Month: March 2017

3rd Annual Patterson Park Easter Egg Hunt is April 15

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The 3rd annual Patterson Park Easter Egg Hunt will be on Saturday, April 15 at 10 a.m! Friends of Patterson Park is pleased to partner with Servant Church for another great community event. We will hunt for eggs, blow lots of bubbles, smash cascarónes and enjoy a potluck brunch in our beautiful neighborhood park!

Join neighbors on Thursday, April 13, @ 8pm at Cherrywood Coffeehouse to prep for the weekend egg hunt and stuff 500 plastic eggs!

Wondering what you can bring on Saturday morning? Extra plastic eggs with toys/stickers/candy, extra chocolate eggs, extra cascarónes, fruit, pan dulce, muffins, or other brunchy food to share. We’ll have coffee and lemonade.

Egg hunt starts at 10 a.m. sharp! We’ll have separate search areas for the ❤ and >3 kids, and a golden egg prize!

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2016 Patterson Park Easter Egg Hunt.
Photos by J. Potter-Miller/Friends of Patterson Park

 

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Dance of the Cosmos is Fully Funded and Coming to Patterson Park

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Dance of the Cosmos is fully funded and coming to Patterson Park!  Artist Jennifer Chenoweth has informed us that PSW Real Estate, which is building the condos across Schieffer Ave from the park, has funded the balance of the long-term maintenance fund, $4,500.

Jennifer is designing a solar pole and sign stand, and will be moving the sculpture by the end of April. Keep an eye out for a ribbon cutting celebration, possibly in early May!

Many thanks the Fisterra Studio, Austin Parks and Recreation Department, Austin Parks Foundation, and PSW Real Estate for working to bring this stunning piece of art to Patterson Park.

Fitness in the Park: Free Family Yoga at Patterson Park

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Austin Parks Foundation invites neighbors to Fitness in the Park featuring Family Yoga at Patterson Park with The Little Yoga House (Ages 3+ with a parent). This class will be held at Patterson on the 3rd Sunday of the month through November 2017. See austinparks.org/fitness or their Facebook page for the full schedule and other great classes.

We are thrilled to have been selected as the new location for this class and look forward to seeing lots of families at the park. We are meeting under the oaks by the community garden, on the east end of the park. The first one on March 19 was a lot of fun, and we are looking forward to the the next one on April 9 (scheduled early to work around the Easter holiday).

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Photos by Jennifer Potter-Miller

ABOUT FAMILY YOGA

Yoga for families is a fun-filled way for children, parents and even grandparents to spend quality time together while enjoying a fun and healthy activity. Family yoga provides the rare opportunity for both adult and child to observe and learn from each other and is a great way to bridge the age difference between them. Parents get to learn about the ways their child learns and the way he or she interacts with a group, and the children get to experience their parents as learners as well. This class is filled with partner poses, group poses, silly flowing sequences and yoga games!

ABOUT FITNESS IN THE PARK

Fitness in the Park is a free series of classes presented by Austin Parks Foundation in partnership with the City of Austin Parks and Recreation Department and individual fitness providers of all stripes. Learn more and see the full schedule at austinparks.org/fitness

ABOUT THE LITTLE YOGA HOUSE

The Little Yoga House is a boutique children’s and family yoga school with a specific focus on healthy child development through yoga, aerial yoga, mindfulness, and an integration of the arts. With unique yoga programs at each location designed to accommodate children of all ages, backgrounds and special needs, our dedicated family of teachers strives to teach children and teens the importance of the mind-body-breath connection and the connection we have to each other and Mother Earth through movement, meditation and environmental awareness.

Patterson playground closing

Patterson Playground Closing for Repairs

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The City of Austin Parks and Recreation Department is closing the Patterson Playground for repairs on Monday, March 27.  The pour-in-place rubberized flooring has suffered extensive damage over the years is beyond the point of repair. The plan is to remove the pebbles and flooring, demo the concrete base, and replace with the mulch now standard in city parks. Work is expected to take 3-4 weeks. PARD has already done extensive work at Patterson over the last month, and this playground improvement will be tremendously beneficial to park users.

