Oxford Borough Council member resigns
A former council member has already been appointed to fill the vacancy as a council member.
By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer
Phillip Hurtt has resigned from Oxford Borough Council.
Hurtt submitted his resignation letter to borough officials, expressing his regrets that he couldn’t continue to serve on borough council.
Council president Sue Lombardi said that Hurtt has moved out of Oxford Borough, and as a result he is no longer eligible to serve on borough council.
Lombardi said that she appreciated the effort and time that Hurtt put into serving on borough council.
Council vice president Peggy Ann Russell added that it was sad to lose Hurtt
Hurtt is a Democrat who was elected to borough council in November of 2017. His term began in January of 2018 and runs through 2021.
On Monday night, Oxford Borough Council formally accepted the resignation— and acted quickly to appoint a replacement.
Council member John Thompson made a motion to appoint Randy Grace to fill the vacancy. Grace is a former council member and a business owner in town. Council member Ron Hershey seconded the motion to appoint Grace to fill the vacancy.
During the discussion that followed, several council members, including Russell
and Amanda Birdwell, said that while they might support the appointment of Grace, they thought it best to wait on making an appointment so that others in the community had an opportunity to apply to fill the vacancy. It was an issue of fairness, they said.
Those who supported making the appointment right away noted that Grace brought experience to council at a time when it is needed. Lombardi and Thompson, two of the more experienced council members are not seeking reelection, and there will be a lot of new faces on council in the new year.
Additionally, waiting to make the appointment would have required a
Regional police to hold three events on National Night Out
special meeting because the borough council’s next meeting will take place outside the 30-day window for council to act to fill the vacancy.
When the vote was taken, Lombardi, Hershey, and Thompson voted in favor of the appointment, while Birdwell, Russell,
Kennett School Board appoints architect for sports field upgrades
By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer
The Kennett Consolidated School District is planning a series of sports field upgrades, including refurbishing the synthetic field at the high school sports stadium, the all-weather synthetic track, and the tennis courts in the summer of 2020. It was announced at the Kennett School Board’s July 8 meeting that the firm of Architerra PC was appointed to do the architectural work.
The planned upgrades to the sports fields is part of the school district’s five-year
plan for capital projects.
As he introduced the discussion about the sports field upgrades, business administrator Mark Tracy noted that the synthetic turf at the stadium is now 12 years old, which is longer than the ten-year life that was projected at the time the turf was installed.
School board member Dominic Perigo explained that district officials were less than pleased with the turf in the first few years after the stadium was built, but the turf did hold up for a lengthy amount of time,
Hogan will not seek re-election to District Attorney post
By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer
Coming at a time when the direction of the Republican Party in Chester County seems to be spiraling in free fall, Chester County
District Attorney Tom Hogan recently announced that he will not seek reelection to the office he has held since 2011.
Hogan, a Republican who has been with the DA’s office for 21 years, cited family reasons for his decision to drop out of the race.
He said he will remain in his
office until January when his term ends, and that his first assistant, Michael Noone, will replace him on the November ballot, against Democrat Deb
Ryan, a 15-year veteran of the Chester County and Philadelphia DA’s offices, and who led Chester County’s Child Abuse Unit.
Under Hogan, the county’s DA’s Office has earned kudos for its two-pronged battle against opioid and heroin distribution and addiction in the county. It established a multi-agency task force to target dealers and seek treatment for those suffering from addiction. Hogan has also spearheaded a county-wide consortium of agencies and individuals, combined with
innovative investigation techniques, to create protections for children and elders against predators and abusers, while stepping up
By John Chambless Staff Writer
The long tradition of faith at the Oxford United Methodist Church stretches back to 1885, when the brick church was built at Addison and Market streets.
This month, Rev. Bernard Kefer steps into that tradition as the church’s new pastor.
Kefer and his wife, Vicky, have come to Oxford from serving at Zion United Methodist Church in Coal Township, and the larger Clark’s Grove United Methodist Church in Paxinos. They took over for Rev. Mark Terry, who had been at the Oxford church for a decade before being appointed to a church in Springfield.
Kefer noted the long tenure of his predecessor and added that the pastor before Terry served for 15 years, so there haven’t been a lot of changes in leadership
Randy Grace was appointed to fill a vacancy on Oxford Borough Council on Monday night. He previously served as a council member.
Photos by Steven Hoffman Phillip Hurtt is resigning from Oxford Borough Council.
Photo by John Chambless Rev. Bernard Kefer took over at the Oxford United Methodist Church this month.
Photo by Richard L. Gaw
The Southern Chester County Regional Police will be coordinating events at three locations on Aug. 6 as part of National Night Out, a national communitybuilding campaign that promotes police-community partnerships. Officers will be joined by members of fire and EMS services in Toughkenamon, in the parking area behind the Harvest Ridge Winery; in Avondale, in the parking area near the Avondale Post Office; and in West Grove Borough, in front of the West Grove Library.
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even if it wasn’t as good of a product as had been hoped.
Architerra, PC will oversee the design development, construction documents, public bidding, and construction administration. The school board approved an expenditure of up to $47,500 for these architectural services.
The school district has a long relationship with Architerra, PC, and the firm has overseen the rebuild of the high school stadium, work on Legacy Fields, and the construction of a middle school baseball field, among other projects, for Kennett.
Perigo said that he would like to see the district explore the possibility of adding more electricity to the sports stadium, as well as more access to water, while construction work is being done on the stadium. He also raised the possibility that an extra lane be added to the high school track so that Kennett could host district championships at its stadium. However, because of the complicated logistics of adding an additional lane to the track, it is unlikely that this will be a viable option.
The school board approved the fees for various Kennett High School events for the 2019-2020 school year. Tickets for musicals will be $6 for students and $10 for adults. The cost to attend the school play in the fall will be $5 for students and $8 for
adults. Tickets for athletic events will be $3 for students and $5 for adults. The cost to attend regular dances will be $5, while the Homecoming and winter formal dances will be $7. All of the fees for the 2019-2020 school year are the same as the last year.
