Written by Katie Haines, TTF intern

TTF has kicked off a two-year Tacony Creek Park Stories project to share the voices of park neighbors. The goal of this two part project is to collect and share park and neighborhood history and memories in year one, then work with local artists to bring some of these stories to life, making the collective story of our park more accessible to our community, in the second year.

Over the years we have spoken with many community members who love Tacony Creek Park and have fond memories walking, playing and exploring here, despite its many challenges as an urban watershed park.

Working with Ambrose Liu from the Olney Culture Lab and Dr. Matthew Smalarz of Manor College, we have begun recording in-person interviews with community members. Manor College (which sits along the Jenkintown Creek at the headwaters of the TTF watershed) has been developing an Oral History repository over the past year. Dr. Smalarz, Chair of the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, has extensive experience in conducting these types of interviews.

By making our park history more accessible, we will be able to look back to where the park has been and to develop a hopeful vision for its future. We aim to inspire more community members to become stewards of and champions for Tacony Creek.

Do you have a story to share? Whether you’ve been visiting the park for 50 years or just a few months, we’d love to hear from you. We are committed to gathering stories from the wide range of perspectives in our culturally and ethnically diverse park community.

If you are interested in sharing your stories from the park, contact robin@ttfwatershed.org or call 215-744-1853.

This project has been made possible with support from the Joseph Robert Foundation.