A Scary Fun Way to Volunteer: Halloween on Harvey Street
It’s not every day that we’re offered a chance to make an impact that will last for generations to come.
This Fall, leaving your mark is as easy as coming out to a FOW service day, costumes encouraged.
The cooler months provide the perfect conditions to plant native trees and shrubs. Today’s saplings will grow to nourish and shelter wildlife and provide a lush tree canopy for future park visitors. Wissahickon-themed costumes at our Annual Halloween Service Day are just for an added flare.
Register here for Halloween at Harvey Street on Saturday, 10/28.
Come dressed as the iconic Thomas Mill Covered Bridge, the colossal Great Beech, or even a Mannequin 2 on the Move character (which was filmed in part in the Wissahickon), or whatever screams Halloween in the Wissahickon to you. After our planting, invasive removal, and litter clean-up, we’ll declare our costume contest winner!
Year after year, you’ll be able to point up and say, “Friends of the Wissahickon and I planted those! And would you believe I was dressed as a bridge while doing it?”
Eager to get out and make your mark? We’ll also be out on the Yellow Trail this weekend, on Saturday, 10/21, putting saplings in the ground! Register here.
Much of the work of our trees goes unnoticed. Trees provide a green buffer, a first pass at filtering out toxins and sediment from stormwater runoff. If you’re local to the park, there’s a chance you’re one of the 1 in 3 Philadelphians who receive drinking water from the Wissahickon Creek. You have trees in part to thank for that clean water coming out of your faucet!
The trees that line our tributaries, especially along Forbidden Drive, are responsible for our streambank access. These trees’ intricate root systems keep the soil along the Valley’s hillsides in place and prevent the ground along the streambank from collapsing.
Our tree canopy keeps the park cool. During our hot summers, trees and shrubs work hard to absorb water from the ground and release cooling water vapor in a process called transpiration. If the Wissahickon wasn’t already a place to seek refuge from the fast-paced city, its trees are what make it a great place to cool off. According to Parks and Rec Heroes Fund, due to the lack of vegetation in some urban areas, an 80-degree day in lush Chestnut Hill can be a 102-degree day in Hunting Park, a Philadelphia neighborhood with fewer tree-lined streets.