PHILADELPHIA - For the first time, city and Navy officials added area beautification to the Navy Week mission. The week began when the USS Kaufman, a well decorated military vessel, docked at Penn’s Landing. The city welcomed this 453 ft. “long hull” ship in the Oliver Hazard Perry class with its 198 enlisted personnel and 17 officers. “Philadelphia,” stated Mayor Michael Nutter, “is honored to be one of 20 cities selected to celebrate Navy Week, May 20-29, 2011.”

The arrival of USS Kaufmann triggered an annual flurry of ship board tours, school and hospital visits, the Navy Band concert, proclamations, as well as breakfast, lunch, this evening’s reception and other appearances for Rear Admiral Scott A. Weikert, all, to impart the navy’s mission of keeping this nation safe.

Sailors also enjoyed local sights and recreated the Rocky movie’s 1.5-mile run, ending with the obligatory dash up the steps of the Art Museum of Philadelphia.

New to the festivities were two community beautification projects consistent with the miltary's forces for good program. On Monday, volunteers from the ship and the Philadelphia Naval Yard put their muscles into sprucing up the Roxborough Reservoir landscape. (The reservoir is a recreational area for fishing, walking, and toad watching among other activities.) Act 2 came yesterday at another recreational facility, the Carousel House, where students and supervisors from the YouthBuild Philadelphia Charter School also lent a hand.

“They added a pedestrian walkway to the athletic track that is outdoors.” Erica Young, director of Carousel House, explains about the navy’s effort, “They poured concrete and did some construction work. They also did some outdoor cleanup, some leaf removal for us, as well as cleaning inside our facility.”

Young describes the sailors as jumping right into the work. “They were just fantastic and," she declares, "very nice. I can’t thank them enough.”

There was no better place for this week’s partnership to take shape than Philadelphia, the birthplace of the U.S. Navy. Mayor Nutter, who joined in the work, expressed his appreciation to everyone involved, “I would like to thank Rear Admiral Scott Weikert, his fellow officers and volunteer Navy Shipmen who are committed to the improvement of the Parks & Recreation’s Carousel House. I also want to recognize the great volunteer organizations that routinely support the programs and events year-round at the Carousel House.”

And, the celebration is not over yet. Navy Week literally kicks into high gear this weekend. The U.S. Navy Blue Angels are unable to attend the Millville Wheels & Wings Airshow 2011 as planned. Saturday and Sunday shows, nevertheless, promise military air power, thundering jets, historic warbirds, and exciting aerobatics at Millville Airport.

This event marks 100 years of naval aviation and features the return of the U.S. Army Golden Knights Parachute Team with their precision freefall demonstrations, a USAF C-17A Globemaster III Flyby (on Saturday only), USCG MH-65C Dauphin SAR demonstration, USAF F-16 Viper West demonstration, in addition to a full list of other performances.

Gates open at 9:00 a.m. The event runs from 10:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. both days and benefits the Millville Army Air Field Museum on Leddon Street at the airport, which, in 1941, the U.S. Army Department declared “America’s First Defense Airport.” Note the Millville Airport is closed to regular traffic during showtimes. For more information about the event, visit www.millvilleairshow.com or call 856.327.2347.

To learn more about Navy Week, visit www.navyweek.org.

All rights to this article are reserved by Gloria Blakely. Copyright 2011.