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NEW!
An Immersive Experience in the Brightwood Forest Forest Bathing - November 13thForest Bathing is a sensory experience which is inspired by the Japanese practice of Shinrin Yoku which translates to mean “ taking in the forest atmosphere .”
When we Forest Bath, we walk slowly in the woods with the intention to commune with the trees, the birds and the landscape that surrounds us. We stop along the way and are given opportunities to connect more deeply with nature, ourselves and each other. The event will start at 11:00 am. There is nothing that participants need to bring except a willingness to participate. Dress comfortably, with shoes for trail walking, to be outside for an hour or a little longer if we run a bit over and people linger...
REGISTER HERE |
See More Pictures!
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A Wonderful Goblin-filled Day at the ParkThe trails at Brightwood Park were lit with over 65 carved jack-o-lanterns as the park welcomed over 400 people for the Trunk or Treat party at the park. THANK YOU to all the participants, volunteers and new members!
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meet us at the
Live Greener Fair!
Northside Train Station, Westfield
Live Greener Fair!
Northside Train Station, Westfield
Past Events at Brightwood Park
April 2022 - Native Plant Information and Sale
The 2022 “Plants for Pollinators” Online Sale begins, running from April 1 – April 22. GSWA and Community Partners will be offering over 22,000 native perennial and grass deep plugs - 28 species - at attractively prices. Plus six Garden Kits to suit a variety of typical garden conditions. The CATALOG IS at greatswamp.org/native-plant-sale/plant-catalog. All products show “Out of Stock” (not orderable) during this preview period. Order Entry will open April 1st and we encourage you to decide early and order as soon as you can as quantities are limited and last year's stock sold out quickly. Contact plantsale@greatswamp.org to be get on the email list.
URL/Signup Link: https://www.greatswamp.org/event/landscaping-for-a-healthy-environment/
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URL/Signup Link: https://www.greatswamp.org/event/landscaping-for-a-healthy-environment/
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Join Hazel England, GSWA Director, on Zoom for a view of the native plants available at our 2nd annual online Native Pollinator Plant Sale. Choose from 28 individual species to enhance your own garden. To simplify garden design and provide some additional savings, 20 of the species are also sold in 6 different garden kits of 5 species each. Each kit is designed for specific garden sizes and conditions.
Februray 22, 2022
Title: Native Pollinators, What's the Buzz?
Date/Time: Tuesday, February 22, 2022, 7 p.m.
Cost: Free. Zoom link with Sign up
Your yard, whatever the size, can provide essential habitat for valuable pollinators such as butterflies, bees, and other beneficial insects. Join GSWA for this free, one-hour webinar as we take a closer look at our native pollinators and the important roles they play in our gardens and in supporting healthy ecosystems. More than 75% of all flowering plants need pollinators to reproduce – and your garden veggies need their help too! Native pollinators have fascinating life histories, so knowing about gardening for pollinators from the insects’ perspective will enable you to truly welcome them to your yard. Our host, an all-round cool bug guy, Dr. Stephen Mason Ph.D. is an entomologist and faculty at Immaculata University, and a research associate at Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences. He will shed some light on insect life histories to make your yard a hive of activity this summer. Registration is required for this free Zoom webinar. You will receive your Zoom link prior to the program. This is the second of GSWA’s free, three-part native pollinator plant webinar series in preparation of our Native Plants for Pollinators Sale taking place online April 1-22.
Title: Landscaping for a Healthy Environment – Jersey-Friendly Yards
Date/Time: Tuesday, January 25, 2022, 7 p.m.
Cost: Free. Zoom link with Sign up
We believe that by helping you to have a healthy yard, we all are taking one more step towards a healthier environment. During this webinar you will learn how building a Jersey-Friendly Yard creates a healthy foundation of soil, conserves water, attracts and supports wildlife, and adds beauty and interest to your home landscape. Join GSWA and Becky Laboy – from the Ocean County Soil Conservation District and the Jersey-Friendly Yards initiative – for helpful information on how to put these ideas into practice to create a “Jersey-Friendly Yard”. Becky will also discuss great ways to prepare for creating new native beds this spring. Becky Laboy of Jersey Friendly Yards will describe how to landscape for a healthy environment and use the great capabilities of the Jersey Friendly Yards website to make it easy and successful-- whether you are a complete beginner or are pretty advanced.