In his report to the school board, superintendent Dr. Barry Tomasetti informed the school board that Kennett’s summer school programs were now underway. There are 260 students taking part in the various summer school programs. Tomasetti said that the school district is always working to add to the summer offerings that are available to students.
Research has shown that students who take classes over the summer see less of a regression than students who do not attend any classes during the break.
The school board approved a series of personnel items on the agenda, including retirements, new hires, and supplemental contracts.
“We are officially in hiring season,” said assistant superintendent Dr. Michael Barber.
The Kennett School Board will not meet in August. The new school year gets underway on Aug. 26. The school board will meet again on Monday, Sept. 9 at 7 p.m. at the Mary D. Lang Kindergarten Center.
To contact Staff Writer Steven Hoffman, email editor @ chestercounty .com.
New Rita’s Italian Ice opening to benefit animal rescue
Rita’s Italian Ice will be hosting a four-day grand opening celebration for the recently opened location in Marlborough Square Shopping Center, from Aug. 1 to 4 from noon to 10 p.m. Owned and operated by John Zou and Kristy Fang, this Rita’s Italian Ice is the second shop for the couple. Discounted Italian ice and gelati will be served from Thursday to Sunday during the grand opening for $1 and $2, respectively. The first 50 families in line on Aug. 3 will receive coupons for a year’s worth of Rita’s Italian Ice. The new Rita’s Italian Ice is at 826 East Baltimore Pike in Kennett Square.
“Kristy and I are so excited for the grand opening and our staff is ready to serve the community,” John Zou said. “The first time I tried Rita’s, I was 5 years old and I’ve loved it ever
sinc. Opening my own shop was a dream come true. We hope our guests will love our made-fresh-daily Italian Ice too and ask that they join in our efforts to support Greenmore Farm Animal Rescue during this special event.”
Donations of dog shampoo, dish soap, paper towels and six-foot leashes are being collected at the grand opening event in support of Greenmore Farm Animal Rescue. Guests are encouraged to lend their support for the organization during the event and meet the puppies visiting the shop from the rescue.
Greenmore Farm Animal Rescue has been rescuing unwanted, neglected and abused animals since 2010. It is located in Southern Chester County and is managed and maintained by Julia Altman.
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the county’s response to active shooters, shooting investigations, eyewitness identifications, as well as providing body cameras for police throughout the county.
“The Chester County District Attorney’s Office now stands as that “shining city upon a hill,” an example of what a prosecutor’s office should and must be,” Hogan wrote on his Facebook page. “The DAO is as strong and deep as it ever has been. I am proud to leave that as my legacy.”
Hogan cited three factors that led to his decision: that his office has accomplished “everything we set out to do and more;” that he was honoring the request of his family; and the need for a new challenge.
With the wind of a successful tenure as the county’s DA at his back as he headed into a possible third term, Hogan’s announcement comes as a surprise to a Republican base who view the decision as poor timing, and the latest setback for a party that has absorbed a lot of bruises in the past few years.
In November 2017, Patricia Maisano, Yolanda Van de Krol, Dr. Christina Vandepol and
Margaret Reif became the first Democrats to occupy seats on the Chester County row since 1799. In late 2018, Carolyn “Bunny” Welsh, Chester County’s first female elected sheriff and among the county’s longest serving public officials, announced that she would not seek re-election to a sixth term in 2019.
In March 2018, Republican U.S. Rep. Ryan Costello of the 6th District announced that he would not seek re-election to the U.S. House. Val DiGiorgio, a Philadelphia attorney who led the Chester County Republican Party for several years before becoming the
Pennsylvania Republican Party Chairman, resigned from his position in late June, after it was reported that he had traded sexually explicit messages with a onetime GOP candidate for Philadelphia City Council.
A few weeks later, County Controller Reif initiated legal action against Welsh, calling for a refund of more than $67,000 in overtime pay given to Lt. Harry McKinney, with whom Welsh has a personal relationship. For Hogan, however, the decision to not enter into a campaign against Ryan this fall is, in his words, “the right time.”
“I have been a line Assistant District Attorney,
trying every case that came along,” Hogan wrote on his Facebook page. “I have been a federal prosecutor, with the enormous powers that accompany that job. I have been the District Attorney, and got to remake the DAO into my own vision, a hybrid between a federal prosecutor’s office and a local prosecutor’s office.
“Now is the right time in my life to take up a new challenge.”
To contact Staff Writer Richard L. Gaw, email rgaw@chestercounty. com.
Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board awards nearly $765,000 in grants to reduce underage and dangerous drinking
Committed to providing financial support to reduce underage and dangerous alcohol consumption, the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB) has approved almost $765,000 to 44 schools, community organizations, municipalities, law enforcement organizations, nonprofit organizations, and institutions of higher education through the 201920 Alcohol Education Grant Program.
“Since 1999, the PLCB has awarded almost $15 million in alcohol education project grants to schools and universities, non-profits, law enforcement, and organizations all across the commonwealth. Funding these projects is making a difference in our communities,” said PLCB
Tim
are pleased and proud to fund projects that seek to prevent underage and irresponsible drinking.”
Forty-four projects from 28 counties across Pennsylvania were awarded a total of $764,925 in grants. Grant projects include enforcement patrols and tactics, educational efforts, awareness campaigns and alternative, alcohol-free activities, all aimed to reduce underage and dangerous drinking.
Some of grants awarded: • A recipient in Cameron, Elk, and McKean counties will develop a student-produced video message contest, the winner of which will receive a scholarship.
• A Chester County project will create and implement a youth council that will assess the community’s needs and plan
projects targeting their peers to reduce underage drinking.
• A Lancaster County project will create an alcohol education campaign aimed at Latino youth.
• A Westmoreland County project will fund the first Faces & Voices of Recovery (FAVOR) program – a national recovery community organization –in Pennsylvania.
The complete list of grant recipients and projects is available at lcb.pa.gov.
