Music Comes to Woodland Park as FWP Launches Community Center Concert Series

FWP is excited to announce the launch of the Woodland Park Community Center Concert Series on Thursday, March 9th! This FREE family-oriented event will open at 5:30 pm and feature FREE popcorn and lemonade, with the FREE concert starting at 6:00 pm. The event will finish by 7:30 pm.

The March 9th inaugural concert will feature local resident Loreta Kovacic - a master musician, former concert pianist, and current singer/songwriter/pianist - and her brother on his first trip to the US from Croatia, cellist and music producer Stanislav Kovacic. Per Culturemap, “Croatian-born Houstonian Loreta Kovacic moves between the classical and pop milieus as fluidly as her fingers dance around the ivories.” She holds a Doctorate Degree in music from Rice University and can be found performing anywhere from McGonigel’s Mucky Duck and Cafe Adel in Houston to Carnegie Hall in New York.

Siblings and musicians Stanislav and Loreta Kovacic.

Loreta has been an ardent supporter of the park, and she kindly offered her talents with her brother as a possible musical event. FWP leapt at the opportunity and realized that a series of concerts could work as a unifying event for the greater community, drawing more people to the park and into the community center itself. This opportunity seemed very much in alignment with the FWP mission of “preserving and improving Woodland Park's natural habitat along with its unique historical significance to the City of Houston, and to providing for the enjoyment and education of all who visit.” FWP worked with the staff at Houston Parks Department (HPARD) to sponsor and gain support for this new music appreciation effort in the community.

Firefly Field sculpture at Woodland Park, by artist Dylan Conner.

“Music is such a common language…and we hope that a variety of music and styles will be offered by other artists and supporters so that this will grow into a well-regarded and supported FWP and HPARD event,” said Pat Rutledge, FWP Treasurer and Civic Liaison. Kelli Fereday, FWP President added “Art and Nature are both respites for the soul. Woodland Park has and continues to add visual art for park users to contemplate and enjoy; it’s such a wonderful opportunity to bring music into the park as well, and especially into the community center which for many years has been under-utilized by the local area.”

Update and Call for Action on B-Cycle Stations in Heights

See this link for the most recent hot-off-the-press update from Houston B-cycle!

The “quick take” is that rapid decisions were made to close 50% of stations (which included all stations in the Greater Heights) in the face of rising operating costs/declining revenues and, on Jan 26th, METRO voted to step in temporarily. We have asked Houston B-cycle for usage data and for the immediate re-opening of our station until a forward plan is agreed. It looks like that any re-opening would not happen prior to March 2023.

Funding: The annual cost of running the stations is about $7500. FWP is pleased that one objective of the closer integration with METRO is to lower operating costs. Another important request is that METRO include contributions to bikeshare funding from the 1% of sales tax that METRO receives to operate in the city/county, thereby providing bikeshare a source of consistent funding.

Please contact Houston Bikeshare at info@houstonbikeshare, our District H Councilmember Karla Cisneros at districth@houstontx.gov, and the METRO board at boardoffice@ridemetro.org to advocate for retaining this amenity in our park and as a key “last-mile” transit solution across our area.

Letter from our Board Chair, Maya Ford (Updated January 27) — Houston BCycle

Woody the Turtle Update!

Woody the Turtle is under fabrication in the shop of artist Dylan Conner! He has been making the curved pipe sections, which are being matched up to a 12-foot full-scale drawing on the studio floor with turtle body parts carefully laid in a grid.

Dylan has shared an image of one of the bending processes in use. Next step: Manipulate the curved pipes to define the outermost edge of the giant turtle shell.

Current forecast is to finish and install Woody at the end of February. This piece is going to be a special one! :)

January Bird Survey is a Hoot!

Barred Owl

Mary Goldsby, FWP Birder-in-Chief, reported a good winter birding day this last weekend with 30 species and 5 birders, and a total of 176 birds! Their best bird was the Barred owl which cooperated by sitting still allowing clear and longer looks than usual. 

The next bird survey will be February 18th at 7:30am. All bird survey dates for 2023 have been loaded onto the FWP calendar online. Click on them to save to your own calendar via a Google or .ics file.

If you are birding on your own, we recommend the Merlin Bird ID app for sound and visual indentification and eBird for tracking and viewing sightings.

If you would like to be added to or removed from the 2023 survey email list, please contact Mary at sprocket211@gmail.com.

January’s BIRDS (all linked to our Bird Catalogue on the FWPO Website):

White-winged Dove  13
Mourning Dove  2
Neotropic Cormorant  4
Great Blue Heron  1
Great Egret  4
Snowy Egret  1
Black Vulture  1
Osprey  1
Cooper's Hawk  1
Sharp-shinned/Cooper's Hawk  1
Red-shouldered Hawk  1
Red-tailed Hawk  1
Barred Owl  1
Belted Kingfisher  1
Red-bellied Woodpecker  3
Downy Woodpecker  4
Eastern Phoebe  1
Blue Jay  10
Ruby-crowned Kinglet  3
House Wren  1
Carolina Wren  4
European Starling  8
Northern Mockingbird  1
American Robin  6
Cedar Waxwing  24
White-throated Sparrow  1
Great-tailed Grackle  64
Orange-crowned Warbler  1
Yellow-rumped Warbler  4
Northern Cardinal  8

 

Woodland Park B-Cycle Station Closed

Closed B-Cycle Station at Woodland Park.

Sadly, the well-used Woodland Park B-Cycle station has been closed as the City of Houston determines how to integrate the bike systems into its overall transportation strategy. FWP was instrumental in funding the bike station installation and we are working with our local TIRZ, the Northside Management District, the city and the county to reactivate the station ASAP. See the attached article for more details.