Lehigh Avenue Arts Festival

Philly Puff

The 7th Annual Lehigh Avenue Arts Festival was held this past Saturday in Philadelphia's Olde Richmond section of the city. The LAAF is the Portside Arts Center scholarship fundraising event of the year. The Philly Puff featured Philadelphia's first ever inflatable sculpture contest.
The weather was between bright sun and a tiny bit of soft showers that the crowd didn't seem to mind. There was plenty to see and do and eat to the sounds of a good mix of live performing bands.
Each year this festival continues to grow and attract more and more people joining in the fun.

 "Alfred Pork Chop"" Moore College of Arts students.

Portside Arts Center on the corner of Lehigh Ave and Belgrade St.

" El Brujo" by Frank Hyder presented by his son Ian.

 Zargent C Trantri paper creations Paper Z Art

 "Emilio Airhog: When Pigs Fly" by Stephanie "Electra" Salek.

 A Brood of Vipers May 2, at Kung Fu Necktie

 Work by Eduardo Corral

Shorty operates heavy equipment and created a Turtle of black trash bags covered with a cloth design.

 Cotton Candy Circus

 The Philly Puff People's Choice Award was a tie for 1st Place.

L to R: Ian son of Frank Hyder and Stephanie "Electra" Salek "Emilio Airhog: When Pigs Fly".
Stephanie also won Best in Motion  

 Best of Show and Best Use of Materials: "Alfred Pork Chop".

L to R: Jessica Clark, Emily Eggly, Emily Phillips and Shannon Jones

 I'm hooked.

 The Bosom Band

 Monica Lynne Chase melts the Blues with the Bosom Band..

 ...until next year.

all photos by roman blazic_all rights reserved

Fishtown's First Blossom

The Dogwood and Cherry Blossom tells us everything is working fine.

(click picture for slideshow)

photo by roman blazic_all rights reserved



St Laurentius Block Party

5k Medalist

St Laurentius held it's annual block-party fundraiser featuring the 5k run. The unhappy though occurred to me that this may be the last block-party.
The silence will be broken regarding the status, efforts and actions to save the church in a written article. Make sure to get both of your community newspapers. The story continues to unravel.
The back story is that the communities stream of information has changed. It appears that the open forum approach soon separated the wheat from the chaff in a less than constructive manner.
Information is being carefully released in a more controlled manner to avoid overstated discussion.

Recent released news:  An independent Historic Masonry Restoration company specializing in Church steeple, Tower & Spire Restoration,as well as several masonry repairs and techniques, inspected Saint Laurentius church on Saturday April 12th. They noted that it would be a serious undertaking and would take much money, determination and grit. They also noted that they believed that St Laurentius did not need to be closed until further notice and they did not see any stones on the current scaffolding.
(source https://www.facebook.com/savestlaurentius)
How this tips the scale remains to be seen. It's not just the reports and planning that carry the most weigh. It's the deadlines and the hope for much needed flexibility.
Saving this icon is worthy in spite of anything.  
Here's some of the pictures from Saturday.

(click picture for slideshow)

photos by roman blazic_all rights reserved