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Love Your Park Fall Weekend starts tomorrow, offering Philadelphians the chance to connect with the park friends group that takes care of their neighborhood park and volunteer to help clean it up.
The annual citywide initiative co-organized by the Philadelphia Parks & Recreation, Fairmount Park Conservancy and the Park Friends Network to help get over 100 of the city’s parks ready for the winter.
Each year a signature site is highlighted and treated to a block party celebration. This year, Stephen Girard Park in South Philly (2101 W. Shunk St.) was chosen. The cleanup is from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday.
Whether you want to clean up fall leaves or trash, prepare gardens and trees for the winter, or meet the neighbors who help keep your local public space beautiful, here’s how you can get involved.
Groups in the Park Friends Network in the are made up of community-members that organize regular clean-ups and volunteer workdays, as well as community events and educational programs, in their neighborhood park throughout the year.
When major events happen like the FIFA Fan Fest at Lemon Hill, groups like Lemon Hill Neighbors are the ones who work to restore the space after everything is removed. Working alongside Parks and Recreation, the Fairmount Park Conservancy, and other advocates, these volunteer groups help bridge critical gaps to keep underfunded parks safe and welcoming.
There are over 140 groups registered with Philadelphia Parks & Recreation and you can find your park’s friends group on the city’s website.
If you Google “Friends of” and the name of your park, there will likely be social media accounts or a website.
If there isn’t, the city has a toolkit and resources to help people set up and maintain park friends groups on its website.
The full schedule of Love Your Park events, and links to sign up for specific cleanups is on the Love Your Parks website. You should be able to just show up as well. Tools, gloves and other necessary equipment will be provided to work.
Most events are scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, but Pennypack on the Delaware and The Spring Gardens Community Gardens have theirs Friday.
