SUNDAY on Pennsylvania Ave - Sustainable Gift Fair

Sorry for the late notice - I just saw this.  From the organizers:

Wilmington in Transition presents the 2nd annual Sustainable Gift Fair. Westminster Presbyterian Church in the Rodney Chapel,1502 W. 13th Street, Wilmington, DE 19806. Bypass the mall keep your holiday gift dollars in your community. Admission is free and there is Live m...usic from the Ellen Lebowitz Jazz Duo. Vendors include:*Barretta's Inc. Soap Factory *Clowning and Crafts by Marjorie Kafader *Furniture Caning by Phyllis Lan*Wilmington Children's Choir*Ninth Street Book Shop *Arts in the Media*Energy Audits by Jack Sol-Church *Yoga by Mia Muratori*Wilmington in Transition *DE Local Food Exchange*The Warped Loom- hand woven goods *Kelly Werkheiser - Jewelry*Jennifer Roman-Jewelry & recycled designs *Delaware Nature Society*Fresh Thymes Cafe*and more!

Delaware Center for Horticulture posts video of early progress in one of their urban gardens.

This particular garden is located at 13th & Brandywine.  Looking good. 

While the central location for the DCH is located on DuPont St. in Trolley Square (a block and a half behind Logan House - really gorgeous spot, too), they operate these urban gardens in rougher neighborhoods, and teach residents of those neighborhoods how to take care of them.  It's a pretty awesome program.  For more info about the Delaware Center for Horticulture, visit: http://www.thedch.org/

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By the way, for job seekers: they're looking for someone to work part-time this summer in teaching 8th graders how to garden.  Here's the description: http://www.thedch.org/who-we-are/careers-internships/help-assistant

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And don't forget that the deadline to enter the City Gardens Contest is Friday.  View my previous post on the contest: http://wilmingtonic.blogspot.com/2011/06/for-city-dwellers-with-gardens-deadline.html

Heads up about Friday "Art Is Social" event at the Delaware Art Museum

I've included this as a top pick in my weekend listings, which will come out on Friday morning, but there's been a new development that warrants advance notice.   In a nutshell, there's a billboard, in Trolley Square, for the Art Is Social night.  If you take a picture of this billboard and post it on the Facebook wall of the Delaware Art Museum, you'll get free entry into the event.  Admission is only $5 anyway, but free is free.

The Art Is Social event will run from 8-10 pm this Friday night, at the art museum, and will feature DJs, exhibition tours, dollar bottles of beer and glasses of wine, and free wine tastings.  Sounds like a pretty awesome alternative to the bar scene.   The Greek Festival will be going strong only a few blocks away on Friday, until 11pm, so you could work in a visit there before or after.   And remember, it's $5 admission, or free if you get a chance to take a picture of that billboard and post it to http://www.facebook.com/?sk=lf#!/pages/Delaware-Art-Museum/43136174600 .

More details about this event:  http://www.facebook.com/?sk=lf#!/event.php?eid=159336257463107

Logan House publishes picture of namesake.

According to their social media page, Trolley Square's Logan House is named for the man on the right, who ran for vice president in 1884 (104 years before our current vice president would make his first presidential bid).

No word on why it says the guy was from Illinois.  Or whether that gigantic flavor saver helped or hurt his run.

The Delaware Center for Horticulture is giving away small white oak trees.

They have a limited supply, so they're only offering it to "Facebook friends".   Join their FB page here:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wilmingtonic-Blog/107351306015947#!/pages/Delaware-Center-for-Horticulture/111911201884



According to the DCH, Delaware was once covered with these white oak trees, and they're a great tree for supporting native wildlife.   They're located behind Trolley Square, on DuPont St.

The Delaware Center for Horticulture is giving away small white oak trees.

They have a limited supply, so they're only offering it to "Facebook friends".   Join their FB page here:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wilmingtonic-Blog/107351306015947#!/pages/Delaware-Center-for-Horticulture/111911201884

According to the DCH, Delaware was once covered with these white oak trees, and they're a great tree for supporting native wildlife.   The DCH is located behind Trolley Square, on DuPont St.

Tomorrow, Friday May 6th, is National Public Gardens day.

Area gardens like Longwood and Winterthur expect to be busy (are they giving discounts or something?  I haven't heard).  But my recommendation is a small and little-known but charming garden right off of Pennsylvania Avenue, called Gibraltar Gardens. 

You may have passed by a high stone wall with glimpses of arches and sculpted vases inside, and wondered what bank president lives there.  That's actually a more-or-less abandoned mansion and estate that has been taken over by a preservation society and is open to the public (the outside part, not the crumbling mansion that overlooks it).  It can get a slightly overgrown look, depending on how recently it's been weeded by a group of volunteers, but there are always nice plants to see, old sculptures, reflecting pools, and verandas.  It's completely free, there are usually few people there, and it only takes a few minutes to stroll around and check out. 

The Gibraltar estate is located on the north side of Pennsylvania Ave., near UD's Wilmington campus, right before PA Ave. turns into Rt. 52 and you get to the 141 ramps.  The entrance is on the side street that runs next to the high wall.  For info on the history of the estate:

http://preservationde.org/about-pdi/gibraltar/

Saturday at El Diablo Burritos:

$1 from every made-from-scratch burrito, salad, quesadilla, or taco sold will be donated to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  

El Diablo is located in the heart of Trolley Square, at Delaware Ave. and Dupont streets.  Saturday hours are 11am - 10pm.   Phone: 302.691.5532

Wilmingtonic is not a fan of Wilmington's "Loops" (organized pub crawls, for out-of-staters)

Just too many off-putting experiences in years past.  Call me totally over the Loop concept.

However, not everyone is a curmudgeon / has the same problem I have with hordes of drunks, putans dressed in indistinguishable "sexy" costumes, and bus drivers that try to extort money out of you to drive their assigned bus routes.  So if you insist on your Loops, at least the newest one to hit the schedule, the "Bunny Hop", will benefit something besides the Jagermeister brand.   The $5 cover fee, which gets you access to 21 clubs and more cliche Playboy Bunny sightings than you can shake a VD test at, will benefit the Delaware Humane Association, Delaware SPCA, and Faithful Friends.   The loop is on Saturday, in the usual Wilmington locations, from 8 to drunk-o-clock.

The Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative sign-up deadline has been extended to April 25th

Originally mentioned here: http://wilmingtonic.blogspot.com/2011/04/lancaster-farm-fresh-cooperative-is.html , the deadline for this CSA, which has Trolley Square's Fresh Thymes Cafe for a drop-off location, has been extended from April 15th to April 25th.  Additionally, if you sign up and refer a friend, you get a $25 buying credit. 
Sign up online here:  http://www.lancasterfarmfresh.com/static/controls/?page=csa/2011signup