SLP Neighborhood Leaders Picnic

by Wolt Hood, KPHA President

July 14, 2011 Picnic at Oak Park 

Sponsored by the City of St. Louis Park Police and Fire Department from 6:00-8:00 P.M. last Thursday.  Marney Olson, SLP organized the event and they grilled hot dogs and hamburgers. All neighborhood representatives we asked to bring salads, and deserts to share with the group. 

After the great picnic, Marney spoke and introduced the SLP Police Chief, Ken Sysko. He reiterated the importance of be organized as a neighborhood. He said it was one of the best crime detereants In addition, he stated if your instincts tell you something is wrong, call the SLP Police non emergency and let them come out. He stated he would rather send out a squad and find nothing wrong then us not call and have a serious incident show up in a day or two.

National Crime Night is being held on August 2, 2011 and the block captains are encouraged to organize their area and have a BBQ get together . Do you know who your block captain is????? If not, sign up to cover the approx 15 or 20 homes in your area. It is easy and requires very little from you. Call Wolt Hood Cell ph 612 281-6791 or email kilmerpondnews@gmail.com

Block Captains are responsible for knowing the names and addresses of neighbors, (15-20 homes), greeting new people when moving into your area, and lastly, putting together National Night Out for your area.

KPHA Cycling Club

The first KPHA bike club tour is scheduled for Sunday July 17th!  Sean McArdle, the organizer says “the tour looks like it will go...we will ride to a destination based on the ability of those that show up.  For more details visit the site:  www.kilmerpondcyclists.blogspot.com

Kids Art Club

quality

The Summer Saturday Art Club is well on it’s way to coming up with a substantial showing of their art –   meeting weekly during the summer from noon to 2 PM, in the backyard studio 1631 Melrose Ave.

Basic watercolor techniques - all kids are welcome!

Taught by Suzi McArdle Hood

Spring Meeting and Treasury Update

KPHA Spring Meeting

The KPHA spring meeting took place May 21st, 2011. We had six people attend - including Wolt Hood, Susan McArdle Hood, Jim and Ann Shimota, Jean Giere, and Kris Gabrielson. The meeting lasted about two hours and adjourned. (About 10 labor hours)

The meeting was used to get organized and discuss which activities to continue, and which ones to drop. Everybody wanted to continue the Halloween hayride, and agreed to also continue the Spring Fling. It appears the idea of a KPHA garage sale weekend is history, but some individuals may still have theirs, and it may be good for them to coordinate with each other.

Treasury Report

At the beginning of this year we had a balance of almost $500.00. We applied to the city of St. Louis Park for a neighborhood grant of $1800.00, and were granted $1600.00. We are expected to help match the city's funds with volunteer labor hours. The Spring Fling came in just under our $400.00 budget, and included 23 volunteer labor hours.

Which brings up a good point - we need volunteers! This event was a large amount of work for a small number of people - but if we could get more people help out these events could be just a small amount of work for a large number of people. We're all busy people, but even the busiest person can grill hotdogs or scoop ice cream for just one afternoon once a year!

We have several events budgeted for the remainder of this year:

-Family Bicycle Outings - TBD

-National Night Out - Tuesday 8/2/11

-Back to School Art Sale - TBD

-Halloween Hayride - Monday 10/31/11

-Fall Get Together - TBD

To volunteer - contact Wolt Hood, KPHA President

kilmerpondnews@gmail.com or

612-281-6781

Spring Fling

The KPHA Spring Fling started at noon on Saturday June 11th, at Kilmer Park. Luckily, the weather cooperated and we had a wonderful sunny day for our event. It was a great day for adults to meet other neighbors, and for kids to meet new friends. Hot dogs and ice cream cones were served for both young and old alike.

New to the event this year was KidsDance Entertainment - which is owned by Howard Walstein on Melrose - and who put on a great show for all the kids attending. The kids had a ball dancing, having hula hoop and limbo contests, and getting to see some great juggling. Having a kids DJ at the event was an overwhelming success, and we've decided to reserve them every year.

Suzi McArdle provided face painting for the young kids.

At about 2:30 a fire truck from the city of St. Louis Park arrived, and the kids got the chance to climb in and out of the fire truck and see all the gear and equipment.

Thanks to the city of St. Louis Park for funding these activities, and a special thanks to all the neighborhood volunteers - Wolt Hood, Susan McArdle, Jim and Ann Shimota, Jean Giere, and Kris Gabrielson - who worked hard to put on this event. Without their hard work, it would not have been possible!

Kilmer Pond Homeowners Association - Annual Meeting

Location: 1631 Melrose Ave. So  

Attended by Jim Shimota, Treasurer, Lynn Scott, Editor of Newsletter, Wolt Hood, President, Susan McArdle Hood, Vice President and 5 neighbors Jean Giere, Beverly Fricke, Chris Gabrielson, Bob Shorten and David Nelson.

