Support the Glen Park Gum Tree Girls Festival 2022
Celebrate Glen Park Moxie!
The achievements and historic legacy of women's activism during the 20th century in San Francisco's Glen Park district have never been more important than they are now! That is why we are holding the Glen Park Gum Tree Girls Festival 2022 at San Francisco's Glen Canyon Park, 70 Elk Street at Chenery Street, on Sunday, July 10, 2022, 10:30 am to 3:30 pm.
Will you help us honor this important legacy with the community?
The Glen Park Gum Tree Girls Festival 2022 coordinators are hoping to raise $5,000 for this nonprofit and free event to ensure the historic women of Glen Park receive the honor and recognition they deserve. Please consider a gift of $50, or any amount that may be most comfortable for you.
We are also seeking volunteers for the day of the festival. Click on the Volunteer button to sign up! Thank you!
What is the backstory of the Glen Park Gum Tree Girls Festival?
In 1948, the Circumferential Expressway was planned to bisect Glen Park and Glen Canyon Park, located in the very heart of San Francisco, to create a shortcut to the Golden Gate Bridge.
In 1958, Minnie Straub Baxter, a lifelong district resident, channeled the moxie of the Glen Park resident suffragists she had observed as a teenager (some of whom co-led the first march for women's suffrage in America) and galvanized Glen Park residents against the plan, halting further development.
Then in 1965, the freeway plan returned. Glen Park moms Zoanne Theriault Nordstrom, Joan Seiwald, and Geri Arkush soon organized the Save Glen Park Committee to stand up, fight back, and say, “No!” Famously known as the Glen Park Gum Tree Girls, these women continued fighting until the last of multiple attempts to force the freeway through the district failed in 1970. Without their moxie, the quality of life in the Glen Park district would have been forever changed and the natural landscape of 70-acre Glen Canyon Park would have been irreparably harmed.
In July 2021, the Glen Park Gum Tree Girls and Glen Canyon Park were highlighted in a National Geographic travel article describing the San Francisco Crosstown Trail. The spirit of the Gum Tree Girls continues to inspire activism throughout the community. See “San Francisco is at a Tipping Point. The Revolts of the Past Must Show Us the Path Forward at SFGate, October 13, 2021.
That is why on July 10, 2022, in beautiful Glen Canyon Park, we will Celebrate Glen Park Moxie! by honoring the legacy of women's activism in the Glen Park district, educate participants about the women who helped preserve this natural space and park, and highlight the importance of activism and standing up for the rights of our shared communities. We will be offering inspiration to young and old alike by sharing the stories of women associated with the Glen Park district who worked to make a difference in their communities both near and far! Please help us reach our goal of $5000 to celebrate the legacy of these Glen Park women! You can also volunteer now to support the Glen Park Gum Tree Girls Festival 2022 the day of the festival!
The Glen Park Gum Tree Girls Festival is a nonprofit, community event coordinated by the Glen Park Neighborhoods History Project. It will be held on the grounds of and inside the Glen Canyon Park Recreation Center and is permitted by the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department. The Glen Park Neighborhoods History Project is fiscally sponsored by Independent Arts & Media, a California non-profit corporation.
The festival will include:
- Recognition of the history of women’s activism in the Glen Park district, including the Gum Tree Girls, Minnie Straub Baxter, Glen Park suffragists, and many other women who strove to make a difference and fought for the rights for all;
- Showing of the 30-minute oral history video recorded in 2016 with Gum Tree Girls Zoanne Nordstrom and Joan Seiwald;
- Entertainment, special guests, history talk, food trucks (food available for purchase), children’s sports and coloring activities;
- Information tables for supporters and local neighborhood organizations; and
- A moment of remembrance for residents lost to COVID-19
Will you help us honor this important legacy with the community?
The Glen Park Gum Tree Girls Festival 2022 coordinators are hoping to raise $5,000 for this nonprofit and free event to ensure the historic women of Glen Park receive the honor and recognition they deserve. Please consider a gift of $50, or any amount that may be most comfortable for you.
We are also seeking volunteers for the day of the festival. Click on the Volunteer button to sign up!
Thank you for helping us reach our financial goal to honor the legacy of these historic women! We look forward to seeing you on Sunday, July 10!
