Just in time for summer “family planning”! If you live in or near Kingfield neighborhood, come to the 3rd Babysitters and Families Speed Dating Event at MLK Park 4055 Nicollet Ave. South! Babysitters and families will meet each other for 5 or so minutes (depending on how many people we have).

Babysitters: Bring 20 copies of a flyer about yourself including name, number, email, available days & times, and your rate. You can be as creative in sharing anything else on your flyer as you like.

Families: Bring your kids and your ideas for other family-friendly activities in Kingfield! We will have a survey that you can complete to help us offer more opportunities for our KFNA families with young children.

Interested but can't come? Contact: nancy@kingfield.org. Please note—KFNA ONLY shares the list of Babysitters with Families that have attended one or more of the Kingfield Speed Dating Events. We make no guarantees about quality or fit of sitters and families.

Grab a shovel and your gloves and come on down to the park on Tuesday evening to help build the raised garden beds and move the dirt to triple the size of the Mosaic Garden on the northern side of the MLK Park building! This garden was established last summer as nine raised beds, and this year it will be expanded and be used for both a Hennepin County Master Gardener supported 4-H Urban Farming program and as growing space for community food preservation classes! Every one is welcome to come help between 6-7:30 PM on the northern side of the park building.

The County is hiring an intern to lead the youth farming program at this park, along with a few other sites; view the job description. These are still a few spots left in this Urban Farming program for youth, ages 6-16; follow the link to register. More info will be coming out this summer regarding the Community Food Preservation classes, but if you are interested in assisting with garden caretaking to grow the food for these classes this year, please contact Sarah at KFNA at info@kingfield.org.

Join other Kingfield families for some fun at the park! You can wander up the hill to the playground after Babysitter Speed Dating or come on over from your home after dinner! Connect with other families with young children and enjoy the playground equipment before it goes under construction later this year!

If you have questions contact Kingfield parent and coordinator of this playdate, Eli Houghton at eli.houghton@gmail.com

Are you a current Block Leader that hasn’t received any updated training from MPD in a while? Are you interested in being a Block Leader for your block and want more information? Or do you just want to find other ways to connect to your neighbors? If any of these describe you, please plan to attend this month’s KFNA Crime Prevention And Safety Meeting to hear about how important Block Leaders are to the health and safety of our neighborhood!

In addition to presentations from the Police Department and other Block Leaders, we will also hear from the Fire Department’s Community Emergency Response coordinator to help us understand what we can do in if a critical incident happens near us. If you would like more information about the Block Leaders (including how to be one, or how to learn who yours is and contact them!) in the Kingfield Neighborhood please contact Cheryl@Kingfield.org

Hosted by Sabra Waldfogel and Bob Albrecht, members of the KFNS Homebased Professionals Planning Team, homebased workers will again gather for monthly camaraderie and cocktails! Come mingle with other Kingfield neighbors that work for home, whether self-employed or on-line commuting.

The goal? Come to expand your social and professional network! Why you never know where your next job might come from; why not from the guy-next-door? Or maybe the guy-next-door can let your dog out, while you are chasing down a big job outside the neighborhood!

To accommodate our group we beg for you to RSVP so the restaurant can make room for us! Please RSVP with your anticipated time of arrival to scott@kingfield.org. Want to join our LinkedIn Group as well? Scott can help you with that too!

A Kingfield Sunday tradition! Come stock up on local produce, meats, breads, cheeses, prepared foods, crafts, music, and then stock up on community info at the KFNA table! This week learn about some initiatives occurring this summer to reduce graffiti in Kingfield!

Kingfield resident and artist Rachel Breen recently received a State Arts Board Grant to create murals on garages in Kingfield! She will begin her project at the market this week by having conversations with neighbors about what they have inherited and what they would like to pass on to future generations. She will be incorporating impressions from these conversations, along with images of heirloom seeds and plants into the creation of the murals she will make on neighborhood garages. According to Rachel, "My recent work has explored the practice of saving heirloom seeds, asking larger questions about what we have inherited from the past and the legacy we hope to leave behind. By focusing on my work on activity that humans have been doing for thousands of years to protect seeds, I ask the public to consider our role in sustaining the environment today and into the future."

Although Rachel’s main goal is not to deter graffiti, KFNA is excited to support Rachel’s project by providing her space at the Market and helping her make connections with neighbors in part because we know it does cut down in tagging incidents! We are not totally sure if it is the lack of a blank canvas or the obvious sense of community pride that encourages taggers to turn away when faced with a piece of public art, but KFNA has proven time and time again, that public art works.