We met at Wolt’s house to discuss what activities, we should continue with and which ones we should drop. Essentially, we want to continue a Spring Fling at the pond or park, Halloween Horse Wagon ride for the children, and a Back to School Activity. We discussed reforming the Kilmer Pond Garden Club and have activities with other garden clubs such as Diggers of Golden Valley. In addition, we want to pursue having a neighborhood art crawl with an Open House function for those that wish to show their remodeling completed and the results.

We discussed that the newsletter will be on the internet and the address is www.kilmerpondnews.blogspot.com We want all homeowners to register so that way we can communicate any issues directly to you.

We still need volunteers to take charge of an activity and arrange whatever is needed. Spring fling we usually have desserts with ice cream and activities for the kids. Facepainting, balloons, etc. Sign up on the website and let us know what you want to do. 

We talked about having a neighborhood bike club and then having outings. We have a neighbor Chuck Leighton who volunteered to have a class on bike safety and teach about bike maintenance. We could have family bike tours and adult tours with longer distances.

Tentatively, we should be looking at a schedule with the following times:  

April

• Pond Cleanup
• Bike Safety Course and Bike Maintenance
• Garden meeting with speaker from Bachmans or Diggers garden club

May   

• Spring Fling- Pie and Ice Cream for the kids at the Pond. We invite the fire dept and police. We need someone to manage this and set it up.

                         

June   

• Bike trip to the Westwood Hills Nature Center. We will need a volunteer to lead the group. 
• Adult Bike Tour from Kilmer Pond to Downtown Mpls and back. We need a volunteer to lead the group.
• Painting Class for children-Susan McArdle Hood Basic Watercolor 

                        

July

• Landscaping Judging of Front and Back Yards by the KPHA Garden Committee.

August             

• National Crime Out Observance. Each Block organizes their own BBQ and each neighbor brings a dish.

          

September      

• Back to School BBQ

October           

• KPHA Halloween Ride for the kids-Trick or Treats on the Horse and Wagon by Bunker Hills Stables.

Fall Update

by Wolt Hood, President

(Halloween Hay Ride with Bunker Park Stables)

Hey Kilmer Pond Homeowners:

We are in the process of getting modern and having some fun with the neighborhood and going out to meet other neighborhoods and seeing what they do.

1.We are trying to start a KPHA Bike Club and have a neighbor who would try to teach bike maintenance and bike safety when riding. We need you to step forward and call Charles Leighton 952-412-0760 and talk about biking the trails. We could have neighborhood bike outs with a picnic or we could learn all about the current trails. Our son, Sean took us out on a ride and we ended up in downtown Mpls and we were amazed how quick it was. He said we were not speedy. It was fun for all. We could form a KPHA bike team and enter fundraising events as a group. We could have a team for almost any worthy cause.

2. For those of you who are in love with gardens, we are attempting to reform the KPHA Garden club. Our neighborhood used to have annual plant sales that brought people from all over. We need some volunteers for a committee to determine what things we would like to do. Plant Sales or swaps. Social events with other Twin City Garden Clubs. Have KPHA awards for the best gardens front and back yards. We need volunteer judges so we can nominate and award the winners. So far, we have a few interested. Did you know KPHA used to have a garden club called Lakeview Garden Club. Looking at our archives, we have been involved with the Minnesota Horticulture Society and the U of Mn Arboretum.

3. KPHA Remodeling Open House. For you newcomers or oldtimers that never got the remodeling bug, we want to have an Open House afternoon where all neighbors who have done remodeling want to show their neighbors how projects have turned out. What an opportunity to learn the do’s and don’ts of remodeling projects.

4. Kilmer Pond Art Crawl: We have artists that own homes in Kilmer and we want to have an annual art crawl where artists open up their homes as studios to show their work and offer refreshments and treats. We have many talented neighbors representing different media as artists. If you are an artist, you should let us know or volunteer to organize this event every year.

5. Due to popular request, we reserved our Halloween ride with the Bunker Park Stables and we met at the intersection of Lancaster and Melrose. They had two beautiful Belgian draft horses with a large wagon with hay . They were setup at 6:00 P.M. and it was amazing how many people showed up. It was great to see how the parents dressed their children in some elaborate costumes. We had atleast 50 people show up. They took us for a ride for about two hours and stopped multiple times for the ghosts and goblins to get treats from the homes. It was fun to see the homes that went with the theme and had decorated their front yards. In particular, on Lancaster there is a cemetery which improves every year getting to be larger with more decorations of skeletons, tombstones, and ghosts.

For your information, we have already reserved them for next year so we have to make sure it is in our budget for the kids.