Mark Your Calendar:
Our GSWA and partners Plants for Pollinators Sale will offer over 22,000 native perennial and grass deep plugs that are attractively priced and available single species or in carefully curated kits for different typical garden conditions. We’ve added tons of simple guidance to ensure planting success for a delightfully alive pollinator garden that will thrive with minimal care. Our own Hazel England will talk about why native plants, how planting for pollinators benefits the watershed and biodiversity locally and dig deep on the details of which species the twenty-eight species offered for sale attract, and their characteristics and appearance. Contactplantsale@greatswamp.org
The GSWA Native Plant Sale will offer a full selection of attractively priced native perennials and grasses with simple guidance for planting delightfully alive pollinator gardens that will thrive with minimal care. Contact plantsale@greatswamp.org to request ongoing Native Plants Sale email updates and reminders.
URL/Signup Link: https://www.greatswamp.org/event/landscaping-for-a-healthy-environment/
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A healthier yard is a great New Year’s resolution!
Title: Native Pollinators, What's the Buzz?
Date/Time: Tuesday, February 22, 2022, 7 p.m.
Cost: Free. Zoom link with Sign up
Your yard, whatever the size, can provide essential habitat for valuable pollinators such as butterflies, bees, and other beneficial insects. Join GSWA for this free, one-hour webinar as we take a closer look at our native pollinators and the important roles they play in our gardens and in supporting healthy ecosystems. More than 75% of all flowering plants need pollinators to reproduce – and your garden veggies need their help too! Native pollinators have fascinating life histories, so knowing about gardening for pollinators from the insects’ perspective will enable you to truly welcome them to your yard. Our host, an all-round cool bug guy, Dr. Stephen Mason Ph.D. is an entomologist and faculty at Immaculata University, and a research associate at Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences. He will shed some light on insect life histories to make your yard a hive of activity this summer. Registration is required for this free Zoom webinar. You will receive your Zoom link prior to the program. This is the second of GSWA’s free, three-part native pollinator plant webinar series in preparation of our Native Plants for Pollinators Sale taking place online April 1-22.
Title: Landscaping for a Healthy Environment – Jersey-Friendly Yards
Date/Time: Tuesday, January 25, 2022, 7 p.m.
Cost: Free. Zoom link with Sign up
We believe that by helping you to have a healthy yard, we all are taking one more step towards a healthier environment. During this webinar you will learn how building a Jersey-Friendly Yard creates a healthy foundation of soil, conserves water, attracts and supports wildlife, and adds beauty and interest to your home landscape. Join GSWA and Becky Laboy – from the Ocean County Soil Conservation District and the Jersey-Friendly Yards initiative – for helpful information on how to put these ideas into practice to create a “Jersey-Friendly Yard”. Becky will also discuss great ways to prepare for creating new native beds this spring. Becky Laboy of Jersey Friendly Yards will describe how to landscape for a healthy environment and use the great capabilities of the Jersey Friendly Yards website to make it easy and successful-- whether you are a complete beginner or are pretty advanced.
Mark Your Calendar:
- Webinar #3: Planting for Pollinators - The Store is Open! What’s on offer and why on Tuesday, April 1, 12-1 PM
- GSWA Native Plant Pollinator Sale: April 1-22 (order online)
Our GSWA and partners Plants for Pollinators Sale will offer over 22,000 native perennial and grass deep plugs that are attractively priced and available single species or in carefully curated kits for different typical garden conditions. We’ve added tons of simple guidance to ensure planting success for a delightfully alive pollinator garden that will thrive with minimal care. Our own Hazel England will talk about why native plants, how planting for pollinators benefits the watershed and biodiversity locally and dig deep on the details of which species the twenty-eight species offered for sale attract, and their characteristics and appearance. Contactplantsale@greatswamp.org
The GSWA Native Plant Sale will offer a full selection of attractively priced native perennials and grasses with simple guidance for planting delightfully alive pollinator gardens that will thrive with minimal care. Contact plantsale@greatswamp.org to request ongoing Native Plants Sale email updates and reminders.
URL/Signup Link: https://www.greatswamp.org/event/landscaping-for-a-healthy-environment/
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A healthier yard is a great New Year’s resolution!
June 2021AFRICAN-AMERICAN HISTORY IN WESTFIELD
In celebration of Juneteenth, the MLK Association of Westfield is presenting a trolley tour of notable sites of African American History in town.
