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Catch a Kid-Friendly Outdoor Screening of World Cup Soccer

Posted on June 12, 2010 | 1 comment

With the 2010 FIFA World Cup Soccer finals upon us from South Africa, World Cup fever is sky-high around the globe. One great upshot of this is that the World Cup is providing some opportunities for good camaraderie and fun, as many communities are opting to erect giant outdoor screens, so people can enjoy the games for free, often in kid-friendly settings.

In San Francisco, World Cup Soccer will be displayed outdoors at Civic Center Plaza. The city first screened World Cup Soccer outdoors in Dolores Park in 2006, and is offering 10 dates for viewings this year, from June 11-July 11. In addition to the soccer games screening live from South Africa, the event will feature food, games and children’s activities. Read more about San Francisco World Cup screenings.

In Seattle, games will be broadcast on a big screen in Nord Alley, near Pioneer Square, over a whopping 25 dates. Seattle’s International Sustainability Institute is sponsoring the free screenings, at which food will be sold. Nord Alley already has a history of soccer madness — Seattle Sounders fans gather there to celebrate before and after matches. Read more about Seattle World Cup screenings.

Portland, OR’s, Director Park, near Pioneer Courthouse Square, will be the site of two World Cup outdoor screenings, June 12 and July 11. Portland has also had successful outdoor soccer viewing events in the past. Read more about Portland World Cup screenings.

Houston is hosting outdoor viewings, courtesy of the Houston Dynamo team, for all USA and Mexico World Cup matches, as well as for the semifinals on July 6 & 7 and the final on July 11. Events will take at Discovery Green, downtown, and will feature lots of kid-friendly activities and entertainment. Read more about Houston World Cup screenings.

Chicago is hosting a festival and viewing June 12, sponsored by that city’s South African Consulate. Read more about Chicago World Cup screenings.

In New York City, head to Brooklyn for World Cup screenings June 12, 20 and 27, on Vanderbilt Avenue, between Dean Street and Park Place, as part of the second annual Summer Streets on Vanderbilt event. The street will be closed to traffic. In addition to World Cup soccer, people can take in musical entertainment, children’s games, contests, food, and fashion shows. Read more about New York World Cup screenings.

London will be host to multiple viewing events, throughout the month, including the Afro Cup Festival, which celebrates African music, art, culture and more, along with soccer/football viewing. Read more about London World Cup screenings.

Oslo puts most of the rest of the soccer-viewing world to shame: Every single World Cup match — more than 50 of them — will be screened outdoors at Kontraskjæret by Akershus Fortress. The arena opens two hours before the first match of the day, and entry is free. Read more about Oslo World Cup screenings.

Perth is also home to its share of screenings, which will take place new Northbridge Piazza, a great new public space in Northbridge, Perth’s entertainment district. 22 games are scheduled through the finals. Read more about Perth World Cup screenings.

If anyone has any tips on other outdoor screenings, let me know. Happy viewing!

Photo: Fans celebrating the upcoming 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, Audrey & Patrick Scales

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School and Community Gardens Grow More than Food

Posted on January 20, 2010 | 4 comments

I recently came across two wonderful stories about community gardens.

Ground will soon be broken for the first New York school garden in the Edible Schoolyard project, which was begun by pioneering chef and school garden proponent Alice Waters. The garden, at Public School 216 in Brooklyn’s Gravesend neighborhood, will feature a solar-powered building with a kitchen classroom that includes space for the children to make and enjoy meals from the food they’ve grown. Also in the works are a chicken coop, a composting system, an outdoor pizza oven, a portable greenhouse, and rainwater collection.

The 460 students, grades K-5, will learn a variety of traditional subjects through the garden, and it is hoped that the school will become a center for environmental and agriculture studies. The school, in an area where children would not normally have ready access to gardens, represents the 6th Edible Schoolyard in the U.S. and the only one currently set to operate year-round. School Principal Celia Kaplinsky said she also envisions the garden as a place to build community, where children with many different cultures and languages can bond.

Read more about Brooklyn’s Edible Schoolyard in this New York Times article.

Another terrific story just surfaced about a series of backyard vegetable gardens in San Jose, CA. The project is spearheaded by a group called La Mesa Verde, which is part of the Silicon Valley Health Trust. Both groups encourage healthy eating and community enhancement through gardening, noting that growing ones own healthy food is not only a source of pride, but a surefire way to have access to good greens.

30 backyard gardens were recently planted in San Jose’s Gardner and Washington-Guadalupe neighborhoods, which are home to many relatively new Latino immigrants who comprise the city’s working poor. The neighborhoods, while blessed with an average of 300 sunny days a year, offer limited access to fresh food. Homegrown food has meant access, along with tremendous money savings, for many. Says one resident, “People don’t eat vegetables unless they are close by.”

La Mesa Verde founder Raul Lozano hopes to get about 70 more backyard gardens planted by spring, with help from community volunteers.

Read more about the San Jose backyard gardens in the New York Times.

Photo: Jean-noël Lafargue. ChickenFreak

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Slow News Day: A Cottage Garden Grows in Brooklyn

Posted on August 8, 2009 | Leave a comment

I love this story by Anne Raver that appeared in the Home section of Thursday’s New York Times. It’s about a garden that was implausibly imagined and created, and then lovingly tended, in a blighted area at the entrance to the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, NY.

Its creator, Kirstin Tobiasson, began the project seven years ago, with no gardening experience, but plenty of common sense and a desire to create something of beauty. In the process, she found her green thumb, along with a community of people who find themselves drawn to her project.

In the article, Tobiasson says of her unlikely cottage flowers, “They’re opportunistic” and refers to her garden as “an insurrection on the sidewalk.”

Lovely, colorful photos by Jenn Ackerman accompany the piece as well. Kirstin and her garden’s spirit and cheer made my morning.

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