THOUSANDS OF NORTH SIDERS PACKED THE PARK SATURDAY (Photos by J.L. Martello)
Despite the rain and cloudiness, between 6,000 to 7,000 people converged on West View Park to take part in the North Side Oldtimers 7th annual Unity Gathering.
“We had stormy rain and everybody got under tents and ran to their cars. After about 15 or 20 minutes the weather cleared up and people came and had a good time,” said Fred “Scrappy” Bulls, North Side Oldtimers co-founder.
THE ALWAYS POPULAR KIDS WANTING TO BE FIREMEN
The weekend-long event started with a cabaret on Friday night, the ever-popular Unity gathering in West View Park on Saturday and concluded with Praise in the Park—a non-denominational church-style service on Sunday.
North Side Oldtimers are a group of survivors made up of men and women from the various North Side neighborhoods who have come together to give back to the communities of their youth. Its primary purpose is to promote peace, harmony and unity among all North Side children and other city residents. The North Side Oldtimers aims to reach out to children—in North Side and beyond—who are susceptible to positive change through as much interaction as possible.
“We had a lot of things for the kids like pony rides and moonwalks,” Bulls said.
For the fifth year in a row, the group auctioned off 14 bikes for the kids as well.
“Some of these children will never get a new bike because of their financial circumstances,” Bulls said
Linda Lewis was one of the initiative’s biggest supporters, donating several bikes in memory of several of her family members who passed away this year.
Some of the sponsors for this year’s Unity Gathering included Highmark, the North Side Coalition for Fair Housing, Mistick North Side Properties Construction Corporation, Odell Robinson Funeral Home, Rivers Casino, City Council members Daniel Lavelle and Darlene Harris, and Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and staff.
GOING ON A TRAIN RIDE
“The event was a huge success,” said English Burton, North Side Oldtimers co-founder and outreach chairman. “We had a little less of a crowd due to the weather. People probably looked at the weather and thought they didn’t want to take a chance. But we still had the same sense of camaraderie and the kids still had fun. It was a fun Saturday and Sunday.”
In addition to its monthly skating parties at the Neville Island Roller Rink every Sunday from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., the group is working on expanding its after school outreach program that was held at the former Columbus Middle School site. For six weeks last year, the group held enrichment classes for the kids.
“Our goal is to get the after school program during the whole school year,” Burton said. “Our kids are at risk after school and the after school program will start at 5:30 pm and run Monday through Thursday starting in September and running through June.”
The program will be run in conjunction with other youth development organizations including the Josh Gibson Foundation, Youth Opportunity Development and the North Side Coalition for Fair Housing.
A plethora of activities will be offered for the students including etiquette, arts and crafts and chess club.
“We’re just a group of guys who have seen a lot of things over the years,” Burton said. “We’re a violence prevention organization that is trying to help.”
ALL KIDS RECEIVED A FREE HOT DOG AND A HUGGY
SOME OLDTIMERS—From left: some of the North Side Oldtimers are Rev. Clifford Foster, Will Tompkins, Jim Herring, Flow Tomlin and Bubby Arms.
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