Reminder: eNews from SF Recreation and Parks- January 31, 2024

[SF Recreation and Parks]

Updates, news and events in San Francisco parks   Highlights, News & Announcements   Severe Storm Impacts in our Parks San Francisco is in the midst of some wet and windy weather that is expected to last through next week. While using your parks, please be alert as strong gusts can topple healthy trees and snap limbs. In addition, there may be flooding throughout sections of our parks. Please avoid all flooded areas. Stay up to date on park impacts and closures at sfrecpark.org. In addition, be sure to check out tips for what to do during severe storms from the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management at the link below. Severe Storm Info   Entwined Meadow Elements Illuminate UN Plaza Elements from artist Charles Gadeken’s illuminated installation Entwined Meadow are currently dazzling visitors to UN Plaza with changing light and color. The nine shrub sculptures, each composed of hundreds of LED lights at varying heights, arrived at UN Plaza last week for installation from The Box Shop, Gadeken’s collaborative workspace in the Bayview for artists focused on metal and industrial arts. The sculptures were previously part of Entwined Meadow, a winter light installation in Golden Gate Park’s Peacock Meadow from 2020 to 2023. Visitors can control the light radiating from each individual shrub from their smartphones as they stroll through the dynamic exhibit, which is designed to build a sense of magic and wonder. The installation is the latest addition to a transformed UN Plaza, which reopened Nov. 8, 2023 and now serves as a dynamic hub for recreation and scheduled activities in the Civic Center neighborhood. The revitalized space includes the nation’s first street skating plaza of its kind, a fitness court studio, activities, and games. For more information, click the link below. Photo Credit: Joe Kukura, SFist Entwined at UN Plaza   Rec and Park Hosts Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Luncheon Rec and Park, city officials, and community members celebrated Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the values he embodied at the 40th Annual MLK Luncheon last week. The keynote speaker at the event was the Director of the Dream Keeper Initiative Dr. Saidah Leatutufu-Burch, with other speakers including Mayor London Breed, Supervisors Shamann Walton and Ahsha Safaí, District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, and Dr. Veronica Hunnicutt. At the luncheon, Rec and Park gave out the Keeping the Dream Alive Awards, with two going to the community and one going to a Rec and Park program. The award winners' work embodies the theme for the year, which was "It starts with me." The San Francisco African American Reparations Advisory Committee received a community award for its work on the San Francisco Reparations Plan. Committee Chair Eric McDonnell accepted the award.  Alanna Wise received the second community award for her work volunteering with Rec and Park. Alanna's daughter, Atajinae Jarreau, runs the department's Workreation program, though many Rec and Park staff have also come to affectionally call Alanna “Mom.” Bayview Safety Swim and Splash (BSSS) received the program award. Based out of Martin Luther King Jr. Pool, BSSS is a free learn-to-swim program for elementary school students living or attending school in the 94124 ZIP code. The program, which launched in 2022 as a partnership between Rec and Park and the YMCA of San Francisco, ensures that neighborhood youth develop confidence in the water and acquire lifelong skills, including floating, breathing, and how to swim to safety if needed. It served 426 youth in 2023, with more than 100 reaching their water safety goals. Members of the YMCA and Rec and Park's aquatics and Requity teams accepted the award. The program was developed through the India Basin Waterfront Park Project and its Equitable Development Plan.  We want to express our gratitude to the awardees for their work to lift up all those who have been overlooked and for honoring Dr. King's legacy.   