Did You Know?

You can borrow athletic equipment from the office?

Sat
11-4:45p

Summer Class Registration
An Improbable Tot Concert
Cinco de Noe
Who Represents You?
Got Pix? Story Ideas? Send 'em In!
Canine Corner
Volunteer Opportunities

Summer Class Registration
 
Summer registration starts May 18, and Upper Noe is excited to introduce Tot Tennis on Mondays from 10:30 to 11 a.m.

The Recreation and Park Department has modified tennis equipment, so the 4- to 6-year-olds will be swinging rackets scaled to size.

Practices are one day a week and games are on Saturdays. Junior Giants get to use equipment provided by the San Francisco Giants, including a pitching machine and uniforms.

(Unlike regular classes, registration for Junior Giants begins May 11. Register for Junior Giants Baseball here.)

New this term for adults will be Pastry Arts, taught Thursdays from 6 to 8 p.m. by our own French pastry chef John Rutheford.

“It’s to help people learn not to be afraid of baking,” said Rutheford, who trained at the California Culinary Academy, Le Cordon Bleu. “I’m going to help take that fear away and show it’s not difficult.”

Rutheford will start with basics like knowing ingredients and proper mixing techniques. The baking begins with pie crust and cookies and goes to tarts, breads and rolls. At the end of the eight-week class, students will bake a cake.

Rutheford said the class will continue past summer, and he will adjust the menu for the seasons. He will also continue to teach Food in Jars on Wednesdays from 6 to 8 p.m. and Petite Bakers on Tuesdays from 10:15 to 11:45 a.m.

Unfortunately, Express It will not be offered this term. The children’s movement class was slated to move to a morning slot to better attract students, but the teacher was unable to keep the commitment.

Boot camp, senior tango, teen theater—all the usual favorites will be offered. To see a full list of classes and the open auditorium and gym hours, please click here.

You must have a Family Account to register online. Click here to create a Family Account. Scholarships are available for those who qualify. Visit the department’s scholarship page.

An Improbable Tot Concert
 
Catch The Improbabilities, an all-acoustic Americana band with the driving force of three fiddles at the May 18 Tot Rock concert at Upper Noe from 10 a.m. to noon.

Fiddlers Kerry Parker, Tony Phillips and Catherine Rose Crowther will be joined by Rodney Freeland on mandolin and Dave Krinkel on guitar.

“The little kiddos cannot resist moving in rhythm to our fiddle tunes,” Parker said. “Toddlers are often able to get their parent to shed their inhibitions and dance along.”

Improbable? We think not.

Upper Noe's free monthly tot concerts are hosted by Friends of Noe Valley Recreation Center.  

Cinco de Noe
 
It's hard to believe it’s been five years since Upper Noe’s 2008 renovation, but it will be easy to help mark the anniversary with a party that brings together community groups with neighbors, new and old.

Yep—with your help we’re going to host Cinco de Noe, a Labor Day weekend blowout party featuring food, music, dancing, games, and sports, plus tables for nonprofit organizations.

Friends’ Chris Faust is leading the effort and has already submitted a grant application to The San Francisco Parks Alliance. SFPA, the nonprofit partner of the Recreation and Park Department, is giving out $20,000 worth of grants up to $2,000 each. Winners will be announced in late May.

We hope to get money to pay for permit fees, advertising, music and additional staff. We’ve also asked for benches for the shaded path along Day Street that connects the dog run with the rest of the park and a picnic table for the back patio behind the building on the Sanchez Street side.

We need volunteers to get this party started. Interested in helping? Contact us at chris@noevalleyreccenter.com.

Who Represents You?

Carin O’Hara doesn’t live in Noe Valley, but she’s serving a term on Upper Noe’s citizen advisory board. Why? Well, for one thing, the manager of K9 Scrub Club on Church Street spends more time at the shop than at home.

“This is our community,” O’Hara says. “It doesn’t matter whether we live here.”

O’Hara already knows many neighborhood families and their dogs, making her an excellent representative on the Community Recreation Council, which advises Upper Noe on what kinds of programming to offer.

She also knows the area merchants, and is working on getting donated gift cards as one way to lure more volunteers to the center.

The CRC still needs one teen representative to join music man Richard Hildreth, dog run dynamo Chris Faust, FNVRC fearless leaders Kate Haug and Molly Sterkel, Fairmount Elementary parent Elizabeth Torres and dedicated neighbors Kim Nguyen-Ehrehreich, Rebecca Hopkins and Dave Hopkins. Look for more on each in future newsletters.

The CRC, which includes site staff, meets the third Wednesday of every month. O'Hara aside, merchant representatives are still much needed! If you are interested in joining, please fill out the application on our website.

Got Pix? Story Ideas? Send 'em In!

What do you want to know about the Rec Center? What would you like to read about in the newsletter? Give us your story ideas, and we'll put an ace reporter onto the case.

What about pictures? Send us your pictures—of kids, of dogs, of flowers—anything nice at the center. We'll throw them into the newsletter.

Please direct all great ideas to webmaster@noevalleyreccenter.com, and we'll get in touch.

Canine Corner
 

This is Betty. She comes to Joby's Dog Run for love!

Volunteers Needed

• Help advise the city on what classes should be offered at the Upper Noe Rec Center. Serve a term on the Upper Noe Recreation Center’s Community Recreation Council and help shape programming at the Center. A teen member is still needed! Please contact Cheryl Woltjen at 970-8061. The form is available on our website and at the center. Please either drop it off or mail it to: Cheryl Woltjen, UNRC, 295 Day Street, SF, 94131.

• Distribute our new Friends of NVRC postcard. This newsletter is distributed to nearly 1,000 “friends.” Make sure interested neighbors know about our group by helping distribute our informational postcard around the neighborhood. Please email molly (at) noevalleyreccenter.com if you know of a good shop or cafe to distribute the postcards. Or you could help put them somewhere frequented by park users.

• Lead a new event. Are you interested in organizing a new event at the Center? Maybe a game night or movie night? Please contact us at info (at) noevalleyreccenter.com.

• Garden at the Park. Help keep the park beautiful by volunteering with the Ladybug Gardeners on the second Saturday of each quarter. Upcoming dates in 2013 are June 8, September 14 and December 14. All ages welcome, no experience necessary, community service hours credited. Even an hour would be a big help! Please contact us at info (at) noevalleyreccenter.com.

Community Events

May 15
Community Recreation Council
6:30 p.m.
Recreation Center kitchen

Help shape programming and priorities at Upper Noe

May 18
Tot Concert with The Improbabilities
10 a.m. to noon
Recreation Center grounds

Acoustic fiddle playing to get the tots on their toes

Thanks for your interest and support of your park! Please contact us with any questions or suggestions. Let us know about any community events you are planning at the park so we can promote them. Please forward this newsletter to your friends and neighbors who use the Noe Valley Recreation Center. We want this newsletter to help build the park community — please help us connect with members of the community.

Enjoy your Park!

Molly Sterkel (molly@noevalleyreccenter.com)
Friends of the Noe Valley Recreation Center
www.NoeValleyRecCenter.com