The maximum award for each one-year grant is $20,000.
Also this year, the PLCB offered 20 “mini-grants” of up to $500 each to encourage attendance by Pennsylvania college community representatives at the International Town & Gown Association’s City and University Relations Conference (ITGA) May 19
through 22 in State College. The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board works to educate the public about the dangers of underage and dangerous drinking through a variety of avenues, including grants, a poster contest for students in kindergarten through 12th grade, a free alcohol educational conference, the creation and distribution of a wide range of educational materials, and training and technical assistance for licensees through the Responsible Alcohol Management Program (RAMP) and other organizations working to address the issues related to irresponsible consumption.
The PLCB regulates the distribution of beverage alcohol in Pennsylvania, operates more than 600 wine and spirits stores statewide and licenses more than 20,000 beverage alcohol producers and retailers. The PLCB also works to reduce and prevent dangerous and underage drinking through partnerships with schools, community groups and licensees. Taxes and store profits – totaling $16.5 billion since the agency’s inception – are returned to Pennsylvania’s General Fund, which finances Pennsylvania’s schools, health and human services programs, law enforcement, and public safety initiatives, among other important public services. The PLCB also provides financial support for the Pennsylvania State Police Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement, the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs, other state agencies and local municipalities across the state. For more information about the PLCB, visit lcb. pa.gov.
Courtesy photo
Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan recently announced that he will not seek a third term as the county’s DA.
Chairman
Holden. “We
and Ketcham voted 'No' because they simply wanted to extend the time for other borough residents to express an interest in the position.
With the initial vote on the motion deadlocked at 3-3, it was then up to mayor Lorraine Durnan Bell to break the tie. Bell said that because of Grace’s experience as a council member, and because of his love and enthusiasm for the town, she had no problem with appointing him that night. She voted in favor of the appointment.
Grace, who was in the audience during the meeting, expressed his gratitude for the appointment.
“Thank you for giving me this opportunity. I appreciate it,” he said. He will be sworn into office in time for the next council meeting and will serve for the remainder of the term.
To contact Staff Writer Steven Hoffman, email editor @ chestercounty .com.
Community encouraged to read book about youth sports
The Unionville-Chadds Ford School District is encouraging the community to participate in a summer book read.
Changing the Game: The Parents Guide to Raising Happy, High-Performing Athletes and Giving Youth Sports Back to Our Kids is a national bestselling book by John O’Sullivan. In it, O’Sullivan draws upon three decades of highlevel playing and coaching experience to take readers behind the scenes of competitive youth sports and demonstrates how they have changed from being a fun pastime to an ultracompetitive enterprise. He then teaches parents that the secret to raising happy, high performing children begins by helping them attain a positive mindset and an enjoyable youth sports environment.
O’Sullivan believes that by following seven principles of high performance
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do and places to visit in the Oxford area.
“One thing that’s been marvelous is that it’s good to be back in an area with good places to eat,” he said. In particular, he said, smiling, he’s happy to have discovered Bravo Pizza, where he has been a regular customer in the past two weeks.
“I found out about the change in February or March,” he said. “I met with the Staff-Parish Relations Committee here in June and took a drive-through tour of the town. Then I spent the day with Rev. Terry and his wife. I got the pastoral point of view on things. So far, it’s been very, very positive. This is a very active and vital congregation.”
For the past two Sundays, attendance has been “85 to 90 people, which may be people coming to check out the new guy,” Kefer said, smiling. On July 17, the church will hold a free community ice cream social from 7 to 8:30 p.m., and Kefer will be on hand for introductions. “I’m excited that this will be my first community event,” he said. That event is followed by an evening vacation Bible school from July 28 to Aug. 1 that will further expand the church’s community contacts.
Kefer, 60, grew up in Marshallton, attended Downington High School and got his BA in public administration and planning from West Chester University, so he’s familiar with Chester County. He had a 15-year business career in the area, but felt called to enter the ministry in 1998. He earned a Master of Divinity at Lancaster Theological Seminary in 2002, and has served at churches in Akron, Pa., Lancaster, Mohnton and
outlined in the book, parents can give their children a competitive edge, while at the same time making youth sports a positive experience for their family and their community.
Forty million American children play youth sports, but 70 percent drop out by age 13. “That’s three out of four kids,” O’ Sullivan said. “It’s simply not fun anymore.”
“When I first started as the Supervisor of Athletics at Unionville, a parent gave me a copy of Changing the Game,” said Pat Crater, supervisor of athletics for Unionville-Chadds Ford School District. “We had a great conversation about our perspectives on sports. Sure, competing to win is part of interscholastic sports, but our program is so much more. And this book reminds us of what is truly important in a young athlete’s experience.”
In his book, O’Sullivan asserts that parents and coaches criticize performance and put too much pressure on their kids to be better, to win games, and to land sports scholarships. Only 2 percent of high school athletes win scholarships (of these, the average is less than $11,000). “This is the race to nowhere,” O’Sullivan added.
The book made its way around the district and it
soon became clear that the message would be meaningful to a wider audience. While parents of young athletes may feel more connected to the text, the key takeaways from Changing the Game can apply to many aspects of a child’s life.
“It’s about celebrating our kids and letting them flourish while empowering them to pursue their passions, whatever those may be,” said Dr. Leah Reider, director of pupil services for the district.
As part of the district’s wellness efforts, the district looks for opportunities that focus on the whole child and that can have a meaningful impact on the overall student experience. During the June school board meeting, school board directors supported the selection of Changing the Game as a recommended community book read and approved O’Sullivan’s speaking engagement scheduled for the fall.
“We have done community book reads in the past,” Reider said. “The message in Changing the Game directly connects to many of our wellness standards. The book is geared for parents, but we want everyone to read it -- coaches, teachers, school board members, the community,” she said, adding the book is not solely about sports.
“I think that this is a very important read, not only for our coaches, who are all reading it, but for the athletes’ parents, and really for any parent and any adult who works with kids. Our marching band director is reading it,” Crater added.
