Concert Series Continues! Cajun Classics on April 10th

FWP is so excited to host the Cajun Banjo, Geoffrey Muller, to continue our Community Center Concert Series! On April 10th from 6-7:30 pm, bring the family and friends for a fine “fais-do-do”, FREE and open to all! Maybe we will even have a little dance lesson before the music starts!

Here’s an excerpt about the artist from Outsmart: “With a career influenced by a wide range of music, a personal style that caught GQ’s eye, and a penchant for creating unique, one-of-a-kind crafts (his Instagram features his incredible embroidery skills) Muller is an eclectic Houston artist worth watching.

“Music has been my full-time job since my mid-20s,” the 43-year-old musician says. “I’ve played guitar since I was 12 or 13. My dad had mentioned that he always wanted to play the banjo. I don’t know if I’d ever even heard one before then, but I asked for one and got it for Christmas. I’m self-taught, mainly by books. I’d pore over them.”

Eventually lending his talents to artists including Robert Ellis, Joshua Ray Walker, and Ethiopian pop musician Gili Yalo, to name a few, Muller says “I travel the world now, and people ask me if I’m Cajun Banjo,” Muller says with laughter as he describes people recognizing his Instagram handle.”

Thursday – April 10

6-7:30 pm

Cajun Banjo

Geoffrey Muller

The Community Center Concert Series was founded in 2023 with the goal of “bringing music back to the park.” The Woodland Community Center has a long history of concerts and dances dating back to the 1950s and including such artists as Kenny Rogers, a student at what is now Northside High School! Thanks to FWP Music Director Loreta Kovacic for bringing these shows to Woodland Park and to HPARD for partnering with FWP to host these events.

Earth Day Corporate Group Clean-up

Earth Day 2025 is almost here! Join FWP in supporting the World’s Largest Environmental Movement!

Friends of Woodland Park will host an Earth Day clean-up for corporate and school groups on April 22nd.   Woodland Park (212 Parkview St) is centrally located near downtown so is ideally located for your service event! You provide the teams and we will provide the tools! Sign your team up here: https://www.volunteerhou.org/need/detail/?need_id=1052024

Woodland Park is the second-oldest park in Houston, and is also a designated City of Houston nature preserve.  FWP volunteers annually remove over 10,000 pounds of trash - over 800 tires total -  from the Nature Preserve, which includes Little White Park Bayou. 

Trash Bash! March 29th

The River, Lakes, Bays 'N Bayous Trash Bash® will celebrate the 31st annual cleanup of our Galveston Bay watershed on Saturday, March 29, 2025! This year, the Woodland Park event is a Satellite Site of the “Little White Oak Bayou - Moody Park” site. Sign up for that site online and just come over to Woodland Park to start your day, or park at one of of the many shuttle locations. Forgot to sign up? Come on over anyway and we can sign you up on the spot!

​Trash Bash® is the largest, single-day waterway cleanup in Texas. Thank you to all of the volunteers and sponsors who continue to join us to "Clean It Like You Mean It !"®

Learn more and sign up here!

Members 15-for-15 Happy Hour

Calling all Annual, Lifetime, and Corporate Members!

Join us at H-Town Brewing to kick off our “15 Projects for 15 Years” Campaign on March 26th, from 5:30-7pm.

H-Town Brewing will provide food and drink specials, and the first drink is on FWP!

Not a member? Join today!

PICNIC in the PARK! 3/22

Join FWP in celebration of our 15th Anniversary! Picnic in the Park will feature family friendly games on the lawn, picnic baskets for raffle, ice cream treats and drinks. Plus, we will have information and displays about our “15 for 15” projects campaign!

Lunch pre-orders have closed, but you can bring your own picnic and join the fun! Donate $30 for a limited edition FWP picnic blanket and purchase raffle tickets for one of 5 unique picnic baskets!

Preorder a limited-editon FWP blanket and enter the raffle HERE.

Come have fun, meet your neighbors and learn about the 15 projects we’ll focus on in the coming year!

You can also sign up to volunteer!

SECTION 1 SOLD-OUT! Show Your Support for the Nature Preserve! Purchase and Personalize a Gateway Section!

PHASE 1 COMPLETE! PHASE 2 SECTIONS STILL AVAILABLE!

Help us give Woodland Park’s nature trails the entrance they deserve!  

Many park-goers and neighbors don’t even realize that there are beautiful, hospitable, and friendly nature trails along Hollywood Bayou (AKA Little White Oak Bayou) in Woodland Park.   One critical reason: there’s no visible “gateway” or trailhead. 

Now is your chance to donate and name one or more 10-foot section(S) of rail with engraved placard for $300 per section! Recognize a loved one, your dog who loves the trails, a scout or school group, or your favorite volunteer!

We are working with HPARD and their fencing contractor to establish a natural-wood, split-rail fence with an two openings offering a “gateway” into Woodland Park’s beautiful Nature Preserve.   It would line the border between the wooded nature preserve and the more developed park (picnic lawn, tennis courts, etc.), with a prominent opening inviting parkgoers to use the trails.  Similar railings exist in Memorial Park Eastern Glades area and in other CoH nature preserves. This project also kicks off our “15 for 15” projects commemorating the 15th year of FWP!

We want all our neighbors and parkgoers to experience the pleasures of the nature trail: herons, egrets, turtles, lizards - and over 170 species of birds in the preserve.  We also want to make sure that the space feels welcoming and secure; the rail will show that these are well maintained and publicly frequented trails.  

– ~$7K gets us 300 feet (from Community Center to Tennis Court) 

– ~$30K gets us 1000 feet (from Community Center all the way to “the Grove” / southwest corner of park on Houston ave

Woodland Park Legacy Fountain Public Art Request

Calling all Artists! The Friends of Woodland Park (FWP) is pleased to offer a grant of $2,500 to beautify a remnant piece of infrastructure—the 11-foot concrete bowl left from a century-old fountain!

Friends of Woodland Park seeks a mosaic (or other sculpture) artist to create a new piece of art using that bowl as its base.  Proposals should be submitted by 11:59 PM April 20th. For more info and to apply, click here!

As necessary, FWP members can also help secure materials (e.g., ceramics and stoneware collected from the neighborhood) Note that HPARD has already approved this process (and the specifications in this RFP), and will only require final sign-off on the approved design to ensure it is not offensive or problematic.