Delicious decisions. CakeJoy invites you to preview its brand new cupcake on tomorrow, Saturday, 8/20 at 7pm. Its moist and marvelously delicious and almost ready to be added to the stores menu of yummy goodness.

Neighborhood input is requested! Please bring your tastebuds and your thoughts to this FREE tasting event as you help CakeJoy ready the new cupcake for its upcoming public debut.

Drop in any time during the scheduled tasting hours: 7pm-9pm.

CakeJoy is located at 364 Myrtle Avenue, near corner of Adelphi. Please call the bakery at 718.624.CAKE (2253) or just drop in.

(pic above: from CakeJoy's Facebook page.)

The 7th annual Fort Greene Park Summer Literary Festival takes place tomorrow, Saturday, August 20th at 3 PM. Come out.

The FGP Summer Literary Festival will feature young writers from their free summer workshops reading alongside the Brooklyn All-Stars: Bryonn Bain, R. Erica Doyle, Bernice McFadden, Rick Moody and Jon Sands. MC: Laurie Cumbo of MoCADA (Museum for Contemporary African Diasporan Arts).

Presented by Akashic Books, Fort Greene Park Conservancy, Greenlight Bookstore, GTHQ, and NY Writers Coalition, with additional support from Amazon.com and The Walt Whitman Project. Sponsors include Amazon.com, Brooklyn Community Foundation, City Council Member Letitia James, the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation, TwoWest Foundation and the Union Square Awards.

Note: After party site as well as rain venue is: Greenlight Bookstore.

Read more on the New York Writers Coalition website!

SWEET weekend at CakeJoy Bakery. Come out and enjoy TWO special events while inhaling the purely delicious confections!

FRIDAY, 8/12–That's TONIGHT (7p-9p)
Open mic event. Cupcakes bring out the wordsmith in ya. Seriously, they do. Wordsmiths: poets, spoken word artists, rappers, vocalists, come out! They won't hassle you if you aren't able to let out more than a yummmmmmmmm, ooooooooooooooh, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh, heavenlyyyyyyyyyyyy. Promise! Call or stop into CakeJoy to sign up for tonight or future events. Of if you just want to listen, come out too!

SATURDAY, 8/13–Tomorrow! (7p-10p)
Cocktail cupcakes and music by DJ Dex (spinning classics). Got a hankering to groove locally? Here it is! Mojito, Pineapple Rum Punch, Fuzzy Navel, Pina Colada – all cupcakes.

Cost for the events? Purchasing one cupcake will get you IN.

Stop in, bring a friend!

CakeJoy is located at 364 Myrtle Avenue, near corner of Adelphi. Please call the bakery at 718.624.CAKE (2253) with questions.

Dee & Ricky's Homecooking, the new restaurant that is planning a Labor Day 2011 opening is currently seeking wait staff, bartenders and line cooks for the new establishment. Interested? Drop off a resume beginning next week, M-W, 10a to 1p or email to alvin@deeandrickyhomecooking.com or chefdee@deeandrickyhomecooking.com.

Job seekers as well as those with jobs to advertise should also contact the Workforce 1 Job Center at 9 Bond Street (between Fulton and Livingston) for additional job opportunities and related information.

Please note: The Bakery fundraiser is postponed until next week Tuesday, 8/16.

******

Friends and fans of much-loved The Bakery (also known as Krumbs 154) located at 154 Vanderbilt Avenue, just south of Myrtle Avenue, continue to lend support for The Bakery's re-opening. The wonderful go-to place for homemade breads and confections has been closed for a few weeks.

Entrepreneurs of New York, together with local business owners, has organized a series of fundraisers in hopes of helping The Bakery to re-open its doors. Actor Delroy Lindo, was among those in attendance at the 1st of the fundraisers, which took place at Pillow Cafe last week. Potential contributors and investors in attendance are guided through a presentation on the The Bakery's business plan.

Organzing a series of fundraisers is just part of the assistance Entrepreneurs of New York has provided. The organization is also lending marketing and organizational assistance to The Bakery.

Please come out to the 2nd of the fundraisers which will be hosted by Fork Cafe's owner, Kimberly Price this Thursday, 8/11, starting at 6pm. Fork Cafe is located at 507 Myrtle Avenue between Ryerson and Grand.