O’Sullivan will be coming to speak to the community on Sept. 23 at 7 p.m. in the Unionville High School auditorium. The event is
open to the public, and neighboring school districts and communities are welcomed to attend.
Copies of Changing the Game are available to sign out from lending libraries located in the main office at each UCF school building. The book is also available for purchase on Amazon. To learn more, visit https:// changingthegameproject. com.
Shamokin.
He has also served as a firefighter, first in Marshallton beginning in 1973. “But then I got married and my wife said she didn’t like the idea of the father of our children running into burning buildings,” Kefer said. He has recently applied to join the Union Fire Company in Oxford. “I can drive the apparatus, be an engineer,” he said. “I’ll do whatever I can.”
Kefer’s wife, Vicky, is drawn to missions work, and will be visiting Haiti and India later this year. She works as a medical assistant, and uses her training during her mission trips.
Now that he is settling in at the Oxford church, Kefer said he would like to create some kind of Kids Club with the younger children in the congregation to involve them more directly in a longtime relationship with the church. He would also like to work with a group of families who share dinner in each other’s homes on a rotating basis. “I find that’s a great way to crosspollinate folks,” he said.
“I’ve heard this church has a group of four or five young couples who meet regularly, and they’d like to do more outreach events involving families,” Kefer said. He would like to get some sort of team going –possibly kickball -- so that grandparents and grandchildren could play together, further uniting families in having fun as part of the church.
His new home, in an 1800s parsonage next door to the church, is ideal for proximity to his grown children, Kefer said. He has a son in Lancaster, a son in Maryland and a daughter in Lancaster County, and they have visited several times in the past month.
While his office walls are still mostly bare, Kefer has put up a letter of thanks from a former church member, and a photo collage that spells out “Trust me.” They remind him to step out and let God lead, he said.
Kefer has changed appointments during a time of internal turmoil in the United Methodist Church, as the church recently upheld its ban on perform-
ing gay marriages, or of allowing LGBTQ people to be ordained. The decision has pitted conservative and more liberal-leaning United Methodist congregations.
On the Oxford church’s website, the congregational stance “is trending toward progressive,” Kefer said. It reads, in part: “We believe the church is here for everyone. Even as we disagree on what that looks like. If what happened in St. Louis [the site of the recent decision] makes it hard for you to come to our particular church, fine. But don’t let something that happened far away among strangers keep you from connecting with some other group of believers in your town. We are made for community, Christ is found in commu-
nity, and you will find joy in community. God loves you where you are and as you are.”
In a recent children’s sermon in Oxford, Kefer said, “I talked about how God put a spirit of caution into us, but Jesus tells us that we are to encourage the unfamiliar and get to know people that are on the margins. To me, the challenge of the Methodist church is to break out of homogenization and actually reflect their communities. My desire is to have a fully diverse congregation, and to work for that diversity.”
As he settles into his new community, Kefer said
that the United Methodist Church’s policy of moving pastors every few years “can be difficult. But every time it happens, I find that we’re embraced by the community. We find new friends. If I did not believe I was called by God to do this, I couldn’t do it. I was a business person, I made better money, but I am called to be a minister, and God has taken very good care of me.”
For more information, visit www.oxford1851.org.
To contact Staff Writer John Chambless, email jchambless@chesterocounty.com.
Christmas in July craft fair takes place this Saturday
By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer
Ware Presbyterian
Village’s third annual Christmas in July craft fair will take place on Saturday, July 20 at the Pavilion at Vista Ridge in Oxford.
The Christmas in July event is much more than a craft fair. Attendees will be able to shop at more than 40 crafter tables, purchase fresh flowers, and browse the New to You Thrift Shop and The Gift Box. The craft tables feature handmade items exclusively. Quilting, knitting, jewelry, embroidery, wooden items, children’s educational books and toys, and more will be for sale.
The event brings the community together for
The Christmas in July craft fair at Ware Presbyterian Village takes place on Saturday, July 20 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. More than 40 local crafters will be showcasing their work.
festivities and fellowship, according to Doug Wise, the Ware Presbyterian Village sales director.
“Christmas in July at Ware is a celebration of our local communities’ extraordinary talents all under one roof,” said Wise.
Six special food booths will feature Wayvine Winery, Chesapeake Gold Cheese, Grandmas Goods and Services, local honey, jams and jellies, and handmade chocolate truffles.
There will be a snack bar
“It may be hot outside, but it is cool and festive for this fun event.”
and lemonade stand, and chicken salad and ham & cheese sandwiches will be available. Other offerings include cookies, coffee, water, lemonade, and iced tea.
Another highlight of the event will be a silent auction of a 72-inch-by72-inch, appliqued quilt that was machine quilted and made by Linda Ward. The opening bid for the quilt is $250, and the bids must be made in $5 increments.
Fresh flowers, including small arrangements that are perfect for a bedside table at the Health Center or an apartment, will be
available for sale.
The craft fair, which runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., also includes door prizes.
During the craft fair, attendees will also be able to visit the impressive
Ware Presbyterian Village model railroad display. A shuttle will run to take visitors around to different places on the Ware campus. Proceeds from the event are used to enrich the lives of all Ware Presbyterian Village residents, including those in the Oxford Health Care Center and the Steward Place.
The Ware Presbyterian Village Auxiliary came up with the idea for a Christmas in July craft fair, and residents who are on the auxiliary work to make it a reality each year. The same group also works with LOLA’S Boutique each year on a fashion show that benefits Ware residents and the Oxford Women’s Club.
To contact Staff Writer Steven Hoffman, email editor@chestercounty. com.
AHHAH: Empowering voices and engaging the community, through theater
By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer
Perhaps the largest irony of Chester County, and one that tends to get swept under the rug of its progress, rests in a single, glaring statistic: 40 percent of the youth who enter the juvenile justice system in Chester County are from Coatesville, the poorest city in the richest county in Pennsylvania.