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Photos by Jennifer Potter-Miller

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PARD team

PARD Carries Out Extensive Improvements at Patterson Park

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The City of Austin Parks and Recreation Department has been hard at work at Patterson for the last month. After installing the new picnic tables for the pavilion that FoPP purchased with a grant from the Austin Parks Foundation, they kept working on a long series of improvements that have given the park a much appreciated overall update. To date these include:

  1. picnic tables: new picnic tables have replaced the old plastic coated green tables throughout the park, and the cement picnic tables have all been power washed and gotten a fresh coat of paint. Two new picnic tables have been installed at the community garden.
  2. benches: new benches have replaced the plastic coated green benches at the playground and basketball court
  3. trash bins: the outdated “trash coffins” have been replaced at the pavilion and throughout the park with new trash bins. Only a few of the pebble-studded cement receptacles remain.
  4. bathrooms: the limestone building has been power washed inside and out, and the peeling wood siding repainted
  5. small pavilion: the dilapidated second pavilion located next to the basketball court has been rebuilt, and a new picnic table installed at the center.
  6. pool: the pool shell is being refurbished, the filtration system is being repaired, and the chain link fence is going to be replaced with a wrought iron one.
  7. pet waste dispensers: new dispensers have been installed throughout the park
  8. bollards: half of the wood bollards lining the driveway into the park have been replaced with new posts, the rest will be shortly
  9. playground: the broken gear and music panels on the toddler playscape have been replaced. There was a new clear bubble panel installed, and the music box was replaced with a new one.

What’s next? The pour-in-place rubber flooring on the playground has degraded over the years and been repaired several times. There are now several linear feet of concrete exposed next to the toddler playscape. PARD is closing the playground on March 27 to begin demolition. The pebbles will be removed, as will the pour-in-place flooring, to be replaced with the wood chips now standard in City of Austin parks. Work is expected to take 3-4 weeks.

We are deeply grateful for the attention and resources PARD has devoted to our neighborhood park. It has made a tremendous difference and Patterson is looking fantastic! We encourage you to take a walk around the park to see all the improvements sometime soon.

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Photos by Jennifer Potter-Miller

 

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Tree Mulching and Trash Pickup on April 2

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Austin Parks Foundation and Friends of Patterson Park are pleased to partner with Servant Church, friends and neighbors for a volunteer work day to provide some TLC to the trees at Patterson Park!

We had a great It’s My Park Day a few weeks ago, and spread 20 cubic yards of mulch to 102 trees at the southeast corner of the park. We would like to keep the momentum going to protect the heritage oaks along the western edge of the park, near Cherrywood Rd. before the heat of summer hits. We will also do some light trash pick up in that section of the park, as needed.

Kids accompanied by an adult are always welcome. Dress for the weather, wear closed-toed shoes, and bring a water bottle to refill. If you have a wheelbarrow you can bring, please do! This event is part of Servant Church’s Service Sunday, which will bring 100+ volunteers to several sites around the neighborhood for community service.


Sunday April 2
10:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
Please register on Give Pulse

FoPP Raises $4,519 During Amplify Austin

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A team of Friends of Patterson Park worked together during Amplify Austin, and raised a total of $4,519. We brought together five business sponsors to provide matching funds, six individual fundraisers, and 71 neighbors and friends who supported our campaign. The total raised was three times the amount raised last year. We are filled with joy and gratitude at the generous outpouring of support!

Amplify 2017 3894 raised

Business Sponsors

Neighborhood based businesses Cynthia Soliz Law, Erin Tassoulas Design + Build, Nicole Cooper with Horizon Realty, Thunderbird Coffee and Franklin Barbecue each provided $250 in matching funds to the first $1,250 donated.

Individual fundraisers

Cerece Rosenthal, Scheleen Walker, Kate West, Patricia Nuñez, Jane O’Brien, and Cynthia Soliz, avid park lovers who live in Cherrywood, Mueller, and Wilshire Wood, each had individual fundraising campaigns. Including the main FoPP campaign, total donations by individuals were $2,644.

Austin Parks Foundation

Our fiscal sponsor and constant supporter, APF generously matched 25% of the first $2,500 raised. This totaled $625, making the final amount raised $4,519.

What’s next?

We intend to purchase a spinner for the playground, and will hold a meeting in the next 2-3 weeks to determine our next step. Possibilities include a grant application to purchase more benches and finish replacing the outdated trash cans at the park, or a few pieces of fitness equipment. Longer term goals might include updating the playground, or adding a naturalized play area. Email fopp.atx@gmail.com to join our mailing list and take part in making a plan!

Report: It’s My Park Day Spring 2017

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It’s My Park Day was a success on Saturday! We went forward despite the threat of rain that morning, and the sky cleared just in time for our work day. There was a great crowd of volunteers, including neighbors from all the around the park, AmeriCorps volunteers, and Girl Scouts from the Maplewood Elementary troop. Total: 27 adults, 8 kids

Volunteers spread 20 cubic yards of mulch to 102 trees in less than two hours, and the whole southeastern corner of the park looks great.

Mi Madre’s donated tacos and Thunderbird donated coffee, and all the refreshments disappeared quickly. We really appreciate our neighborhood businesses support for park!

Many thanks to everyone who came out, and to the Austin Parks Foundation for organizing this city-wide event! If you haven’t yet, make sure to swing by at the corner of Schieffer and Airport to see the work.

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Photos by J. Potter-Miller. More photos of It’s My Park Day on Flickr.