Contributors, investors, friends, fans, concerned neighbors, plese stop in. Enjoy nibbles by The Bakery and Fork Cafe. Cash bar. Please RSVP to Entreprepreneurs of New York @ 347.728.9492 or enybiz@gmail.com (either is preferable) or just stop in.

A 2005 award-winning film documents the life of Krumbs owner, Adrienne Braxton and her dream to open her own business. The film will be shown at the fundraiser and parts of Thursday's fundraiser will be filmed as a part 2 of the film.

By the end of this month, 20 new tree guards and 20 new tree guard benches will dot the avenues block faces between Washington Park and Classon Avenue! The overall design of the tree guards is the result of a collaborative process that began in 2007 with the Pratt Design Incubator, which included a community workshop, field interviews and analysis by Pratt industrial design students, and a series of soft and hard prototypes. No sir, these are not your everyday-run-of-the-mill tree guards. The tree guards were created with a modular design that allows for customization  the panels on each of the guards were designed by local artists! We sent out an open call for panel designs last year, and selected 19 artists from the submissions to participate (see all the designs above!). Designs range from doilies to graphic patterns to skylines to maps, and some even reference the former Myrtle Avenue elevated train.

Hopefully youve already spied the prototype tree guard and prototype tree guard bench on the avenue. We installed these prototypes to fine-tune the designs, and to check out how people responded to them. Every day, we see dozens of B54 passengers at Myrtle and Washington enjoying the prototype bench while they wait for the bus. Thats exactly what wed hoped for!

Were serious about protecting our trees, but we saw this street furniture project as an opportunity for public art, too. Myrtles new tree guards are both functional and durable, and also offer a canvas that reflects Fort Greene and Clinton Hills creative spirit. With over 200 trees in the Partnerships Business Improvement District boundaries (were proud to claim responsibility for having over a quarter of those planted on the avenue, btw), were not able to provide guards for all of them in this round. Were continuing to fundraise, and hope to release another open call for panel art early next year, and install additional guards in summer 2012.

Later this fall, we plan present opportunities to support the avenues greening efforts by sponsoring benches, through a program similar to the NYC Parks Departments adopt-a-bench initiative. Stay tuned for more information on this, for details on a celebration/reception in the fall, and photo-updates throughout the installation process! Have questions? Contact meredith@myrtleavenue.org.

Thanks to: New York Main Street Program, the NY State Department of Environmental Conservation, and the Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership Business Improvement District for supporting this project.

Remember the Easter Day fire that broke out on Myrtle between Adelphi and Carlton back in 2010? Hardee's Chinese Restaurant, one of the businesses displaced by the fire, is currently steadily building out across the street from it at 351 Myrtle Avenue. The biz owner, who owns the building where the business will now be located, is hoping to be re-opened by late August, early September. “I've been in Fort Greene a long time and nothing beats being here. I'm looking forward to re-opening as soon as possible,” shared the owner.

Meanwhile 352-360 Myrtle, the building affected by the fire is also steadily moving forward, Little Louie's Pizza returned last fall, a new bridal retail store will open there this fall and the remaining commercial spaces are available for rent.

Wednesday is movie night @ Wally's Square Root Cafe, movies start at 8:30pm. Free popcorn for all + Wally's great eats and drinks ready to order.

August movie schedule is:

8/3

The Breakfast Club

8/10

Beetlejuice

8/17

The Big Lebowski

8/24

Rocky Horror Picture Show

note: no movie will be shown on 8/31

Call for filmmakers, coo cooooooooo

seeking independent movie shorts for movie night. Are you a local film maker with an original movie short (15 minutes or less)? Show your short before the main feature. Email wally@squarerootcafe.com for details.

Wally's Square Root Cafe is located at 584 Myrtle Avenue. They can be reached by phone at 718.230.7077.

Local Clinton Hill resident and editor-in-chief of The Fashion Bomb Daily blog, Claire Sulmers, has a Polish Bar of Brooklyn contest going for 'Fashion Bomb Daily' readers. Post on the blog for a an opportunity to win a $50 dollar gift certificate to the Polish Bar of Brooklyn. Don't sleep…deadline is TODAY.

Click for the details on how to enter.