Gene Friend Recreation Center Project Groundbreaking on February 5 Join us for a special groundbreaking ceremony for the Gene Friend Recreation Center (270 6th Street) project on Monday, February 5 beginning at 1 p.m. The event will take place at the Harriet Street entrance and will feature community remarks and a ceremony. The project will create a completely new modern building that will be significantly larger than the previous facility. It will feature a two-court gymnasium, exercise facilities, and two multipurpose rooms. Outdoor improvements will include a new playground, multi-court, plantings, and lighting. Learn more about the project at the link below. Gene Friend Rec Center Project   11th and Natoma Park: Call for Naming Proposals by February 12 In partnership with community organizations from the SoMa neighborhood, the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department is taking proposals for the naming of a new park located within western SoMa at the intersection of 11th and Natoma streets. This initiative aims to involve the community in selecting a meaningful and appropriate name that resonates with the park's location, historical significance, or honors an individual's contributions to the South of Market community. The submission deadline is Monday, February 12 with two virtual community meetings to present and review nominations on Tuesday, February 13 and Thursday, March 7 at 6 p.m. For more information, click the link below. 11th & Natoma Naming Proposals   Golden Gate Park Golf Course Clubhouse Reopening on February 16 Join us for the reopening of the Golden Gate Park Golf Clubhouse on Friday, February 16 at 11 a.m. This event will celebrate the brand new clubhouse with a speaking program and ceremony. The clubhouse will serve as a hub for the 9-hole par 3 course, which is popular both with new players and experts. Learn more about the project at the link below. The Golden Gate Park Golf Course is operated by First Tee San Francisco, a nonprofit youth development organization that teaches kids leadership, self-confidence and resilience through golf. First Tee is located at four sites in the Bay Area and serves more than 15,000 youth. It provides youth classes as well as tee times. Golden Gate Park Golf Clubhouse Project   Summer Resource Fair at the County Fair Building on February 24 Join Rec and Park and the Department of Children, Youth, and Their Families (DCYF) for our Summer Resource Fair! The citywide event takes place on Saturday, February 24 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the County Fair Building (1199 9th Avenue). Get started on planning your family's summer, as this event will feature 100 summer camps, classes, programs, and services for children in grades K-8. For more information, click the link below. Summer Resource Fair   9th and Lincoln Gateway Project in Golden Gate Park Begins Construction on the 9th and Lincoln gateway improvement project in Golden Gate Park has begun! Fencing has been installed, survey work has been completed and demolition began this week. The project is expected to be completed in summer 2024. For more information on the project and to stay up to date, click the link below. 9th & Lincoln Gateway Project   Thank you LDS Mission Volunteers for More Than Eight Years of Work We'd like to recognize volunteers from the LDS Mission for their continued work at Blue Heron Lake. This rotating group of volunteers has consistently been weeding, mulching, and improving Golden Gate Park since 2015. They were a big part of transforming a large section of Martin Luther King Dr. into the beautifully cultivated hillside it is today. We are grateful for all of their hard work and for loving our parks! Learn more about how to volunteer with our department at the link below. Volunteer Programs   Magnificent Magnolias at the San Francisco Botanical Garden Magnificent Magnolias is back at the San Francisco Botanical Garden (1199 9th Avenue) this winter! Experience one of the most significant conservation collections of magnolias in the United States in bloom mid-January through March. Admire the sights and scents on the branches of more than 200 elegant trees, as velvety silver buds and saucer-sized pink, white, and magenta flowers make an appearance in this spectacular annual bloom. For more information, click the link below. Magnificent Magnolias   Park Padel at Embarcadero Plaza Check out Park Padel's new one-year pop-up courts located in Embarcadero Plaza! Padel, frequently described as a cross between tennis and squash, is one of the fastest growing sports in the world. Like pickleball, padel is easy to learn, social, and usually played as a doubles game on a court about a third of the size of a tennis court. However, padel courts are bounded by glass walls, allowing players to hit the ball off multiple surfaces, much like squash. Free play with advanced reservation takes place Monday through Thursdays from 2 to 4 p.m. For more information and to make a reservation, click the link below. Park Padel   Reptiles of the Park at Mission Bay On a warm day, Mission Bay residents Glynnis and Joshua head to Mission Creek Park with their leopard print stroller. Peek inside and you’ll find 3-year-old Ian Hunter Muad’dib, a sun-worshipping Russian tortoise who enjoys nibbling on organic radicchio from the farmer’s market. Named for both the lead singer of English rock band Mott the