Graceland West Community Association

2022 was a great year of re-emergence (of sorts) after a couple of years of flattening the COVID-19 curve and building immunity.

• We kicked the year off after hibernating for the winter at our March meeting where we had a great time with Alderman Matt Martin and continued to build our relationship with Lake View High School, specifically their STEM program representatives and our very own Council member and teacher Joanne Yonan. 
• On Earth Day we cleaned up the streets around the high school with our Congressman Mike Quigely.
• Our Q2 meeting took place in beautiful Warner Park and focused on the efforts of the GWCA Eco Committee, led by Council member Joel McFarland who is an Openlands certified TreeKeeper.  We also heard from the Alderman’s office and CDOT about safe streets improvements.  More on this topic in 2023.
• The annual yard sale was moved up to June.  Many thanks to Mark Nehring for his leadership.
• The annual Garden Walk celebrated 40 years in 2022.  40 years!  Fearlessly led by Donna Forsberg for one last time as she called this year her last as the chairperson.  Mother Nature decided to keep us guessing throughout the day but allowed for plenty of time for all of our amazing neighborhood gardeners to share their efforts with guests.
• The newly branded Graceland West Neighborhood Fest (formerly GWCAFest) was visited by Gale and Squall who dumped about 2 ft of flooding into the neighborhood, but that didn’t stop Sarah Maxwell, Barb Sullivan, Brad Pierce and their volunteers (including LVHS students) from toughing it out and waiting for the weather to clear for the neighborhood to emerge to enjoy Peg’s famous bake table, Randy’s age-less magic, Lisa B’s smooth vocals, Tacos, Tacos, Tacos (and Margaritas), and flame throwing (aka juggling)!
• Our Q3 meeting finally brought us back into LVHS where we were introduced to the LVHS Robotics program (which is incredible)!
• The Halloween party at Warner Park returned after a couple year hiatus and featured some amazing costumes, games and make your own candy apples.  Special thanks to Andrea and Colin McLeod and their volunteers for hosting the event.
• And sure enough, Mother Nature wasn’t finished with us when she gave us rain and 50 mph winds the morning of our Street Leaf Cleanup and the Pumpkin Smash at LVHS.  Didn’t stop new Council member Paul Monzella from raking Cullom/Greenview until it was pristine. Throughout the week we totaled 182 bags, picked up by the Ward Superintendent the next week.
• We finished off the year back at the Piggery, our gracious hosts for our March and December meetings, where we enjoyed pizza, pork and socializing.

The GWCA Council would like to recognize our Block Reps who helps to deliver flyers and spread important neighborhood news.  Thank You! 

Also, thanks to all who volunteered or attended any of the GWCA meetings and events and participated in the goal of the association to foster positive relationships between residents of the neighborhood, promote civic engagement and educate community members on issues of common interest such as crime prevention, neighborhood history and preservation, and community improvement.  It takes a village!