Karens Body Beautiful, the spa and natural hair, bath and body product mecca at 436 Myrtle Avenue between Clinton and Waverly Avenues is sponsoring a haute hair contest.

Applicants have an opportunity to vie for a number of prizes, which include: being wined and dined (bed and breakfast stay, photo shoot, cocktail party, brunch, spa services, etc.) during an all-expense paid trip to NY (grand prize), a 1-year supply of KBB products and a KBB t-shirt (second prize) and for ten wonderful winners: $50 KBB gift cards and 'I Love My Hair' t-shirts (third prize).

Karen explains it best, check out the KBB Youtube video for more detail. Hurry, video submission deadline is August 6th!

Karens Body Beautiful is located at 436 Myrtle Avenue between Clinton and Waverly Avenues. The store can be reached at 718.797.4808.

pic from Karen's Body Beautiful Facebook page

Seen QUITE a few not happy faces near the southwest corner of Myrtle and Vanderbilt recently. Folks headed to The Bakery (also known as Krumbs 154) located at 154 Vanderbilt Avenue for homemade breads and confections like raspberry rugelach, classic pound cakes, gingerbread cookies, almond tortes, blueberry tarts, apple pies, fresh handcrafted breads and cinnamon rolls have been sorely disappointed to find the business shuttered for the past two weeks.

Entrepreneurs of New York, Friends of Entrepreneurs of New York, local business owners, customers and friends of The Bakery have rallied together for a series of fundraisers in support of this much-loved business and owner, Adrienne Braxton, to re-open the doors.

Neighbors, supporters, concerned community members, EVERYONE invited to attend the first of these fundraisers, which will be held by Robin and Biola, owners of Pillow Cafe at 505 Myrtle Avenue between Ryerson and Grand. Contributors and investors, plese stop in. Enjoy nibbles by The Bakery and Pillow Cafe. Cash bar. Please RSVP to Entreprepreneurs of New York @ 347.728.9492 or enybiz@gmail.com (either is preferable) or just stop in.

A 2005 award-winning film documents the life of Krumbs owner, Adrienne Braxton and her dream to open her own business. The film will be shown at the fundraiser and parts of Thursday's fundraiser will be filmed as a part 2 of the film.

The 88th Precinct and the 88th Precinct Community and Youth Councils are inviting the community to attend the National Night Out Against Crime today, August 2, 2011 from noon to 8 p.m. at Fort Greene Park. Come check out the many informational tables and fun activities!

Myrtle Eats Fresh Community Chef Arnetha Singelton will be serving up her Whole Wheat Vegetable Beef Pasta Salad recipe from 2-4PM on the Dekalb Avenue side of the park. Come by for a taste and the recipe to try at home!

Only two more weeks to apply for a Change By Us grant. The City of New York and the Citizens Committe for New York invite volunteer-led community groups to apply for small grants, which range from $500 to $1000 dollars.

To be eligible, the project must:

-Focus on composting, tree and park stewardship, or community gardening and agriculture.

-Be posted on the Change by Us NYC website;

-Include a minimum of 20 members on your Change by Us NYC project page;

If you have questions about the grant application process, feel free to contact Saleen Shah of the Citizens Committee for New York at sshah@citizensnyc.org or (212) 822-9566.

Well-known Brooklyn artist Skip Burroughs served as staff photographer for Manhattan Borough President Ruth Messinger in the early 1990s. Throughout that time she had an opportunity to cover many events, including the collection that is up at Pillow Cafe now through the end of August.

Here's a bit from Skip:

“In the early 90s I was on assignment to photograph Manhattan Borough President Ruth Messenger as she and other politicians marched in the Gay Parade to support civil rights for gays and lesbians. In 2009 and 2010 I went back to photograph the Gay Parade as an independent photographer with the idea to capture more on the issues being grappled with at the time, including gay marriage.”

Pillow Cafe is located at 505 Myrtle Avenue between Ryerson and Grand. Check out the delicious, fresh sandwiches, ice cold smoothies and lattes and any number of scrumptious salads. Check their website or MyrtleMenus for a complete online menu.

Pillow Cafe can be reached at 718.246.2711.

And Brooklyn's definitely got it. And Dee & Ricky has definitely got IT. With signage fashioned as an old theater marquee, Dee & Ricky's restaurant is steadily pushing forward to its debut. Get ready.