Hoople and a character in Dune, the hard-shelled gentleman can be stubborn about leaving his enclosure. “He has attitude. If he doesn’t want to come out, he looks right at me and sashays away,” says Glynnis. “He’s very picky about his temperature, but he wants to go to the park every time it hits 70 degrees. He likes his sun and he likes to watch the folks on the walkway.” Ian Hunter Muad’dib’s favorite park is among 24 acres in the Mission Bay Parks Network transferred to Recreation and Park and the Port of San Francisco last summer. The transition marked a significant milestone for the Mission Bay neighborhood, inspiring Ian Hunter Muad’dib to shellebrate alongside his neighbors. You can follow his adventures on Instagram and TikTok at @SFTortLife.   Upcoming Events   YPTMTC's "The Prom" at the Randall Museum February 2 to 4 Join the Young People's Teen Musical Theatre Company (YPTMTC) for the closing weekend of its musical production of "The Prom." It focuses on four eccentric Broadway stars that are in desperate need of a new stage. When they hear that trouble is brewing around a small-town prom, they know that it’s time to put a spotlight on the issue, as well as themselves. Closing weekend takes place at the Randall Museum (199 Museum Way) from February 2 to 4 with Friday and Saturday shows beginning at 7:30 p.m. and the Sunday show beginning at 2 p.m. For more information and to purchase tickets, click the link below. The Prom   Final City Job Fair at County Fair Building on February 3 Looking for a career change? San Francisco Recreation and Parks, along with other government agencies and community organizations have been hosting a series of job fairs to start 2024. The last will be on Saturday, February 3 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the County Fair Building (1199 9th Avenue) in Golden Gate Park. Swing by and find the right job for you! For more information, email rpd_recruitment at sfgov.org Rec and Park Jobs   Entwined: Elder Mother - Book Giveaways on February 3 and 10 Entwined: Elder Mother is shining bright at the JFK Promenade and Conservatory Drive East in Golden Gate Park every night after dark. It is based on a Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale called "The Elder-Tree Mother" in which a bed-ridden child hears stories from a mystical woman in a magical tree. Golden Gate Park's Elder Mother tree also tells stories of its own, as artist Charles Gadeken collected more than 26 hours of different folklore, fairy tales, and personal anecdotes across 24 different languages that play on a loop from the tree. If you want even more stories, don’t miss free surprise book giveaways with Green Apple Books at the installation on the Saturdays of February 3 and 10 from 3 to 8 p.m. The San Francisco Public Library's (SFPL) YouthMobile will also be on site with a selection of kid’s library materials available for check-out with an SFPL library card. For more information, click the link below. Entwined: Elder Mother   Tai Chi at the Silver Terrace Basketball Courts Starting February 8 Celebrate the Lunar New Year with free Tai Chi classes in the park on Thursdays from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. at the Silver Terrace (1700 Silver Avenue) basketball courts starting on February 8. Classes are open to all ages and will run through March 14, offering a chance to improve your balance, concentration, and self-awareness through this graceful art. For more information and to sign up, click the link below. Tai Chi at Silver Terrace   Community Skate Jam at Waller Street Skate Park on February 10 As a part of Pablo Weekend, join the Pablo Ramirez Foundation for its community skate jam at Waller Street Skate Park (Waller and Stanyan streets) on Saturday, February 10 from 2 to 5 p.m. There will be free skate lessons from the foundation and San Francisco Skate Club, merch giveaways, a live jazz set with Baby Steps, a DJ set with ADP Beats, and more. On what would have been Pablo's 31st birthday, help celebrate his legacy by skating together and remembering his mantra that life is beautiful. For more information, click the link below. Pablo Weekend   Super Stroll and Roll in Golden Gate Park on February 11 On Super Bowl Sunday, February 11 at 9:30 a.m., join the Bay Area Young Survivors (BAYS) and Bay Area Ridge Trail for the 9th annual Super Stroll and Roll, a free event to walk and ride through San Francisco's streets and trails. This year, the event will begin at the Golden Gate Park bocce courts (Stanyan and Page streets) and head to the park's upcoming memorial, the BAYS Breast Cancer Memorial Garden. Learn more and register for this event at the link below. The Breast Cancer Memorial Garden will be Golden Gate Park's first memorial since the AIDS