While local, state and federal dollars have been tossed liberally around in an effort to stem the tide of what some have come to refer to as a “cradle to prison pipeline” in this city, the truth remains that much of the response to this statistic is reactionary instead of preventive, and that the logical assumption, fear and yes, reality, is that the “pipeline” will extend to future generations.
While several non-profit organizations in Coatesville have galvanized in consortiums, conferences and committees to address the problem, one nonprofit agency is attempting to solve it by letting those in the juvenile detention system of Coatesville run free – by
allowing them to share their voices through the power of theater.
This summer, Arts Holding Hands and Hearts, Inc. (AHHAH) began “Voices of Restorative Justice: A Play of Many Voices,” a five-year program that will work with incarcerated youth at the Chester County Youth Center (CCYC) in Coatesville to develop their stories and monologues for the theater.
Working with creative artists and theatrical companies in the area, AHHAH will develop poems, monologues and plays into full-scale productions that will be produced throughout the county.
By opening a too-often closed door of creativity to these individuals, the resulting productions will attempt to embolden local communities to build empathy and understanding around its collective responsibility to fighting injustice, by hearing the shared voices of youth who are in the juvenile justice system.
“Everyone agrees that our criminal justice system is
Bands invited to compete for ‘Rising Star’ showcase
Citadel has announced the “Rising Star” band contest returns in 2019, giving area bands an opportunity to perform at Citadel Country Spirit USA, a three-day country music festival being held Aug. 23 to 25. For the first time, finalists will be invited to perform in a two-day Citadel Rising Star event Aug. 7 and 8 at Valley Forge Casino.
To be eligible, country artists must be from, or frequently perform in, Pennsylvania, New Jersey or Delaware. Contestants have until 11:59 p.m. on July 28 to submit their video for consideration. For full eligibility rules, visit CitadelBanking. com/RisingStar.
Up to 10 finalists will be invited to perform at Citadel Rising Star Live, in partnership with 92.5 XTU, on Aug. 7 and 8. This Battle of the Bands is free to the public at the Valley Beach in the Valley Forge Casino at 1160 1st Ave, King of Prussia. Each night, doors
open at 5 p.m., and the battles begin at 6 p.m.
A panel of judges will select three winners, which will be announced on Aug. 9. In addition to $1,000, each winner will perform for a day on the Citadel Rising Star Stage between main acts on the GMC Sierra Stage. Headliners are Billy Currington on Aug. 23, Little Big Town on Aug. 24 and Old Dominion on Aug. 25.
“We are thrilled to be hosting the second annual Rising Star contest, giving local talent the opportunity to shine at Citadel Country Spirit USA,” said Jeff March, president and CEO of Citadel. “The entire event is a celebration of our community, so it only makes sense that we have local talent performing.”
Citadel Country Spirit USA festival features more than 20 country music artists on two stages. Last year’s event drew more than 22,000 fans. Tickets are on sale at CountrySpiritUSA.com.
broken and there are millions of young people lost in the juvenile criminal justice system right now – youth of color, and youth in poverty,” said Jan Michener, AHHAH founder and executive director. “What this project does is develop the voices in our juvenile justice system, starting with those in Chester County.
“What I want to do is transform our justice system from a criminal system to a restorative system, and do it from the bottom up by changing stereotypes that people first have of youth in our criminal justice system.”
Currently in Act 1 of the initiative, AHHAH is partnering with Heather and Daniel Grayberg, the founders and artistic directors of Revival Productions in Coatesville, in an 8-week theater intensive workshop with those in detention at CCYC, called “Voices of Coatesville.”
Beginning in September, the initiative will facilitate workshops that will enlist the creative voices of those impacted by domestic violence in the county, and families and friends of those who have been incarcerated. Their words will later be performed as staged readings by members of the community.
In the summer of 2020, Act 2 will invite teaching artists from People’s Light Theater Company in Malvern, Uptown! Knauer Performing Arts Center in West Chester and the Kennett Amateur Theatrical Society (KATS) in Kennett Square to work with those in detention at CCYC to further develop their voices. Each of the teaching artists will then share the work with their respective communities.
In years 3 and 4, AHHAH will collaborate with the Chester County Cultural Coalition in expanding the project to more theater groups and two to three communities throughout the county, and in year 5, the project will fully integrate those once-incarcerated youth who participated in the project to help shape a full production, which will be entitled “Voices
of Restorative Justice: An Epic Play of Many Voices.”
Since it began 2013, Arts Holding Hands and Hearts, Inc. (AHHAH) has empowered marginalized youth, strengthened families and mobilized communities through arts, literacy and mindfulness. “Voices of Restorative Justice” is not the first creative initiative AHHAH has done with incarcerated youth at CCYC. In 2016, AHHAH won the National Detention Center and Alternative Program (NDCAP) award for its writing program at CCYC. In 2017, one of the young men in the CCYC detention center won first place for the NDCAP poetry contest for his poem Diamond in the Rough, that was written during an AHHAH writing workshop. Two books have been published: Justice Restored: A Series of Writings and Poetry from Incarcerated Youth; Volume 1 and Justice Restored 2.0.
In addition, AHHAH has used a 21st Century Learning grant to facilitate after school yoga and playwriting with youth at Scott Middle School in Coatesville, and a PA Council of the Arts grant to integrate monthly community creative arts workshops at the Coatesville Public Library. It also began the Pop Up Lending Library Campaign to get books in the hands of every child and close the word gap and create education equity. We have facilitated community workshops to build, paint and install 100 PULL Stations in Coatesville and Kennett Square and collected and distributed over 65,000 books since 2015. AHHAH also delivers programs to over 400 children in Head Start in Chester County.
To Michener, the five-year initiative is about collaboration and creative placemaking, used as a forum to network, learn, share information that promotes awareness and strengthens its members. It also attempts to put the community, if only for the duration of a workshop or staged reading, “into the shoes” of incarcerated youth.
