It's My Park Day

Volunteers spread wood chips at the Quarry Ball Fields Park, on E. 181st Street between Hughes Avenue and Quarry Road, as part of a citywide parks cleanup.

Park-lovers across the city got their hands dirty on Saturday to commemorate It's My Park Day, an annual service day sponsored by Partnerships for Parks, where volunteers across the five boroughs pitch in to clean up and beautify their local green spaces.

At the Quarry Road Ball Fields in East Tremont, volunteers and a group of students from PS/MS 3 painted the park's rusty bleachers a vibrant green and planted a flower garden alongside one of the fields.

The students are members of SoBro's Community Justice Project, and have been working since last fall to adopt and renovate the 5-acre ball fields. The group won a $2,500 grant this month from the children's television channel Nickelodeon as part of the station's Big Green Grant Program.

Bronx Events, Through the Weekend

The Big Draw (pictured above) at Wave Hill, features a variety of drawing activities for all ages, free, and grounds admission is free until noon, on May 15 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and from 1 to 4 p.m. For more information, call (718) 549-3200 or visit www.wavehill.org.

Click here for our guide to Bronx Week! Events begin on Wednesday. We'll have daily Bronx Week happenings right here.

It's My Park! Day takes place this Saturday (5/15) in parks throughout the city. Over 150 projects and events will occur on that day. The event is being organized by Partnerships for Parks, which is celebrating it's 15th Anniversary. In the northwest Bronx, you can get involved at Mosholu Parkway and Webster Ave. or at St. James Park between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.

The Fordham Road Business Improvement District (BID) presents its 3rd Annual Forham Go Green Walk, May 15 from 11 a.m. t o 3 p.m., start out at 2500 Creston Ave (near E Fordham Rd). The route: From Jerome Ave to E Kingsbridge Rd to Poe Park. This free community event raises awareness on recycling, environmental friendly practices and healthy initiatives. For more details contact Wilma Alonso or Daniel Bernstein at (917) 232-9006 / (917) 232-9007 or e-mail fordhamroadbid@optimum.net.

Lehman Center for the Performing Arts presents an internationally acclaimed dance journey celebrating the people, stories and drama behind Tango, Gauchos and Salsa -- RHYTHM & PASSION – on Saturday, May 15 at 8 p.m. The show takes audiences on a magical trek through time to the sensuous music of the tango, the explosive gauchos, and the sizzling Afro-Cuban rhythms of Salsa. Lehman Center for the Performing Arts is on the campus of Lehman College/CUNY at 250 Bedford Park Boulevard West. Tickets are: $35 (orch.), $30 (mezz.) and $25 (balc.) and $10 any seat for children 12 and under, and can be purchased by calling the Lehman Center box office at (718) 960.8833, or through 24-hour online access at www.LehmanCenter.org.

Bronx-born author Pura M. De Jesus-Coniglio is holding a book signing and reading on May 14, from 7 to 9:30 p.m. at Barnes & Noble in Co-op City, 290 Baychester Ave, for her new book, "THE BRONX: Exposing Its True DNA & Breaking The Stigma."

The Lehman College Community Band will give its final Spring concert, "May Dance," on Sunday, May 16 at 2 p.m. in the Lovinger Theatre. The event is free and open to the public. Contact the College's Music Department at 718-960-8247 or e-mail music.department@lehman.cuny.edu.

This weekend...

Looking for something to do this weekend? Want to stay in Bronx? Then visit BoogieDowner for a list of local goings on.

The big news, unless you hate parks, is that It's My Park! Day is being held this Saturday. In the west Bronx, there's events at University Woods, Williamsbridge Oval, Mount Hope Playground, and more. See here for a complete list.

At the University Woods event, volunteers will be asked to carve pumpkins and make scare crows in preparation for the park's Halloween event - "Ghost Stories at The Woods." Conditions inside the park, once named the city's worst three years running, have improved markedly in recent times. There's an active "Friends of The Woods" group, and earlier this year the park received $500,000 for improvements. Next Wednesday, at a scoping meeting, local residents can have their say on where the money should go.