Shamrock Shuttle gets mixed reviews at Mayfair meeting
By Tom Waring
Times Staff Writer
The Mayfair Civic Association gave mixed reviews to the Shamrock Shuttle, and the group is looking forward to a few more positive events this spring.
An Easter egg hunt is scheduled for Saturday at noon at Rowland Avenue and Vista Street. The Easter Bunny will make an appearance. The rain date is April 16.
Children up to age 10 are welcome to participate. They should bring their own baskets.
The cost is $1 per child, with proceeds going to Friends of Mayfair Memorial Playground.
The group plans to purchase new equipment at Mayfair Memorial Playground, which closed in 2008 following an injury to a little girl. The playground is located at Rowland and Vista, on the grounds of Abraham Lincoln High School.
On Saturday, May 14, the community will come together for the fourth annual Mayfair May Fair and the third annual Fallen Heroes Run.
The run will start at 8:30 a.m. at the Lincoln parking lot at Ryan Avenue and Sackett Street. The cost is $20 in advance and $25 on the day of the 5K race, which will be held in memory of slain police Sgt. Patrick McDonald.
Proceeds benefit Hero Thrill Show Inc., which provides college scholarships to children of Philadelphia police officers and firefighters killed or disabled in the line of duty; the Sgt. Patrick McDonald Memorial Scholarship fund at Archbishop Ryan; and the Friends of Mayfair Memorial Playground.
The May Fair will include sidewalk sales, live music and other events along Frankford Avenue. The 15th Police District Advisory Council will set up information tables from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Ryan Avenue.
As for the March 5 Shamrock Shuttle, a pre-St. Patrick's Day celebration at several Frankford Avenue bars, the civic group was happy with the number of police officers and portable bathrooms in the area.
However, there were complaints about underage drinking, fights and public urination. One neighbor brought his concerns to a bar employee.
"He said, 'You should be happy there were twenty-five hundred people on the avenue and none of them were black,'" the man said he was told.
In other news from the March 29 meeting:
• Somebody announced that Jamz Roller Skating Center (formerly WOW Family Fun Center), at 7017 Roosevelt Blvd., was about to fall victim to a wrecking ball.
Many neighbors were happy to hear that, since they've regarded the center as a nuisance that attracts trouble-making teenagers from other neighborhoods.
Jamz has been closed since February 2010, when its roof collapsed because of heavy snow. The property is enclosed by fencing, and a construction crew is at work.
However, a Jamz employee said that the center is not only not closing, it is expanding. It should reopen by September.
Jamz will still offer skating, arcade games, amusement rides and birthday parties, but will end its teen night — the source of the neighborhood complaints.
The ownership will remain the same, the official said, but the focus will be more on families and the community.
• The Friends of Pennypack Park will hold recycling events from 9 a.m. to noon in Lincoln High School's Ryan Avenue parking lot on the following Saturdays: April 16, May 21, June 18, July 16, Aug. 20, Sept. 17, Oct. 15, Nov. 19 and Dec. 17.
For more information, call 215-934-PARK or visit www.balford.com/fopp
Reporter Tom Waring can be reached at 215-354-3034 or twaring@bsmphilly.com