TODAY: The Fall/Halloween Block Party in College Park: Fun for entire family.

Join the College Park Neighborhood Assoc. (CPNA) from 4:30–10:00 on Pennsylvania Drive between Fordham and Dartmouth.

Where is the College Park neighborhood in the City of Lake Worth? That and more information is below.

About the CPNA event tomorrow. . .

For the kids will be a coloring station, street painting with sidewalk chalk, a candy stuffed piñata and a costume contest at 6:30 for children under twelve.

Bring a prepared dish to share (either hot or cold), coolers with your own beverages, folding table and chairs and a grill if you can. Everyone is welcome to bring games and activities such as Karaoke and musical talents. At 7:00 is the adult costume contest and a prize for best costume.

The CPNA will provide ice, napkins, plates, and flatware. If you have any questions send an email to: collegeparkboard@collegeparklakeworth.com

Please note: The CPNA is raising funds to replace the neighborhood banners and will host a raffle and contests. Raffle tickets are ¢50 or three for $1 and ticket holders must be present to win a prize.

More information about the CPNA within the greater Neighborhood Assoc. Presidents’ Council.

This historic neighborhood in the City extends from Dixie Hwy. east to the Lake Worth Lagoon and north from Wellesley Drive (north side of street) to the C-51 Canal which includes the City’s Spillway Park. The C-51 Canal, by the way, is the historical border between the City of Lake Worth and our neighbor to the north, West Palm Beach.

Click on image to enlarge:

“The College Park subdivision was created by plats filed between December 1924 and May 1925. Edgewood Realty Co. of West Palm Beach opened the College Park development.”

College Park within the six-square-mile City of Lake Worth is, “Between the Dixie and the Lake, South of the Palm Beach Canal”:

The “Dixie” is now a major thoroughfare (U.S. 1; Dixie Hwy.), the freshwater “Lake” is now the Intracoastal and “the Palm Beach Canal” is now the C-51 Canal managed by the South Florida Water Management District.

The C-51 Canal will be undergoing major changes on both sides of the canal — in the City of Lake Worth and in the City of West Palm Beach too — in addition to the future Blueway Trail project bypassing the S-155 Spillway structure, creating more access for the public between the Inland Chain of Lakes and the Intracoastal (Lake Worth Lagoon).

Back to the CPNA. . .

Our goal is to protect and improve the neighborhood by building strong relationships among neighbors, our neighborhood merchants, our City government, local law enforcement [PBSO] and other neighborhood associations throughout the City of Lake Worth.

Why is this neighborhood called College Park?

Unique to College Park is the naming of each street after prominent American colleges and universities. From Wellesley to Maryland; from Holy Cross to Vanderbilt, and from Carolina to Notre Dame.

About one of the College Park neighborhood’s biggest challenges. . .

A vacant eyesore which could be a nice addition to the neighborhood when it finally catches the eye of a developer some day. That empty lot on one of our major thoroughfares entering the City — actually made up of three lots on the east side of Dixie which include 2302, 2314, and 2318 N. Dixie Hwy. — was once a thriving part of this region in coastal Central Palm Beach County:

The former Patio Coffee Shop.

Across the street from the Patio (at 2401 N. Dixie Hwy.) is where the former Park Avenue BBQ once stood.

Where the Park Avenue BBQ was is now a parking lot for World Thrift, a very nice parking lot, it’s nicely landscaped and kept clean and tidy. Unlike the unkempt lots on the east side of Dixie Hwy.

Those empty lots which make up the frontage of an entire block are in the Lake Worth Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) district. It was once a popular destination for residents and visitors just like World Thrift is today here in this City. Having a parking lot on the west side of Dixie isn’t my dream for that location but World Thrift is a very good neighbor. They keep their parking lot clean and well lit up at night in addition to the new signage. A very big improvement.

Who would have thought when World Thrift opened it would attract so many customers from the Town of Palm Beach and West Palm Beach too?

And hopefully some day soon that vacant block on the east side of Dixie Hwy., on one of our major thoroughfares entering this City of Lake Worth, will once again become a destination.

And maybe even a place where the CPNA can hold their monthly meetings in the future, a prominent place actually located in the College Park neighborhood.