Uwishunu.com

By Suzi Nash

Do you get that sick feeling in the pit of your stomach when you see someone throwing their garbage on the street? Shake your head when you drive by a park or empty lot covered in trash and wonder why something isn’t done? Do you curse the city streets when a wind kicks up and you suddenly find yourself in a sandstorm of dirt and debris?

Well, guess what. It’s time to do something about it! Our fab new mayor, Michael Nutter, has declared a Spring Cleaning for Philadelphia. On Saturday, April 5th, tens of thousands of volunteers are mobilizing to put a fresh coat of beautiful on our fair city.

The goals are lofty- The idea is to:

* Recruit over 10,000 volunteers
* Clean up 5,000 neighborhood blocks
* Clean more than 50 commercial corridors along major thoroughfares
* Clean 10 neighborhood recreation centers
* Clean 10 areas in Fairmount Park
* Remove over 1 million pounds of trash and litter from across the city

Come on Philadelphia, we can do it!

These folks are serious- I called the hotline at (215) 683-CLEAN and within 24 hours, someone hand delivered a package of information on ways for my block to participate.

For more information check out www.phillycleanup.com

Philly Clean Up
(215) 683-CLEAN
www.phillycleanup.com

Photo by McGet / Trophy Bikes

The largest bike race in the United States, maybe even the world, will be taking place here, in Philadelphia! Not just for college students either, there will be a citizen’s race, so anyone can take on the track.

Dubbed The Philly Phyler, the race became an ECCC (Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference) and an ACCC (Atlantic Collegiate Cycling Conference) event in 2007, officially becoming America’s largest college cycling race. This year’s promises to be even larger, with more schools participating and more local sponsors, Trophy Bikes.

Taking on the race include Drexel, UPenn, Temple, and Villanova. The race spans two cities, kicking off with a road race on Saturday in Phoenixville, and the time trial / road course taking place in Philly on Sunday.

Come check it out! For more information, visit the official Philly Phyler website.

Phoenixville Race: March 8th
Start time, 8:30 am,
200 Bridge St, Phoenixville, PA

Philadelphia Race: March 9th
Start time 8 a.m.
Memorial Hall, Concourse Drive, West Fairmount Park.

First Friday for many means exploring Old City’s art galleries while enjoying wine and cheese and pretending to know the type of art being displayed. Just this once, why don’t you break the routine and head west to University City. Can you say free skating?

It’s Winterfest 2008 at the Class of ’23 Rink at 3130 Walnut Street. From 5-8pm, admission is free and skate rental is only a dollar! Guests are free to bring their own skates but are also encouraged to show up 15 minutes prior to kickoff if needing to rent a pair.

Even if you can’t skate, why miss the opportunity to learn how?! After all, isn’t it a new year? Lace ‘em up!

WinterFest 08
January 4th, 2008, 5 – 8PM

Class of 23′ Rink
3130 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
(215) 243-0555
www.ucityphila.org

The High Line Trestle has carried freight trains along the West Bank of the Schuylkill for ages, and this Sunday, December 30th, it will bear witness to the Tussle at the Trestle, a flat, grass-track race happening on lower 31st Street, below Walnut.

Trophy Bikes recommends knobbly tires for this race in West Philly, and be prepared for a run in with rain, snow, or sleet. All bikes are welcome. Mountain, cross country, BMX, whatever. Prizes will be awarded to the top cyclists.

Meet up at 1:30PM under the Walnut St Bridge, race kicks off at 2PM sharp. Good luck! Be sure to take some pictures, and send them on over. Take a look at the flyer after the jump!

Tussle at the Trestle
Sunday, December 30th
Meet up @ 1:30PM, Race @ 2PM

Tussle at the Trestle in West Philly
Walnut St & Schuylkill Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19104

Click more for the flyer!

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Chamounix Mansion, Philly’s gem of an international hostel in Fairmount Park, is hosting their 1st Annual Fairmount Park Tree Trimming & DE-VINING this weekend. De-vining? Have you noticed the major increase in gnarly vines, pulling down old growth trees in Fairmount Park? Once you notice them, you see them EVERYWHERE. A real nightmare of invasives gone mad! This can only be remedied by real hands on work by people who love Fairmount Park enough to come out and make a difference.

Come out this Saturday or Sunday, 10 AM to 2 PM. Bring loppers, pruners, nippers, arborist saws, lumberjack songs, chain gang hollers and smutty sea shanties. Teams will follow the mountain bike paths into the woods, and show those vines what for!

To make it more of an adventure, Chamounix is inviting folks to bring friends and family and stay over Friday night, or Saturday night, at a reduced rate. Again, this is the first of what will be an annual groove slumber party, so you can really bring your whole cross country team, vintage scooter club, gardening klatch, or all the wisecracking members of your spouse’s side of the family. Chamounix has amenities galore, including a giant kitchen for making stone soup and risque sculptural marzipan, a piano and a vintage accordian, several ukeleles, and a terrific video library. Aaaahhhh, VHS!

