A number of Ballard-area organizations received Neighborhood Matching Funds at a March 24 ceremony.

David Francis of the Carkeek Park Advisory Council accepted a matching fund award of $9,650 for the park’s Outdoor Arts Festival. This temporary exhibition will host 10 organic sculptures set to decompose.

Rosemary Boros of the Carkeek Watershed Community Action Project was award a matching fund of $1,200 to go toward the installation of 75 plant identification markers for the Carkeek Wildlife Demonstration Garden.

Vision Greenwood Park received $15,000 toward the creation and design for the newly enhanced and expanded park at 602 N. 87th St.

Carkeek Park preservationist and environmental activist Nancy Malmgren took the occasion to speak about the importance of Carkeek’s ongoing caretaking, and the park’s 29th-annual Earth Day event April 18.

The public is invited to attend the orientation, then canvass the neighborhood to discuss the importance of effective water disposal, including the elimination of pesticides and pharmaceutical disposal in wastewater. They will then return to the park and tour its pump station and storm water treatment plant.

The awards ceremony, held at the Ravenna Eckstein Community Center, was hosted by Mayor Greg Nickels and Seattle city council member Sally Clark.