DT2, the Downtown Dutchtown Business Association, invites you to come down to Meramec Street this Wednesday evening for the Meramec Shop About! The shops around Meramec and Virginia will be staying open late until at least 7pm. Participating shops include Twice Blessed Resale Shop, Urban Eats, Callisto Comics, Logan’s Kids Resale, Bru Tea, and more.

In addition to the extra shopping hours, Urban Eats will have food and drinks available and live music provided by Jerry Rabushka on the piano.

Make a purchase at one or more of the participating shops to be entered into a raffle drawing to take place at 7pm at Urban Eats. You must be present to win a prize.

There’s great weather forecasted for this Saturday. We suggest you head to Marquette Park and the Thomas Dunn Learning Center for some fun and education!

We hope you can take the opportunity to attend one or both of these events, but if you’re unable to make it this Saturday, please keep in mind that the Thomas Dunn Learning Center hosts numerous classes and events as well as offering open computer lab and art studio times. Check out their calendar and take advantage of this amazing resource right here in our neighborhood!

So Fresh, So Clean, So Creative Workshop: Healthy Homes

September’s So Fresh, So Clean, So Creative workshop is on the topic of healthy homes. You’ll learn how to make environmentally-friendly and budget-friendly household cleaners that will help you stretch a dollar and avoid the harsh chemicals found in store-bought cleaning products. Bring along an empty spray bottle or two and go home with some of your own cleaners. The workshop starts at 11am.

Reclaim + Sustain: A Food and Farm Weekend

The first Reclaim + Sustain festival is from noon until 7pm and is organized by Solidarity Economy St. Louis. Reclaim + Sustain seeks to bring people together around the belief that everyone should have access to healthy, affordable, and locally-sourced food. Enjoy food and music and check out family-friendly workshops and demonstrations on growing your own food, healthy eating, cooking, juicing, and more!

There’s already lots on the calendar for September, but we’ll keep this post updated when anything else comes up! You can try to keep up here, check DutchtownSTL.org/calendar, like our page on Facebook (facebook.com/DutchtownSTL), or follow us on Twitter (@DutchtownSTL) to stay up to date on events around the neighborhood.

September Neighborhood Meetings

The Gravois Park Neighborhood Association and Dutchtown West Neighborhood Association both meet on Tuesday, September 12th. Gravois Park meets at 6pm at the old Jefferson Bank building on California just north of Cherokee. Dutchtown West meets at 7pm at Grbic’s banquet hall.

The Marine Villa Neighborhood Association meets on Monday, September 25th, at Irish Corner Pub at the corner of Cherokee and Lemp. The meeting starts at 7pm and is preceded by the Chippewa Broadway Business Association Happy Hour starting at 5:30pm.

The Mount Pleasant Neighborhood Association has their quarterly meeting on Wednesday, September 27th, at the Gretchen Inn at the Feasting Fox. They’ll meet there at 7pm.

So Fresh, So Clean, So Creative

Dutchtown South Community Corporation’s So Fresh, So Clean, So Creative initiative has a couple of events in September.

On Saturday, September 9th, is a workshop on the topic of healthy homes. Among other things, attendees will learn how to make their own environmentally friendly household cleaning products. The workshop is at 11am at the Thomas Dunn Learning Center.

Thursday, September 21st, is another clean-up training session. September’s topic is vacant lots. City agencies will inform you about how to deal with garbage on vacant lots and what can be done with city-owned lots versus privately owned ones. The training is at the DSCC office at 4:30pm.

There will also be various neighborhood blitzes and clean-ups in September. Follow us for announcements.

Reclaim + Sustain

Solidarity Economy St. Louis is hosting their first Reclaim + Sustain: A Food and Farm Weekend with the aim of bringing people together around the belief that everyone should have access to healthy, affordable, and locally-sourced food. They will be sharing and connecting with farmers, gardeners, business owners, chefs, holistic healers, educators, artists, community organizers, and anyone else who wants to be part of a food justice movement. Reclaim + Sustain is at the Thomas Dunn Learning Center on Saturday, September 9th, from noon to 7pm.

DT2 Events

The Downtown Dutchtown Business Association has their regular board meeting on Tuesday, September 5th. Additionally, the Dutchtown CID Marketing Committee meets on Thursday, September 14th and the full Dutchtown CID board meets on Thursday, September 28th.

On Wednesday, September 20th, join them for the DT2 After Hours. This month After Hours will be up and down Meramec for the Meramec Shop About. Stores will be staying open late. Make a purchase to be entered into a raffle. The prize drawing will be at 7pm at Urban Eats, where you can enjoy a special tasting menu, drinks, and live music.

Oktoberfest at the Feasting Fox

The Feasting Fox starts their Oktoberfest on Wednesday, September 27th, and runs through Sunday, October 1st. There are events every day at the restaurant, including live music, beer and spirit tastings, a German inspired beer and wine dinner and a German inspired brunch, and more. Some of the events recommend or require reservations or RSVPs, so please visit the Facebook event page for more information.

Common Sound Festival

On Saturday, September 30th, at Marquette Park is the Common Sound Festival produced by DSCC and presented by Urban Chestnut Brewing Company. The festival will feature live DJs all day, free professional dance workshops, and 40 food and craft vendors. We also plan to break the record for the world’s longest soul train! Volunteers are needed for this event. Join your neighbors and the greater St. Louis community as we celebrate through dance and music the common sound that flows through us all.

If you have or know of a neighborhood event in September or any time please let us know! Visit our contact page or email us at info@dtstl.org, Tweet at us, or message us on Facebook.

The inaugural Common Sound Festival is coming to Marquette Park on Saturday, September 30th. The festival is being produced by Dutchtown South Community Corporation and will feature music, dance, food, craft vendors, and a chance to preview the Marquette Field House. Festival goers will also help to break the record for world’s longest soul train! Your help is needed!

Various shifts and various jobs are available. Positions needing volunteers include:

• Festival greeters
• Beer sellers (must be 21 or over)
• Dance workshop and performance coordinators
• Recycling attendants
• Stage managers
• Set-up and take-down workers

To see the available volunteer shifts and to sign up go to bit.ly/CSFestVolunteers. You can also contact Brock with DSCC for more information at brock@dutchtownsouth.org or (314) 352-4865. Be a volunteer and help break a world record!

We want to share your Dutchtown photos! We’re looking for photos from neighbors and visitors, from today or a hundred years ago. As long as it’s Dutchtown-specific and family friendly we’ll share it.

Right now we’re regularly sharing great photos to our Twitter account (@DutchtownSTL) and our Facebook page (facebook.com/dutchtownstl). Make sure you’re following us there! We’ll share some here on DutchtownSTL.org as well, and hopefully soon have a dedicated photo section.

If you have photos (or anything else) you’d like to share, you can visit our contact page, email us at info@dtstl.org, message us on our Facebook page, or Tweet at us.

The photo up top is courtesy of Paul Sableman’s outstanding Dutchtown collection on Flickr, and the fox is by your author. Check out some more below, and don’t forget to share yours!