Memorial Garden. BAYS is nearing the finish line in its fundraising and plans to break ground and complete the memorial in 2024. Participants will get a chance to see the plans to transform the space at this event. Learn more about the memorial at this link. Super Stroll and Roll   Bay Area Skate Fest at UN Skate Plaza on February 18 Join Rec and Park, Skate Like a Girl, and For the Town Skateboarding for the Bay Area Skate Fest at UN Skate Plaza (50 United Nations Plaza) on Sunday, February 18 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. This free, all-ages event will feature skateboard lessons with gear provided by Skate Like a Girl from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Lessons will be followed by an open skate session, trick contest, and more from 1 to 3 p.m. Help celebrate the new skate space and the skateboarding community! For more information, click the link below. Bay Area Skate Fest   Programming   Sign Up for Bayview United Soccer Club Bayview United is San Francisco's first primarily Black youth soccer team for boys and girls, grades K-5. Since 2019, this free equity-driven program aims to increase access in the Bayview-Hunters Point (BVHP) community to the world’s game. It has set out to create a top tier soccer program with its home field at Youngblood Coleman Playground (1398 Hudson Avenue), and is open to players of all backgrounds and experience levels in the BVHP community. If interested, contact Fulton Mitchell at (415) 361-2872.   SFMTA Photo Archive at Harvey Milk Photo Center through February 3 Check out the San Francisco Chronicle's coverage of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) photo exhibit at Rec and Park's Harvey Milk Photo Center facility. SFMTA brought its vintage Muni bus out to Duboce Park last weekend, while staff led a tour of the exhibit in the center. The exhibit draws on the 120-year-old collections of photographs in the SFMTA photo department and archive, capturing everything from buses and streetcars to major historical events. With its last day on February 3, be sure to check it out soon! For details, click the link below. SFMTA Photo Exhibit   Senior Programming at Joe Lee Recreation Center Join our staff at Joseph Lee Recreation Center (1598 Oakdale Avenue) for senior programming in 2024. Classes include beginning line dance and nutrition (#37589) and bingo (#37588). For more information and to sign up, visit sfrecpark.org/register and search for the class number. Additional questions? Call (415) 970-9202.   Mobile Rec at India Basin Shoreline Park on February 3 Mobile Rec comes to India Basin Shoreline Park (Hunters Point Boulevard and Hawes Street) on Saturday, February 3 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Enjoy free BMX biking, skateboarding and more. Equipment will be provided. Grind rails and catch some air! For more information, click the link below. Mobile Rec   Sundays at the Beach on the Great Highway: Chair Yoga on February 4 Join the Friends of Great Highway Park for its Sundays at the Beach programming. These free activities from Tai Chi to live music, will be hosted four times a month. The next program will be Chair Yoga on Sunday, February 4, at Irving Street and the Great Highway at 2 p.m. For more information, click the link below. Great Highway Park   Movie Night at Glen Park Recreation Center on February 6 Join our staff at Glen Canyon Park Recreation Center (70 Elk Street) for classic movie nights! The next one will take place on Tuesday, February 6, beginning at 6 p.m. featuring the 1934 film "Of Human Bondage." Come out to meet your neighbors and to enjoy these vintage films. For more information, contact the center at (415) 239-4007.   Niners vs. Lions 1957 Game at Kezar Stadium The San Francisco 49ers beat the Detroit Lions this past Sunday to advance to the Superbowl, avenging a playoff game in 1957 where the Niners blew a 24-7 lead to the Lions at Kezar Stadium. With that demon exorcised, our Video of the Week depicts highlights of that 1957 game at old Kezar Stadium from Youtube user atomjackfuser via NFL Films. Opening in 1925, Kezar Stadium was the home to the 49ers for more than two decades, playing their first game on September 8, 1946 against the New York Yankees. They left for Candlestick Park in 1971. Learn more about Kezar's history and that 1957 game from KTVU at the link below. 49ers Superfans Remember 1957   San Francisco Recreation and Parks | sfrecpark.org         SF Recreation and Parks | McLaren Lodge-Golden Gate Park, 501 Stanyan Street, San Francisco , CA 94117 Unsubscribe house at digitalkingdom.org Constant Contact Data Notice Sent by sean.d.white at sfgov.org powered by Try email marketing for free today!
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