Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Old North House & Community Tour - Just 5 1/2 weeks away!

With only 39 days left before the annual Old North St. Louis House & Community Tour, now is the time to start inviting your friends, family, distant relatives, co-workers, and other acquaintances to come visit Old North on May 9, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.   Advance tickets are $10 and can be picked up in person from the ONSLRG office (2800 N. 14th Street at St. Louis Avenue) or at Crown Candy Kitchen.  Tickets can also be purchased online (watch for the link on this site soon).  On the day of the tour, tickets will be available at the registration area at $12 each.   As a bonus, Crown Candy once again will offer free ice cream on the day of the tour to all ticket-holders.

But why stop at just planning to attend the house tour — you can help make the event a success by volunteering for a portion of the day as a tour site greeter, assisting at the registration area, delivering signs to all the tour stops, or setting up tables and chairs.  To find out more about volunteer opportunities at the house tour, call Jane Smith at the ONSLRG office, 241-5031, or send an email to jane@onsl.org. 

Sponsorship opportunities also are still available if your business would like to participate in that capacity.  Sponsors provide financial support to help cover costs of the tour, with the remaining proceeds helping to support the neighborhood revitalization activities of Old North St. Louis Restoration Group throughout the year.   Depending on the level of support, sponsors will be recognized in the program and can have an information table at the registration area.  For more information about this option, contact Sean Thomas in the ONSLRG office or at sean@onsl.org.

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• House Tour, Old North St. Louis Restoration Group, Volunteer Opportunities

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Art Lovers, Rehabbers, Clean-up Volunteers, & Crown Candy Fans Converge on Old North

Just another busy week in Old North St. Louis, with crowds of visitors and friends of the neighborhood gathering at various spots throughout Old North to celebrate the many ways the community is experiencing a comprehensive revitalization.

On Friday evening, Old North St. Louis Restoration Group hosted an Art Exhibit and Artist Reception at the former Parks Drug Store Building, as a preview of what is soon to come to the Crown Village Gallery, which will be located within ONSLRG’s new space at 2700 N. 14th Street.

Rehabbers Club Tour of ONSL, earlier today:

Starting with the ONSL Neighborhood Clean-up Day on Saturday, March 14th, residents took to the streets, vacant lots, and community gardens to clear debris, weeds, and trash that had accumulated over the winter.  On Saturday and throughout the week, this work was supplemented by volunteer support from high school and college students on spring break, under the direction of New City Fellowship.

And the usual spring / pre-Easter season lines out the door at Crown Candy Kitchen all week long:

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• 14th Street Mall, Art in Old North, Crown Candy Kitchen, Crown Square, Historic rehabs, Life in ONSL, ONSL amenities, ONSL people, Old North Gallery (formerly known as Crown Village Gallery), Old North St. Louis Restoration Group, Renovation, Volunteer Opportunities

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Crown Village Gallery Reception Friday Evening — & Channel 9 Coverage of Crown Square

The official space for the Crown Village Gallery isn’t quite ready yet, but we won’t let that stop us from hosting an exhibit and artist reception on Friday evening, just a few doors down from where the permanent gallery will be.  On March 20 from 6 to 9 p.m., the artwork of Carmelita Nunez, Daniel Shown, and Kevin Wilson, along with the Confluence Freedom Quilts of Edna Patterson-Petty, will be on display at Crown Square in the former Parks Drug Store building at 2720 N. 14th Street.  The exhibit and reception are made possible by generous support from the Regional Arts Commission and the Greater St. Louis Regional Empowerment Zone.  The quilts are on loan from Confluence Greenway.

Watch for a ribbon-cutting and opening reception at the gallery’s permanent location within the new home of the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group at 2700 N. 14th Street, at the heart of Crown Square, later in the spring or early summer.

The Crown Square redevelopment of the former 14th Street Mall (a collaborative project of ONSLRG and the Regional Housing & Community Development Alliance) is making great progress.  On this past Monday, Channel 9’s Living St. Louis program featured a story about the development and what it means to Old North’s revitalization.  The show included a lot of good neighborhoods scenes and comments from several ONSL leaders and residents, including Johnnie Owens and John Bratkowski.

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• Art in Old North, Crown Square, ONSL amenities, ONSL in the news, ONSL people, Old North Gallery (formerly known as Crown Village Gallery), Old North St. Louis Restoration Group

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Reprieve for Ames School

This has already been reported elsewhere, but it bears repeating here.  The future of Old North’s Ames Visual & Performing Arts Magnet School appears to be safe, as long as St. Louis Public Schools Special Administrative Board goes along with the recommendations of Superintendent Kelvin Adams.  Adams released his proposed school closing list last week and his list did not include Ames, which would have been on the chopping block had he gone along with the recommendations of the consultants from MGT of America.  The Special Administrative Board will vote on the Superintendent’s recommendations at their meeting on March 12.

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• Life in ONSL, ONSL amenities, Schools in Old North