Join the Dutchtown South Community Corporation, Downtown Dutchtown Business Association, and Urban Eats for a Blessing of the Bikes and Dutchtown Pocket Park Tour on Saturday, July 16th.

The event begins at 9:30 at St. Anthony of Padua. Participants will be able to have their bicycles, scooters, strollers, and other non-motorized transportation blessed by Franciscan Monks.

At 10:00, meet at Urban Eats and follow your tour guide through Dutchtown’s pocket parks. There will also be opportunity to discuss possible improvements to Minnie Wood and Laclede Parks.

Finally, head back to Urban Eats for lunch, or continue on a self-guided tour of the Christy Greenway.

To RSVP, please visit the Facebook event page or email amanda.dscc@gmail.com.

The Gravois Park Neighborhood Association meets this Tuesday, July 12th, 6pm at 3353 California in the old Jefferson Bank Building.

At 7pm on Tuesday, the Dutchtown West Neighborhood Association meets at Grbic Banquet Hall, Meramec and Keokuk.

Both meetings will feature updates from SLMPD’s neighborhood liaison officers, elected officials, and Neighborhood Improvement Specialists. We hope to see you there!

Nominate yourself or someone else to participate in the Regional Arts Commission’s Community Arts Training Institute. This year the place-based program will focus on Dutchtown, as well as the Ville, the West End, and the Ferguson area.

Applicants and nominees should be active in the community. The training sessions provide a comprehensive, professional environment in which artists of all disciplines and people working in community settings can learn how to work together using creative community building tools and tactics.

Applications and nominations will be open through July 5th. Click here to nominate someone, or to apply fill out the online application or download an application.

Head down to the Meramec strip on Saturday, June 25th for a summer sidewalk sale! Get some deals on fashions, housewares, antiques, and more, and help support your neighborhood small businesses. Participating shops include:

• Glinda’s Hers, His, & Kids, 3609 Meramec
• Fay’s Resale, 3318 ½ Meramec
• Tower Grove Antiques, 3316 Meramec
• Twice Blessed Resale Shop, 3302 Meramec
• Hers 314, 3218 Meramec
• Diana’s Boutique, 3216 Meramec
• Logan’s Kids Resale, 3141 Meramec

On Saturday, June 18th, City agencies will be out in full force helping to clean up the neighborhood. You can help just by properly placing your bulky trash items in the alley, cleaning up trash on your street, or clearing out overgrown weeds in your alley. The Forestry, Streets, and Refuse Departments will be out and about in the 20th and 25th Wards to help and make extra pickups.

There will also be additional police on the street, as well as representatives from the City’s PIER Program knocking on doors. They will be trying to engage and keep contact with neighbors and better assess the needs of neighborhoods.

Additionally there will be six City Service hubs set up throughout the neighborhood at the following locations:

• Marquette Park (near the pool)
• 2700 Keokuk
• 3700-3800 Keokuk
• 3700-3800 Neosho
• 4500 Virginia
• 3500 Bingham

Residents can go to those locations if they have any questions or concerns Most staff and NISs will be located at Marquette Park. Operation Brightside will also be at Marquette Park next to the pool with cleanup equipment such as shovels and rakes to loan.

At 1pm at Marquette Park there will a BBQ for volunteers, City staff, and the community sponsored by Incarnate Word Foundation and  the Thomas Dunn Learning Center.

For more information contact your Neighborhood Improvement Specialist:

• Eric Vineyard, 25th Ward NIS: VineyardE@stlouis-mo.gov or 314-657-1356
• DeAnna Murphy, 20th Ward NIS: MurphyD@stlouis-mo.gov or 314-657-1371