“When we hear those stories, we begin to understand where
these writers come from, and some of the trauma that they’ve experienced – the neuroscience behind incarceration,” she said. “If one’s brain is always in ‘Fight Flight’ it constantly places one in a survival mode, and when we begin to hear what they’ve done and understand what happened to them, we gain an understanding of what may have triggered their decisions.
“The gift of hearing their words allows us to build empathy instead of stereotypes, and it also allows us to begin to hear their life’s dreams.”
In late June, AHHAH applied for a grant from the Pennsylvania Council of the Arts’ Pennsylvania Creative Communities Initiative, which provides multi-year funding “to community-driven, arts-based projects that serve as catalysts for livability, economic and community connectedness.”
Also known as “creative placemaking,” projects funded through the initiative will have a positive impact on their respective communities.
While AHHAH waits to hear from the Pennsylvania Council of the Arts – the funding
amount is up to $25,000 a year for up to four years and the winning applicants will be notified by the end of the year – Michener said that “Voices of Restorative Justice: A Play of Many Voices” will move from act to act over the next five years, gaining more voices, more theater companies and more community support.
“My dream is that by the time we reach the last act in the initiative, that the incarcerated youth who lent their words to year one of this idea will be fully reintegrated into their communities, and become our musical directors, our choreographers and our collaborators on the final staged productions of this first cycle,” she said. “They will be the ones who will help us take everything that we’ve done and, like a string of pearls, put together everything we have all worked to create.”
To learn more about Arts Holding Hands and Hearts, Inc., visit www.AHHAH.org.
To contact Staff Writer Richard L. Gaw, email rgaw@ chestercounty.com
Kennett Square gymnastics team wraps up season
The KMC USAIGC girls’ gymnastics team from Kennett Square finished up their 2019 season with a number of wins at the State, Regional, and World Championships. Leading KMC to victory were Head Coach Iryna Aliyevska, Jerry Fix, and Don Furrer. Below are the results from each of the championship meets:
States Championships, Sunbury, Pa., May 11 and 12
Forty-two KMC gymnasts competed against 15 other gyms. KMC won the following team awards: Copper 1 (1st place), Copper 2 (2nd place), Bronze (1st place), Diamond (4th place), Silver (1st place), and Gold (1st place). The gymnasts competed on four events: balance beam, floor, uneven bars, and vault. The following KMC gymnasts placed either 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place on one or more of these various individual events and/ or all-around:
Copper 1: Emily Borrell, Margot Fleming, Genevieve Gaughan, Emily Hill, Reagan Leary, Kiera Post, Makena Stahler, Jillian Steere, and Riley Stulb
Copper 2: Alyson Hill, Alyssa Jaros, Ashley Jaros,
Abby Livingston, Devon Rifenburg, and Mia Stevenson
Bronze: Sophia Armandi, Danica Gray, Elyssa Henry, Abby Livingston (sp), Saige Pfeifer, Gayle Reyburn, and Hannah Thijs
Diamond: Ashley Chiari, Catie Curtis, and Katie Slawter
Silver: Isabella Albers, Cassidy Bonura, Allie D’Angelo, Meghan Dunlap, Lauren Fenstermacher, Jenna Lamberth, Leah Pellegrino, and Hannah Wilcox
Gold: Jenna Lamberth (sp), Anna Lipsman, Leah Lipsman, and Rebecca Stoltz
Regional Championships, Wildwood, N.J., May 25 to 28
Forty KMC gymnasts competed against 52 other gyms. KMC won the following team awards: Copper 1 (2nd place), Copper 2 (7th place), Bronze (9th place), Diamond (14th place), Silver (1st place), and Gold (5th place). The gymnasts competed on four events: balance beam, floor, uneven bars, and vault. The following KMC gymnasts placed either 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place on one or more of these various individual events and/ or all-around: Copper 1: Margot Fleming,
Genevieve Gaughan, Emily Hill, Raegan Leary, Kiera Post, Makena Stahler, and Riley Stulb
Copper 2: Devon Rifenburg and Mia Stevenson
Bronze: Sophia Armandi, Danica Gray, Elyssa Henry, Abby Livingston (sp), Saige Pfeifer, Gayle Reyburn, and Hannah Thijs
Silver: Isabella Albers, Cassidy Bonura, Allie D’Angelo, Meghan Dunlap, Lauren Fenstermacher, Jenna Lamberth, Leah Pellegrino, and Hannah Wilcox
Gold: Anna Lipsman, Leah Lipsman, and Rebecca Stoltz
World Championships, Nashville, Tenn., July 1 to 7
World Champion
Medals:
Danica Gray (Bronze)
Jenna Lamberth (Silver) 3rd Makena Stahler (Copper 1) 3rd Margot Fleming (Copper 1)
USAIGC World Champion Event Medals: VAULT:
Sophia Armandi (Bronze)
Cassidy Bonura (Silver)
Leah Pellegrino (Silver) 1st Isabella Albers (Silver) 3rd Margot Fleming (Copper 1)
BARS: 1st Danica Gray (Bronze) 3rd Devon Rifenberg (Copper 2)
BEAM: 1st Riley Stulb (Copper 1) 1st Jenna Lamberth (Silver) 2nd Makena Stahler (Copper 1) 2nd Danica Gray (Bronze) 3rd Reagan Leary (Copper 1) 3rd Peyton Torrey (Silver) FLOOR: 3rd Danica Gray (Bronze)
Twenty-six gymnasts represented KMC and traveled to Nashville, TN where they competed against 82 gyms from the USA, Australia, Bermuda, Canada, Dubai, UK, India, South Africa, Wales, Germany, and Guatemala. KMC won the following team awards: Copper 1 (3rd place), Copper 2 (6th place ), Bronze (10th place), and Silver (3rd place) The gymnasts competed on four events: balance beam, floor, uneven bars, and vault as well as the All-Around competition.
Photo by Richard L. Gaw
Arts Holding Hands and Hearts, Inc. (AHHAH) Executive Director Jan Michener, right, with AHHAH teacher Amanda Daley.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
The Republican Party of Chester County: Against the ropes
Very rarely in the medium of cinema does the ultimate truth of its narrative culminate in a batch of simple, connected frames.
