The Community Alliance of Spring Garden and East Deutschtown (CASGED) held a community party on May 21 as part of a fundraising effort to build a new public park.
The event, titled Community Gathering, was held at Penn Brewery, and featured both silent and live auctions, raffles and the chance for neighbors to vote on what features they want to see for the planned park, which will be built at the vacant lot located at the corner of Tripoli and Chestnut streets and is owned by CASGED. The park will also incorporate the neighboring Food City, a community garden managed by CASGED.
“It’s an important park for us because we’re a really dense neighborhood with a lot of old houses and not a lot of yards,” said Erik Kath, CASGED’s president.
The community group is planning several amenities for the space — which is going by the name of Tripoli Park — such as a stage, a roof ed pavilion, the planting of additional trees, and the reuse of the old trolley tracks that used to run along Chestnut Street as a sculpture, kiosk or furniture. Attendees at the party were able to vote on some additional features, such as the shape and material for the park’s planned picnic tables. They were also able to vote for one of three additional park amenities, the choices consisting of grills, bike racks or a community bulletin board.
In addition to the money raised by CASGED, the group received support from a PNC Charitable Trust grant for the park, specifically for the construction of picnic tables and planting of new trees. The planning phase for the park was supported by a grant from the Urban Redevelopment Authority.
Kath said CASGED decided to hold the party at Penn Brewery for two reasons. The first was that the group held a similar event at the brewery last year, which worked as a sort of “beta test” for this year’s event. The other reason was the desire of the group to support Penn Brewery in the wake of its bankruptcy proceedings, which was reported on by The Chronicle in the May 2026 issue.
The event featured local celebrity auctioneers, including Councilman Bobby Wilson and state Rep. Lindsey Powell.
Overall, Kath was pleased with the turn out for the event, estimating around 100 people or more attended.
Work on Tripoli Park is planned to start this summer, but will take several years and multiple phases until it is complete, Kath said.
For more information about Tripoli Park, visit casged.org/tripoli-park
