A Beef-and-Beer to Save Juniata Golf Club

A beef-and-beer will be held on Friday, Jan. 18, from 7 p.m. to midnight in an effort to raise funds to save Juniata Golf Club. As I reported in an earlier post, the City of Philadelphia, through the Fairmount Park Commission, is leasing Juniata to the newly formed Juniata Golf Foundation, which will manage the course. The beef-and-beer fundraiser is being held at the Juniata Boys Club, 1001 E. Cayuga Street, adjacent to the course's main entrance. The cost is $25 per person and will feature, in addition to roast beef sandwiches and beer, a variety of other foods, set-ups for mixed drinks (the event is BYOB), a DeeJay and door prizes.

The online history of Juniata Golf Club, which was designed by renowned golf architect Ed Ault, states that, "In December of 1923, the Fairmount Park Commissioners decided that the development of a new public golf course would be located on a 66-acre tract along Tacony Creek extending to Juniata Park. The course was laid out on 66 acres plus 40 acres from Tacony Creek park as planned by Alan D. Corson, Fairmount Park's Chief Engineer 'in conjunction with local golf architects.' In commenting in 1925 on the design, Mr. Corson said, 'a public course should be easy to play around and with this in mind we planned the links in Tacony Creek Park to be less difficult than Cobb's Creek... An easy course permits more people to play on it.' Juniata Golf Club opened to the public on July 14, 1927, with 9 holes completed. By Memorial Day, 1930, all 18 holes were completed and open to the public."

Tickets for the Jan. 18 beef-and-beer may be purchased at the door. For more information contact Bob Wheeler, Juniata's general manager and head golf professional, at 215/743-4060.