For more information, contact Chamounix Mansion before 11 AM or after 4:30 PM, at (215) 878-3676… or just show up for the work sessions.

Contact them at any time on their website, www.philahostel.org

Chamounix Mansion International Hostel
3250 Chamounix Drive, Philadelphia, PA 19131
(215) 878 3676
www.philahostel.org

Bike Races! Yes! Those crazy fun events that require participants to perform a string of tasks that are always ridiculously counterproductive to the physical exertion you’ll inevitably need to keep going and finish the darn thing in the first place! But it’s not about finishing or winning, right? Right.

So gather up some pals and register for one or all of the awesome bike races taking place this weekend. Really, you know some bike messengers are going to win, but who cares? Go out and have some fun and support those ladies and gents that pedal-power our city every day. Proceeds benefit the Philadelphia Bike Messenger Association.

Reload Bags
http://reloadbags.com/

Fabric Horse
http://www.fabrichorse.com/

Friday Nov 30
Registration 11pm / Race 12am
Meet @ Logan Circle- 18th and Ben Franklin Pkwy

Saturday Dec 1
Registration 1pm / Race 2pm
Meet @ 22nd and Ben Franklin Pkwy

Photography by Miles Kennedy

This past weekend, runners were able to practice for the Philadelphia Marathon alongside Olympic veterans Tim Broe, Carrie Tollefson and Todd Williams.

Runners of all ages and ability levels took the trip to the Philadelphia Museum of Art and went along a training route through the area and down Martin Luther King Drive.

Take a look at some of the photos on Flickr.

Were you in the Marathon this weekend? Drop us an email and share some stories!

The Philadelphia Marathon is this Sunday! And while it’s too late to sign up or squeeze in months of preparation, you CAN participate in Run With Olympians the day before. Running fancy pantses Tim Broe (pictured), Carrie Tollefson, and Todd Williams will host runners of all levels in a 4-mile out-and-back course, which starts at the Art Museum’s steps and follows Martin Luther King Drive in Fairmount Park. This is a FREE event and you can register here or show up and register onsite starting at 8 am.

Also, while the Marathon and Half Marathon are sold out, you can still sign up for the Rothman 8k. See the Philadelphia Marathon website for more info!

Philadelphia Marathon
www.philadelphiamarathon.com

Yum. Who can pass up a chance to ride around Philly’s ethnic neighborhoods with one of the region’s most beloved chefs tasting some of the most authentically delicious food available? Tonight, Thursday, November 8th, Ellen Yin, who owns Fork (celebrating its tenth birthday this fall) and Fork: etc. and who helped jump start Old City’s restaurant revolution, will guide salivating tour-goers through Chinatown, the Italian Market and other food-happy communities to share samples and stories of the flavors that influence her own cooking.

As part of the First Person Festival of Memoir and Documentary Art running November 7-11, Yin will lead her acolytes through kitchens redolent with the scents of Vietnamese and Mexican recipes to munch foods as varied as summer rolls and papaya salad, pork and goat tacos, grilled grape leaves, lobster sautéed with ginger, and many other items that are featured in her new memoir/cookbook ForkLore. The tour ends with stuffed but contented diners forcing themselves to have just one more bite of dessert prepared at Fork while Yin signs copies of her book.

First Person Festival: Folklore Food Tour
Nov. 8th, 2007; 6PM – 9PM; $55

Meets at First Person Stage
2111 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103
www.firstpersonarts.org/

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On Saturday November 3rd, gain access to a normally restricted part of Philadelphia, the East Park Reservoir. Pennsylvania Audubon Society’s Keith Russell will be leading a bird walk around the grounds of the East Park Reservoir (EPR).

The East Park Reservoir is actually made up of three basins, only one of which is currently in use to hold drinking water for the city, of the other three basins, one is an urban lake and the other two are left idle with vegetation growing in them. This area has become a haven for wildlife, especially birds. In fact, a family of pied-billed grebes found in the lake this summer may be the first breeding record of this bird ever for Philadelphia. The Fairmount Park system’s 9,200 acres, which contains the EPR, has been designated an Important Bird Area.

PA Audubon Society plans to open an environmental center on the site. Currently Keith Russell, a Philadelphia native, is working to build involvement in the Strawberry Mansion community with the environmental center project. His walk will be an enjoyable and informative trip around the grounds of the reservoir open to all ages.

To join the walk group, meet at the south Entrance to the Reservoir, located on Reservoir Drive, just west of 33rd and Oxford Streets (across from the Disc Golf course and Sedgely Woods).

East Park Reservoir
33rd & Oxford, Philadelphia, PA 19121

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