In the denouement moment of the Academy-Award-winning masterpiece “Raging Bull,” filmmaker Martin Scorcese and cinematographer Michael Chapman chose to tell the story from the viewpoint of the valiant and the noble character. In the glow of a bright white boxing ring, Jake LaMotta, played by Robert DeNiro, is being pummeled by an actor portraying Sugar Ray Robinson, who delivers an endless series of punishing blows to LaMotta’s face. Camera flashbulbs flicker. The crowd noise is muffled to the background. The camera does not retreat.
It is an excruciating scene to watch.
While it is a journalistic roll of the dice to compare this scene to local events, this newspaper chooses to do so, on the basis of
Letter to the Editor:
Something changed in the Oxford area a few weeks ago when the old Acme building reopened as a BB’s Grocery Outlet, selling “bents, bumps, and a bunch of bargains.” Many people have already changed their routines to include a stop at BB’s.
This recent change is a lot like the change we saw a few years ago when Walmart opened up just north of Oxford. We saw increased
Letter to the Editor:
This past Saturday, July 13, my brother was driving my 93 year-old father back home after a twoweek visit at his house in Elliottsburg, Pa. to my house in Ocean City, N.J., when his car broke down in Avondale on Route 41. His flashers weren’t working, and he was
its recent coverage of the cuts and blows that have descended in the past few years upon the Republican Party in Chester County, in virtually the same fashion of a boxer, unable to dodge the pugilism of punishment, round by round.
To its supporters, it has been a series of unfortunate incidents. To its critics, it has become blood sport:
Round One: On Nov. 7, 2017, Chester County residents elected four Democrats to county seats: Patricia Maisano became treasurer, Yolanda Van de Krol became clerk of courts, Dr. Christina Vandepol became coroner and Margaret Reif became controller. They became the first Democrats to occupy seats on the Chester County row since 1799.
Round Two: In December 2018, Republican Carolyn “Bunny” Welsh, Chester County’s first female elected sheriff and among the county’s longest serving public official, announced that she would not seek re-election to a sixth term in 2019.
Round Three: In March
2018, Republican U.S. Rep. Ryan Costello of the 6th District – perhaps the most prominent Republican elected official in the county -- announced that he would not seek re-election to the U.S. House. It was a decision that shook up the local GOP base, and opened the door for the election of Democrat Chrissy Houlahan that November, as part of a “blue wave” of Democrats who were elected to eight of nine legislative districts in the county – seats that had previously been held by Republicans.
Round Four: In late June, Republican Val DiGiorgio, a Philadelphia attorney who led the Chester County Republican Party for several years before becoming the Pennsylvania Republican Party Chairman, resigned from his position after the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that DiGiorgio had traded sexually explicit messages with a onetime GOP candidate for Philadelphia City Council.
Round Five: In early July, County Controller Margaret Reif initiated
legal action against Sheriff Carolyn “Bunny” Welsh, calling for a refund of more than $67,000 in overtime Reif has contended Welsh improperly paid to Lt. Harry McKinney, with whom Welsh has a personal relationship, claiming that the overtime pay – accumulated over the past three years -- was “unearned and unmerited overtime that was not based on the result of actual overtime work.”
Round Six: In early July, Republican Tom Hogan, who was elected to lead the Chester County District Attorney’s Office in 2011 and quickly became the county’s leading voice in its efforts to reduce crime, announced that he will not seek a third term. Hogan’s decision cracks the door open even wider for Democratic challenger Deb Ryan, a veteran prosecutor who spent 15 years at the Philadelphia and Chester County District Attorney’s Offices, to be elected in November.
Continuing the boxing movie metaphor, the Republican Party in Chester
County – a party largely responsible for the growth and prosperity of this region over the past 150 years –wobbles in weariness while the blows continue to come from every direction – from incident, from anti-Trump sentiment, and from a changing demographic. This is the slow and torturous takedown of an old and proven champion, whose critics cheer in the arena, rooting for the knockout, while its supporters are barely able to look.
We, the Chester County Press, will continue to look, because we believe that this fight is far from over. Between this editorial and the November elections, this newspaper will examine the Republican Party in Chester County. We will talk to its leaders and its newsmakers, in an attempt to document its rich history, the tenuous steps it is taking to navigate through the above-mentioned news stories, and how it plans to position itself for the future. We will endeavor to tell this story through facts and voices, and without judgement.
Changes in Oxford
traffic through town then, and we see increased traffic through town now, in the opposite direction.
Another very big change is about to take place right in the center of town. If you have not noticed the construction work going on in the area surrounding Dr. Kelly’s office on Second Street, you will see it shortly. Large pieces of parking garage are about to be assembled like giant TinkerToys. Within six weeks, they will rise higher
than the roofs of the surrounding buildings.
The point of the parking garage is to get people to make the town itself their destination. The populations of the townships surrounding Oxford are large and the town is the natural hub of the area. There are already good reasons for someone to come into Oxford, including unique shops and interesting places to eat, drink, and socialize. We expect more attractions to be added in
the near future. Change is in the air.
The garage will open by the end of this year. It will provide parking for customers coming into Oxford’s shops and restaurants, and it will provide parking for employees of the anticipated new businesses. We could get a new business with several hundred people in office jobs, a vision that was laid out in planning studies that were completed by the Borough, and that is being actively pursued
by Oxford Mainstreet Incorporated (OMI).
New changes build on previous changes. If you live in Oxford, one way to keep tabs on what is going on is to attend the meetings of Borough Council. Committees meet on the first two Monday evenings of each month and the Council meets as a whole on the third Monday evening, to vote on recommendations made by those committees. All meetings are open to the public and
In gratitude to the Regional Police
unable to push the car off the road by himself so he called the Southern Chester Country Regional Police for assistance.
Officer Justin Busam responded in one car and another officer whose name we do not know responded in another. My brother described Officer Busam as “first rate” and told me that the two offi-
cers could not have been more helpful to him or more respectful to our elderly father.