June 19th 2021 Pre-registration is required for the tours which begin at 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m. at the Presbyterian Church in Westfield. Register at MLKWestfield.org. The fee is $10. Rain or Shine. Contact mlkwestfield@gmail.com for any questions. |
WESTFIELD, NJ
The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Association of Westfield plans to celebrate Juneteenth with a special African American history trolley ride through Westfield. Juneteenth is the 19TH day in June, which marks the date in 1865, when word finally reached the enslaved people of Texas that the slavery was over, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. The trolley ride, with live narration, will stop at sites that anchor the three hundred years of African American history in the town. The tour is the highlight of research, writing and planning, begun by the African American History Committee, which was part of the Westfield 300 celebration in 2020. The trolley tour will include among other sites, the Burial Grounds of the Presbyterian Church, Fairview Cemetery, Westfield’s Black professional zone, Brightwood Park and sites where Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, and Paul Robeson once lived. The tour riders will board the trolley at the Presbyterian Church (140 Mountain Avenue), which has generously offered their parking lot for the event. Spaces for the tour are limited and registration is required. There is a $10 registration fee. Proceeds will be used to further the MLK Association’s work, specifically its African American History Project. There are three time slots on June 19, at 10 a.m., noon and 2pm. The tour is expected to take 90 minutes or a bit more and will be conducted rain or shine. Please register at www.MLKWestfield.org. For further questions please email: mlkwestfield@gmail.com |
Spooky, Woodsy Halloween Fun - October 2021
Join Friends of Brightwood Park for a fun forest Halloween event!
Come in costume.
Come in costume.
- Walk the trail through Brightwood Park and enjoy the Jack O Lanterns scattered through the woods.
- Each family can search for the Halloween decorations amongst the Jack O Lanterns, a Halloween scavenger hunt.
- Decorate bags at the picnic tables, then...
- Trunk n Treat along the trail, that is tree trunks.
- November 18th: Blow Wind Blow! Make your Own Wind Chimes
- December 9th: Let it Snow: Make paper Snowflakes and a Pine Cone Garland
Preservation/Restoration Events |
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info session
Spotted Lantern Fly
EVENTS at Brightwood Park in 2021
Nature and Educational Programs
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Girl Scout Birthday Party May 14
Friends of Brightwood Park hosted a Girl Scout Birthday Celebration at Brightwood. co-sponsored with Westfield Girl Scouts |
Plein Air Painting in the ParkSaturday May 1, 12:30-4 PM
Artists brought easels, brushes and paints, and set up in Brightwood Park. and enjoyed some scenic painting time with fellow artists. Prizes were awarded! Thanks to Jackie Civins of Evelyn Dunn Gallery for judging. co-sponsored with Westfield Art Association |
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Excerpts from Facebook Comments:
“Had a great time painting at Brightwood Park PaintOut very serene little park. Thanks the event organizers and volunteers who were absolutely amazing and super friendly. ” William Martin, Glen Gardner “So much fun at my first PleinAir Event at Brightwood Park PaintOut. It was nice to meet several members of the group. And a big congratulations to Heda who took 1st place and William who took 2nd. Yes there really was a fire hydrant in the woods but I used my artistic license and made it red instead of the yellow it really was. Lol I forgot to take a pic of my subject 🙃.” Jacquelyn Reid, Sussex County “I went to the Brightwood Park in Westfield. I saw some of my friends that I haven’t saw seems the virus happened .Yesterday we talk even a little bit and feels so good. The park is so beautiful and has a very natural look , feeling so well to breath the out door breeze there. My Painting got the 3rd price award. Thanks to the Brightwood Park and the Westfield Art Association arrange this event.” Jocelyn Wong, Cherry Hill Thank you to all of you who helped with our first Paint Out event. Thank you to Paul Federico of the Westfield Art Association who graciously partnered with us! The first place winner, Heda Matiejunas of Clark, a member of the Westfield Art Association, has graciously offered to donate her prize-winning painting to us to hang in our “headquarters” or to auction as a fund raiser. She said “Today was fun. I hope it is the beginning of a new tradition for Plein Air painting.” |
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Yoga in the Park |
Nature Classes for Kids
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The Friends of Brightwood Park, in partnership with the Westfield Recreation Department, had their first nature class in the park for 2 to 5 year olds. More events are in the works!