Category: Community

Little Free Libraries: Popping Up Across Cleveland and Other Cities

Little Free Libraries: Popping Up Across Cleveland and Other Cities

Posted on by Kbaumlier

Have a book to share or want to borrow a book?  Instead of going to your regular public library, you can check out one of the Little Free Libraries that have been showing up around Cleveland and other cities across the U.S.

A friend of mine recently told me about a large birdhouse like structure that he saw that had books in it that he saw while jogging in Cleveland Heights. Turns out that this was part of the Little Free Library Movement, which in recent years was created to get the community excited about reading and to promote literacy.

Basically a Little Free Library it is a bookshelf in a waterproof house structure. Anyone can take a book or leave a book, without signing in or checking anything out.  The project started in Wisconsin in 2009, and has now spread to many states in the U.S. including Ohio

This summer, the Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Library installed the first of three Little Free Libraries that are to be created in the community.  An article in the Plain Dealer this past weekend reported that Bob Cheshier, a member of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Cleveland Heights recently raised money to build and install a Little Free Library near Miles Park School.

The Cleveland Public Library installed two Little Free Libraries in Cleveland, and the community was invited to help decorate them on September 15th of the Main Library. The Little Free Libraries were installed near Dave’s Supermarket located at 3301 Payne Avenue, Cleveland and at West 25th & Clark, where the organization Esperanza and Seeds of Literacy are located.

If you or community is interested in building a Little Free Library, there are direction on the Little Free Library website.  There are variety of designs which range from looking like a barn, a house or schoolhouse.

When the rain lets up today, I am going to go to bring one of my Harry Potter books to the Little Free Library – and see if there is anything for me to read.

Image Source:
Cleveland Heights Patch
www.littlefreelibrary.org

 

Links:

http://www.littlefreelibrary.org/

 

Thank You For Coming: A New Food + Community Space

Thank You For Coming: A New Food + Community Space

Posted on by Kbaumlier

This summer I backed a project on Kickstarter called Thank You For Coming,  a collaborative and participatory restaurant/meeting space in Los Angles, CA “where everyone can be a cook.”  The vision is for participants to be actively engaged in the space in various forms including by cooking the meal themselves, foraging or harvesting their own ingredients, or by  eating with a new tool.

Thank You For Coming raised money through Kickstarter to cover start-up costs for renovations, permits, materials, and equipment to get the space up and running.  The space is designed to be able to hold events and to be a restaurant.  Container gardens will be near the kitchen at the  3416 Glendale Blvd. location in Los Angeles.

Behind the project is a four member team consisting of Laura Noguera, Jonathan Robert, Jenn Su Taohan, and Cynthia Su Taopin, who will oversee the residency program and general operation of the space.  The space will open in June, and an ongoing residency program program will give “citizens with varying interests, desires and skills, an opportunity to cook for the public, be a farmer, play with a space, and experiment.”

Recently the Thank You For Coming space got approval from the city to operate as a restaurant.  They also bought some equipment (refrigerator, freezer, induction ranges, shelves, etc.), built furniture, removed 5 layers of paint from the cement floors of the space, and began work on plumbing and electrical upgrades.

A call for proposals for the residency program went out earlier this fall and everyone (Artists, Cooks, Plumbers, Park Rangers, Moms + Granddads, and others) have been invited apply to do a project and explore new and old ways of sharing food with people in the space.

All residents would be able to use the kitchen and space as a platform for public engagement and creative experimentation and presentation.  To start, Thank You For Coming plans to be open from Wednesday-Sunday for Lunch & Dinner.

If you are interesting in being a resident, you can email them at hello@thankyouforcoming.la and read more about the application guidelines on the Kickstarter update page.

Image Source:
http://thankyouforcoming.la/

Links:

http://thankyouforcoming.la/

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1406166588/thank-you-for-coming/posts

 

Hang a Swing on it! The Swings Tampa Bay Project

Hang a Swing on it! The Swings Tampa Bay Project

Posted on by Kbaumlier

Swings Tampa Bay is a group that hangs hand-made hand-painted Swings around the city of Tampa Bay, Fl.  The swings are hung on trees, bridges, various structures, inside buildings, and in other locations.

The project came out of a environmental design project to hang classic red Swings all over downtown St. Petersburg, FL.  Reuban and Hunter, the team behind the project began to notice that a swing had a powerful effect on the community. “People that would have never even acknowledged each other were immediately magnetized to their new discovery and began sharing warm conversation and new experiences while pushing each other high up into the air,” they write on the Swings website.

They received a community award, and hosted a “Let’s Paint Swings” event where anyone could hand paint a swing to be hung or hang it themselves. 100 Swings were painted at the event. Since then there has been 5 swing painting events,  135 swings have been hung, and over 1028 swings have been painted.

Why not put a swing on it?

Image Source:
http://swingstampabay.com/

Links:

http://swingstampabay.com/

Food Font – at the Shaker Square North Union Farmers Market Sat. August 18th

Food Font – at the Shaker Square North Union Farmers Market Sat. August 18th

Posted on by Kbaumlier

Food Font will be at the Shaker Square Farmers Market this Saturday from 8am – 12 noon.

You can read more on the Facebook event page.

I am hoping that tomatoes are out this week – so we can make a tomato alphabet.  Otherwise, we will work with some other seasonal produce to make letters.

If you are in the area – come stop by and make a letter and say “hi!”  (Or better yet – you can make a “H” and a “I” out of food!)

 

Food Font Farmers Market Booth – Up and Running

Food Font Farmers Market Booth – Up and Running

Posted on by Kbaumlier

This past weekend we setup the Food Font Booth for the first time at the Elmwood-Bidwell farmer’s market in Buffalo, NY.

The setup worked well since it protected us from the light rain and sun, provided enough room for two people to make letters at the same time, and had enough space for a crowd to gather to watch and join in the activity.

Food Font will be at the Weaver Street Market in Carrboro, NC next Sunday April 5th from 11 am – 1pm.  Look for our setup!

Here is a slideshow of the Food Font setup from the Flickr site.