Friends of Clark Park

As the weather starts to warm the Clark Park community begins its kick into high gear. With each springish day the farmers markets crowds grow, the bowl fills with four legged friends, and the playgrounds buzz with kids laughs. This is the season when Clark Park starts to reawaken from it’s winter lull and the Friends of Clark Park start our annual house keeping.

Keeping Clark Park clean and green over the peak season is a full time job and one of the key focuses of the the Friends. We work closely with Philadelphia Parks and Recreation (PPR) to ensure the park is fully supplied with ongoing services. In addition to basic services, PPR also keeps the park looked after with a full time staff member and two seasonal maintenance attendants who focus on keeping the park well maintained. In addition, Friends of Clark Park partners with University City District to provide supplemental coverage and holds monthly volunteer days to ensure the park is as pristine as possible. For more details check out our Cleaning Clark Park page.

How can you help? There are two main ways. First, there is always work to do around the park and we love to to have helping hands for our volunteer days. We would love your help at either of our upcoming events on March 14th or April 4th. If you are able to help out please email Volunteer@friendsofclarkpark.org. Secondly your membership fees are essential in helping us fund our supplemental services. Please ensure your membership is up to date or donate at the link above.

Looking forward to helping everyone enjoy Clark Park this season!

What does West Philly have in common Victorian Era England? Probably a couple of things, but our favorite answer at Friends of Clark Park is Charles Dickens. Our park houses one of the few known sculptures of Dickens and each year we like to celebrate his birthday in style.

This year marks birthday number 208 and we will be celebrating on Sunday, February 9th at 2PM. The celebration will take place in Griffith Hall (601 S 43rd St) on the Campus of the University of the Sciences. Festivities will include readings and refreshment as well as music from Classical Revolution Philly. We will also once again be joined by the Kingsessing Morris Men who always deliver fun and energetic entertainment.

All are welcome and we look forward to seeing you there!

Your once-glorious Christmas tree, covered in sparkling lights and ornaments, is likely fading, beginning to brown and bald, and littering your floor with needles. It’s never easy to say goodbye to the symbol of holiday cheer, and putting it out on the street curb is not only wasteful, but a rotting reminder of the good times that have passed. Why not put that past prime tree to good use?

Your opportunity has come with Tree-Cycle on January 11th in Clark Park from 9am-12pm. Recycle your live tree with UC Green and Bartlett Tree Experts.  Trees will be mulched and used to aid the established park trees. Responsibility dispose of your tree and support your local community greening organization. A $5-$20 donation is requested.

Feel free to join!

It is that time of year again when the last flowers have faded and the trees have lost their leaves. At Friends of Clark Park that means we have just wrapped up our Fall Public Meeting and we wanted to share a recap of our latest news and updates.

As we do each fall Friends of Clark Park held our annual board elections. This year we would like to welcome the new leadership team headed up by Andy Bowers as the new president. Andy will be joined by Marko Kucher as vice president, Bill Moriarty as treasurer, and Samir Thaker as Secretary. The leadership team will be supported by a number of new board and committee members who can be found here. We want to wish the new team luck and say a big thank you to Lisa McDonald Hanes for her years in service as our previous president.

In addition, at the meeting the board announced a new membership structure. While this is always a challenging subject, the board took a look at the membership earlier this year and realized there was a need to simplify the process and bring rates in line with other local organizations. The result has been a slight increase in rates and a reduction in the number of membership levels. Full details can be found here.

Finally, the board also shared some updated branding work for Friends of Clark Park. Our materials have not been refreshed in a few years and as we moved forward, we realized that there was a need to try and develop a look that was modern and distinctive for Friends of Clark Park. This includes a new logo (below) and a new look and feel for our materials. The new logo and branding will start to appear slowly across our materials over the next few months.Please join us in welcoming our new board and wishing them a great year!

Friends of Clark Park had our annual Veteran’s Day celebrations on Saturday 11/9 at the Gettysburg Stone on the north end of the park. This celebration is always a great turn out and this year was no exception!

Our new board welcomed members of the community and local vets to honor the day. The HMS School students helped out by making historic presentations. Past FoCP president Frank Innes displayed his grandfather’s Civil War sword & told of his uncle’s experience as an army engineer in WWII. The Boy Scouts readily displayed the flag & read the Gettysburg Address. It was a wonderful display and the highlight as always was the local vets who came forward to tell their stories. We appreciate all they have done for our country.

Join Friends of Clark Park on Saturday, November 9th for Love Your Park’s Fall Service Day in Clark Park. Love Your Park is a biannual event that cleans, greens, and celebrates Philly’s parks. A collaborative partnership among Fairmount Park Conservancy, Philadelphia Parks & Recreation, and the Park Friends Network, Love Your Park engages citizens and volunteers to revitalize Philadelphia’s public green spaces and create safe, welcoming, and fun recreation opportunities in parks across the city. Nearly 100 park friends groups participate each season, engaging 5,000 volunteers annually.

In Clark Park we will be taking the opportunity for a variety of activities to clean up the park and get us ready for the winter. Our activities will kick off at 9:30 in the morning on November 9th and go until about 12:30. It is always great to sign up ahead of time at Love Your Park or you can feel free to join us day of. We will be meeting at the shed on 45th Street between Chester Avenue and Kingsessing Avenue. 

Bring your friends and any extra fall clean up tools are always welcome!

Love the orange chairs and tables in Clark Park? Our latest round of furniture has arrived and is out on the park for all to enjoy. We look forward to helping out folks in sharing more picnics, story times, and sunny afternoons. Enjoy!

It is that time of year again when the last flowers are fading, the trees are losing their leaves and coats and hats are making their first appearances. For Friends of Clark Park that means that it is time for our Fall Public Meeting! Please join us on Monday October 28th at 7PM at Rosenberger Hall (Room 102) on the University of the Sciences campus. It is right across from the southern corner of the park at 600 S 43rd Street.

Our annual meeting is always a great time to discuss ongoing issues with the park. We will provide a update on some of the latest events and upcoming changes. We will also be holding our annual election for our board of directors. Whether you would like to get more involved in the University City community or you are just curious about the latest goings on in Clark Park all are welcome.  

We hope to see you there!

Bark in the Park is back for the 28th year on Sat., Oct. 5 at 2 pm. There will be more than 25 contests, from the tallest dog to curliest tail to fastest runner, with chances to win doggie goodies. You can also meet the vet, Dr. David Littlejohn. Meet near the Bowl at 43rd and Chester — fun for dogs and their human friends.

The Friends of Clark Park will hold annual elections for our board of directors on Monday, October 28th during our public meeting and we would love for you to get involved! We are looking for dedicated people that love Clark Park and want to contribute to continuing to make the park a vibrant highlight of the West Philly community. 

Please contact us at President@friendsofclarkpark.org if you have a recommended nomination, including self nomination. We are a working board comprised of all volunteers so are always looking for folks who want to get involved.  We are particularly looking for professional skills aligning with:

• Board Management
• Fundraising and Development
• Member Services 
• Accounting

The board meets once a month and all board members are asked to chair a committee to progress the work of the Friends.

Please mark your calendars and join us for the election! All members of the Friends receive a vote and voice that decides the future of our organization and advocacy for Clark Park.