes were “lifted.”

The dramatic program is followed by treats for all, Dickensian socializing, and a performance by the Kingsessing Morris Men, first place winners in the comic division at the 2012 Mummers Parade.

Finally, the Morris dancers will lead a procession to the statue where youngsters will decorate Dickens and Little Nell with wreaths and we’ll sing “Happy Birthday.”

West Philadelphians who have grown up, and grown older, in the Clark Park neighborhood have come to respect and admire the bronze statue of Dickens. Created in 1890 by renowned sculptor Frank Elwell, it was installed in Clark Park in 1901. For most of the time since then, it’s been the world’s only public statue of Dickens, due to the novelist’s request that no memorials or statues be erected in his honor. So, to recognize the statue’s special role in our neighborhood’s history, and to pay homage to a great writer, we throw a birthday party every year!

The program begins at 2 pm sharp and ends an hour and a half later. Do come and join us!

Monday, 1/26, is the date for a very important Spruce Hill Community Association zoning committee meeting where they will discuss the development project at 4224 Baltimore Ave. That meeting, which is open to anyone, is 7 PM at the Spruce Hill center (257 S. 45th Street). See you there!

We’ll now have the Friends of Clark Park general membership meeting Monday, 2/23, in Rosenberger Hall at USciences, the little building in the park on the west side of 43rd Street a bit above Woodland, 7 PM.

Update: now the Spruce Hill zoning meeting is cancelled, too, due to the weather. No meetings tonight.

Don’t forget to come to the Friends of Clark Park general membership meeting next Monday, 1/26 (now Monday, 2/23), at 7 PM! It’s in Griffith Hall (now Rosenberger Hall), the big University of the Sciences building on the east side of 43rd Street just above Woodland.

We’ll discuss the imminent Clark Park bike share station, congratulate ourselves on all the mulching we’ve done recently, talk about long-term plans for statuary in the park, and so much more!

Don’t throw away your Christmas Tree yet! UC Green is accepting Christmas trees in Clark Park on Saturday, 1/10/15. The trees will be mulched in place, and the fragrant mulch will be returned to the earth in Clark Park by volunteers. 10 AM to 4 PM.