Touch-A-Truck this Saturday!
March 20, 2023 Leave a comment
Join the City of Decatur for their annual Touch-A-Truck and Touch-A-Budget event on Saturday, March 25 at East Lake MARTA station, North lot from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Bikes & Brews Postponed
March 15, 2023 Leave a comment
Unfortunately, due to the forecast for Friday we will be postponing this month’s bikes & brews.
We’ll be back April 21st @ 6:30pm meeting at Guild + Journeyman.
Are you walking correctly?
March 13, 2023 Leave a comment
Like any other exercise, walking requires proper form and technique to be done safely and effectively
We learn to walk when we’re still in diapers, but that doesn’t mean we necessarily know how to walk correctly. Like any other exercise, walking requires the right technique in order to be done safely and effectively.
Proper walking form incorporates four different elements: posture, foot motion, stride, and arm movement. For posture, hold your head high, place your shoulders back, and tighten your mid-section. Remember to stand up straight and don’t arch your back. When in motion, your arm movements should be minimal; make sure that as one arm goes back, the opposite foot goes forward, and do your best to keep your hands partially closed but not clenched — a clenched fist can raise your blood pressure.
Now let’s focus on what’s happening waist down. Do your best to tuck your pelvis under your torso and position your feet straight ahead and parallel to each other. With each step, remember to hit the ground first with your heel and roll through to your toe. When it comes to your walking stride, don’t take too big a step forward; be in control and aim for longer strides on your back step. Imagine you’re using your back foot to propel you forward.
When you go on your daily walk this Monday, focus on form and take the extra time to make sure you’re walking correctly.
From our friends at Move it Monday!
Legacy Park Playground Ribbon Cutting Ceremony
March 10, 2023 Leave a comment
Yesterday afternoon Decatur Legacy Park held a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new inclusive playground. As you may recall, the creation of an accessible and inclusive playground at Legacy Park was a suggestion made by students at Oakhurst Elementary School during the community master planning process. We are excited to see their vision brought to reality and provide a space that all children can enjoy.
Inclusive playgrounds, as they’re commonly known, are universally-designed, sensory-rich environments that go beyond minimum accessibility standards to create play experiences accommodating the widest possible array of physical and cognitive abilities. They further allow adults of varying ages and abilities to actively engage with children in their care and serve as multi-generational gathering spaces for community enjoyment, socialization, healthy bodies, and imaginative fun.
This effort was made possible by a $145,000 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) obtained through Dekalb County with the support of county Commissioners Steve Bradshaw, District 4, and Ted Terry, District 6. The City of Decatur then pledged $114,00 in matching funds for a total project budget of $259,000.
To see more pictures of the ceremony and to read the Decaturish’s coverage, click here
Women in Parks and Recreation
March 7, 2023 Leave a comment
March is Women’s History month and March 8th is International Women’s Day so we thought we’d share some National Parks and Recreation history.
“Before and during the early years of the National Park Service (NPS), publicity for national parks was spearheaded and funded by railroads, hotel operators, automobile associations, friendly newspaper and magazine editors, and others in the tourism industry. In the 1920s the NPS wrote and published stories and reports about the national parks, but it wasn’t until 1934—National Parks Year—that it began its own program using graphic arts to encourage people to visit national and state parks. NPS employee, artist, and landscape architect Dorothy Waugh designed 17 posters between 1934 and 1936.
Waugh was hired by the NPS as a landscape architect and artist in the Branch of Planning around 1933. She had a family connection to the NPS. Her father mentored Conrad L. Wirth during his training as a landscape architect. Wirth would have been familiar with her artistic abilities and her landscape architecture work. Wirth became an NPS assistant director in 1931. He led the NPS Emergency Conservation Work programs in state parks (and later served as NPS director from 1951 to 1964).
It’s not known how Waugh’s NPS work evolved to include posters to promote state and national parks, but she picked up the task in 1934. Some sources indicate that she created her NPS posters while working for the Federal Art Project (FAP), but we can demonstrate that is not true. Not only was Waugh an NPS employee, but at least eleven of her posters were created before FAP was established on August 29, 1935.
In his 1934 report to the secretary of the Interior, NPS Director Arno B. Cammerer references “the Federal campaign to make 1934 outstanding as a national park year.” It was declared National Parks Year and in January Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes appealed to the American people to visit their national parks. The NPS launched a campaign to increase visitation, supported by concessions, railroads, automobile associations, oil companies, conservationists, and others. He notes several “extraordinary activities of the NPS in promoting park travel in 1934…including the preparation of six national park posters, the first to be issued by the Department of the Interior.””
To read the full article and see more of Dorothy Waugh’s work, click here.
Touch-A-Truck and Touch-A-Budget is back!
February 27, 2023 Leave a comment
Join the City of Decatur for their annual Touch-A-Truck and Touch-A-Budget event on Saturday, March 25 at East Lake MARTA station, North lot from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
No Mow March Comes To Decatur!
February 24, 2023 Leave a comment
This March, The City of Decatur and Bee City USA-Decatur, GA (a.k.a. Beecatur) invites Decaturites to join residents of other cities nationwide in taking a month off from mowing to help feed pollinators. With roots in Great Britain, the initiative — originally called “No Mow May” — was launched in the U.S. in 2020 by the Bee City USA affiliate in Appleton, WI. It received widespread media attention in 2022 and many wondered if the program would eventually come to Decatur.
“Allowing flowering spring lawn plants like dandelions, violets, dead nettle, hen bit and others to grow unchecked for a month provides vital forage for pollinating insects at a time when food is otherwise in short supply,” says Peter Helfrich, chair of Decatur’s Bee City USA committee. “In Decatur, our spring pollinators begin to emerge in late February or early March, depending on the weather. Not mowing in May would do little to support them.”
But by choosing to forgo mowing during March, Decatur residents can help sustain honey bees, mason bees, mining bees, bumble bees, and other early spring pollinator species.
To let their neighbors know and to help spread the word, residents participating in No Mow March can pick up a FREE yard sign at the City of Decatur Public Works building (2635 Talley Street). There is a limited supply of 100 free signs so once those are gone you may print your own sign. Please email Kay.Evanovich@decaturga.com for pdf of the sign.
Observing No Mow March is a great start to helping pollinators in Decatur. To take the next step, Helfrich suggests adding native plants to your landscaping, and reducing or eliminating insecticide and herbicide use.
Learn more: beecityusa.org/no-mow-may/
It’s Love My Bus Month!!
February 14, 2023 Leave a comment
City of Decatur loves our City Schools of Decatur school bus drivers and aides. We’re thankful for all they do for our kids. Be sure to spread your encouraging words and praise.
Final days to provide feedback!
February 3, 2023 Leave a comment
The Decatur Parks and Recreation Master Plan, known as Recreatur, is in its final planning phases. Learn about the research and findings, review the proposed plan recommendations, and provide your feedback for the future parks and recreation in Decatur. Visit recreatur.konveio.com to add your input!
Don’t forget to provide your feedback!
January 30, 2023 Leave a comment
The Decatur Parks and Recreation Master Plan, known as Recreatur, is in its final planning phases. Learn about the research and findings, review the proposed plan recommendations, and provide your feedback for the future parks and recreation in Decatur. Visit recreatur.konveio.com to add your input!
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