We will also be at the table alongside Rachel next week talking about two of our own 2014 graffiti-prevention initiatives. This year KFNA is addressing graffiti in the neighborhood by teaching neighbors how to use their smart phone to report graffiti to the City of Minneapolis and by wrapping up to 10 additional utility boxes with community photographs. Stop by on Sunday and take a look at the Call for Artists for Kingfield’s “Thinking Out of the Box: Utility Box Wrapping Project”.

Come learn about all of these projects at the KFNA table this coming Sunday! For more information on any of them you can also contact info@kingfield.org or call 612.823.5980 or visit www.kingfield.org.

Free event, open to the public!

10:30 AM Ceremony (at the Soldiers Memorial, follow signs): Highlights include gospel quartet led by Robert Robinson; keynote address from Douglas P. Bekke, curator of Minnesota Military Museum; Minneapolis Police Band; dove release over the audience.

12:00 PM - 3:00 PM World War I Walking Tours and Music Concerts in Historic Chapel

Details:

• Memorial Day service, 10:30 a.m. — Highlights include gospel quartet led by Robert Robinson; keynote address from Douglas P. Bekke, curator of Minnesota Military Museum; Minneapolis Police Band; dove release over the audience
• World War I tours, 12-3 p.m. – To honor the 100th anniversary of World War I, the Friends of Fort Snelling will offer guided walking tours of World War I veterans buried at Lakewood
• Trolley tours of Lakewood’s history, art and gardens, 12-3 p.m.
• Classical music concerts in Lakewood’s historic chapel, 12-1 p.m. & 2-3 p.m.
• Horse-and-carriage rides around Lakewood’s oldest section with views of Lake Calhoun, 12-3 p.m.
• Streetcar rides from Lakewood’s old streetcar gate to Lake Harriet and back ($2 roundtrip), from the Minnesota Streetcar Museum, 9:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
• Coffee & cookies, 12-3 p.m.

During the 2014 construction season, 40th Street West - from Lyndale to Stevens - will be resurfaced. For a resurfacing project, the top asphalt layer of the street is scraped off and new layer is put in place (mill and overlay). This will extend the life of the road at least 10 years and likely more.

Properties adjacent to 40th Street will be assessed for a portion of the street resurfacing project; the remainder of the project will be paid for from general property taxes. You can find out more about the assessment for the project here. Affected property owners will receive individual mailings with more information.

A community meeting to discuss the project will be held Tuesday May 27, 6:30 pm, at Dr. Martin Luther King Park, 4055 Nicollet Ave. This is a “pre-public hearing” meeting. The official public hearing on this project will be held on June 17, with more information to come. Questions? Call project manager Chris Trembath at (612) 919-1196 or chris.trembath@minneapolismn.gov.

Volunteer opportunities at Nicollet Square include front desk greeter, employment support, affordable housing searches, garden support and cooking. We will have additional independent living skills volunteer opportunities available this summer and into the fall. Job descriptions will be available at the orientation however if you have questions about any particular position please feel free to ask in advance.

If you are interested in attending the orientation please email Jenny Lock at jlock@beaconinterfaith.org or call at 612-823-0122 x102. RSVP is required and a brief volunteer application must be completed before the orientation. Jenny will be happy to answer any questions you might have about Beacon Interfaith Housing Collaborative, Nicollet Square or our expectations for volunteers who do direct service with tenants. Light refreshments will be provided at the orientation.

Open Eye Theater and Driveway Tours present A Very Cool puppet show
"Tucker's Robot"
Fri. June 6, 7 PM
4019 Blaisdell Ave. S.

30 minutes of family fun! Bring a blanket or chairs to sit on. Pass-the-hat, free-will offering collected post show.

In collaboration with the American Red Cross, the Kingfield Neighborhood Association is offering a Certified Course of the Red Cross’ Babysitter Training. This hands-on course, which takes about 6 hours, is designed for students ages 11 to 16, and provides the knowledge and skills necessary to safely and responsibly care for infants and children up to the age of 10, as well as to manage a babysitting business.

This class usually costs $85, but with scholarship money available from the Red Cross, KFNA is able to offer the class for a $10 (non-refundable) registration fee; the class is open to a maximum of 16 participants. Space in the class will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis, and priority will be given to residents in the Kingfield neighborhood.

Registration will open on April 30. If you are interested please visit www.Kingfield.org or contact: Cheryl@Kingfield.org for a registration form.