Golden Jubilee
Save the date!! We are having our Golden Jubilee Party in the Square on
Saturday, October 6.
Celebrating 50 YEARS of the Fitler Square Improvement Association.
Holiday Tree Lighting, Sunday December 11
Thank you to the Freedom Band and the Philadelphia School a capella chorus for providing entertainment. Many thanks also to Santa and Mrs. Claus and Rudolf the bicycle reindeer.
Look at photos here
Spring 2011
Annual Fitler Square Spring Fair
May 6th & 7th
The 50th Annual Fitler Square Fair will be held Friday, May 6th and Saturday, May 7th in the Square on Pine Street between 23rd and 24th Streets. Hours for Friday are 10 am to 6 pm & Saturday 10 am to 4 pm. Admission is free.
In addition to more than 40 antique and craft dealers exhibiting their wares, booths staffed by Fair volunteers will be selling flowering plants, home-made cakes and baked goods, used books, a wide range of “white elephants”, children’s items and much more. Food and beverages will be available at the outdoor café throughout the day.
A variety of special activities for all ages have been organized for the two-day event, including live musical entertainment, children’s games, face painting and a raffle for gift baskets.
Our favorite Good Karma barista Josh Schurr will be performing 1 to 3 on Friday, May 6, his own compositions and favorites.
At 4 pm, The Philadelphia School's a cappella chorus will sing.
On Saturday, May 7, the City Lights band will be performing from 10 to 1 pm
At 1 pm, The Philadelphia Freedom Band will play.
On Saturday (only) there will be a Moonbounce from 11 to 3.
Easter Egg Hunt April 17, 2011
See more pictures of this year's Easter Egg Hunt.
LOVE Your Park April 16, 2011
John Studdy, our rep from Bartlett Tree Service spent hours in Fitler Square on Saturday, April 16 for our LOVE YOUR PARK event. John volunteers every year on our work day and we always appreciate his help. This year was heavy duty digging and hauling compost and sod; we really needed help and he literally dug in. Thanks, John; you represent the folks at Bartlett Tree Experts well. Thanks for help above and beyond.
See more pictures of this year's Cleanup.
Dear Friends and Neighbors:
2010 was certainly a year of ups and downs at Fitler Square. Our tribulations of sponsoring outdoor events began last October, when our first attempt to partner with the Rosenbach Museum for a Halloween event in conjunction with their Dracula Festival was rained out. In December, for our Holiday Tree lighting, we huddled under tents for protection from the wind and icy rain. In March, we had to once again utilize the “rain date” for our Easter Egg Hunt.
The Board was disappointed but never gave up, and finally, the Weather Gods smiled down on Fitler Square with two beautiful days and, with the help of our neighbors, the 49th Annual Spring Fair raised a record-breaking $9,300 for the park .
Our record proceeds could not come at a better time. We have had to replace trees, dig up sections of the grass and brick, and most importantly, have FINALLY begun the fountain renovation. With the installation of a recycling pump, our fountain will be one of the few in the City that actually does not waste water, and we will go from using 2 million gallons of potable water a year to 200 gallons. We are very proud and excited to have undertaken this task. The final cost of the project will be $35,000. We were fortunate to receive a $7,000 grant from PHS, but the remainder lies with FSIA.
Your membership dues are more important than ever. If you would like to earmark a special donation toward the fountain, we will see that it is used for this project.
In closing, on a more positive note, Fitler Square won 1st place in the PHS Community Gardens contest in the mid-size Community Parks category, re-enforcing once again the uniqueness and beauty of our “Philadelphia gem”.
What's Going On With That Fountain?
Winter, 2010-2011
Our Fitler Square fountain is getting its long overdue makeover. After two years of discussions,
contractors, wish lists, and more discussions, the renovation is in progress.
Our initial goal was to refurbish and paint the fountain black, in keeping with its original concept of
mirroring a Victorian pocket park in France. Ever since the fountain was originally installed in 1976, it
has been the focal point of the Square, but like most fountains in the City at that time, the water was
not recycled, merely running out of the fountain and into the river. We estimated we were wasting
almost 2 million gallons of potable water per season, enough water to fill 15 Department of Recreation
public swimming pools!
So the initial task then became a “Green” project we set out to accomplish with full reconstruction.
Under the stewardship of Board member Jim Kenkelen, with the help of our Grounds chair Pat
Henningsen, a contractor was secured and the work began. A concrete vault needed to be constructed
to hold the recycling pump, chlorinator, filter and timer, with installation of several water supply lines.
We also wanted to complete the aesthetic aspects of the project, and besides painting, Belgian block is
to be adhered to the concrete pedestal and basin with matching coping. The costs sky-rocketed to
$35,000.
The work began June 27th, but apparently supplies were slow arriving. We are hoping to have most of
the work completed by our Halloween event on October 23rd. When it is completed, the fountain will
go from using 2 million gallons of potable water a year to 200 gallons!
We thank the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society for a $7,000 grant to jumpstart this daunting project
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