After they pushed the car off the road, Officer Busam took the initiative to ask if my father should be left sitting in a car in the heat, waiting the expected two hours for AAA to come tow the car. He took my father
to the Starr Road station in Landenberg to wait in comfort, and then returned to my brother at the car twice during the wait to check on him.
At the station, Corporal John Gibson took over, keeping an eye on my father. He then called me on my cell phone to provide his name, department address and even his per-
Governor Wolf announces 2019 PHARE funding to support affordable housing across Pennsylvania
$51.2 million will fund 211 housing initiatives in 61 counties
Governor Tom Wolf announced recipients of a new round of funding for housing programs made available through the Pennsylvania Housing Affordability and Rehabilitation Enhancement (PHARE) fund. The governor named 211 housing and community development initiatives in 67 counties that will share a portion of the total $51.2 million in PHARE funding for fiscal year 2018-19. The PHARE fund is managed by the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency.
“A major advantage of the PHARE program is that the decisions on how the funding should be spent are driven locally,” said
Governor Wolf. “Local municipalities determine how the funding can best preserve and expand the availability of affordable housing, and then they apply to PHARE to meet those needs. It’s a system that works.”
Funding for the PHARE program comes from three main sources. Since 2012, the program has received a portion of the impact fees collected from natural gas companies operating in the state with the goal of addressing the housing shortage caused by the impact of drilling. That is supplemented with two major new funding sources that include a portion of the realty transfer tax and
money from the National Housing Trust Fund.
Today’s PHARE funding is expected to impact more than 2,500 Pennsylvania households through a variety of efforts funding:
• Rental/utility assistance,
• Down payment/closing cost assistance for first-time homebuyers, • Blight remediation initiatives,
• Rental housing preservation and rehabilitation, and other innovative projects and programs.
“If you look at how the PHARE funding is spent, the uses are varied across rental housing and homeownership,” said PHFA Executive Director and
CEO Brian A. Hudson
Sr. “Communities know best what their local housing needs are, and we rely entirely on their requests when determining how best to allocate this funding.”
PHFA staff reports that at least $36.6 million of the $51.2 million allocated today will be used to fund housing projects benefiting households with incomes below 50 percent of the area median income. That represents 71 percent of the awarded funding.
A list of the proposals receiving PHARE funding, often referred to as the state’s Housing Trust Fund, is available at www.phfa. org/legislation/act105.aspx.
While we wait to share what we find, it is only right to end this editorial where it began. As the scene portraying the fight between LaMotta and Robinson progresses and the bloody massacre reaches its climax, it becomes clear that this is no longer a film simply about boxing. This is now a film about the choice of one man to absorb an unrelenting physical assault – and at the risk of the unknown aftermath of that choice – choose not to surrender, simply because there is something in his will that does not allow him to. Through a blood-spattered mouth, LaMotta says to Robinson, “You didn’t get me down, Ray. I’m still standin’. You never got me down.”
The future of the Republican Party in Chester County will depend on whether or not it can summon the burn of its will and get out of the corner of the ring it now finds itself in, and begin fighting again.
public comment is invited at each meeting. If changes continue to go as predicted, Borough Council will have to discuss what to do about all the traffic on Third Street. You may want to be part of that discussion.
Bob Ketcham Oxford Borough Council member (These comments are my own. They do not reflect any official position of Oxford Borough Council.)
sonal mobile number for use if I had any trouble finding Landenberg.
Kathryn A. Thomas Ocean City, NJ
Ed.: The Press is pleased to inform our readers that Officer Stephen Syska was the driver of the second police vehicle.
I would like to express my family’s sincerest gratitude to the Southern Chester County Regional Police Department for the exemplary service, kindness and respect that they demonstrated toward my brother, my father and me on Saturday. I am certain that besides preventing an accident on the road, their actions averted a health emergency for my father.
Lessons from Aunt Grace
Bob Kleszics of Harvest Market Natural Foods celebrates 40 years in the health food industry
By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer
Perhaps the largest irony of Bob Kleszics of Harvest Market in Hockessin is that he has not spent his entire life in the company of fresh produce, culinary herbs and nutritional supplements – only the past 40 years.
For a good part of his childhood, he ate the standard American diet of the 1960s and 1970s, a time when dinner tables displayed organ meats, vegetables from a can and iceberg lettuce, but the story of how Kleszics became one of the most recognizable leaders of the local organic food scene over the last few decades is not one constructed from ironies, but by the appearance of influences.
To the young Kleszics, who spent a portion of his childhood in Ridgewood, N.J., a visit to his Aunt Grace’s home in northern New Jersey was the promise of a temporary break from the rich, fatty foods his English mother would serve. Instead, Aunt Grace’s dinner table would feature brightlycolored chopped salads and fresh vegetables, and the attention she paid to healthy food options did not end there.
“My Aunt Grace was an early reader of Prevention and Organic Gardening magazines, at a time when people were just beginning to incorporate healthier options into their diets,” Kleszics said. “I began to read through them, and everything just started to make sense to me.” His family moved to Dover when Kleszics was in eighth grade, and by the time he reached high school, his early interest in organic foods had taken root. While he took jobs flipping burgers and frying fries at the local Woolworth’s and Friendly’s, Kleszics frequented a nearby GNC, where he purchased fresh-ground peanut butter and vitamins. Soon after, he received the book
“Let’s Eat Right to Keep Fit,” by Adelle Davis, originally published in 1954.
“In high school, my friends called me ‘Mr.
C,’ because I would take my vitamins to school with me, and have them during my lunch,” Kleszics said. “I also taught myself to make my own yogurt, bread and bagels, but then, my only real exposure to healthy eating had been through my Aunt Grace, GNC and Prevention magazine.”
The key period of Kleszics’ formal introduction into the organic food industry came at a time when anyone professing the benefits of a healthy and sustainable diet was considered part of the counterculture, stereotyped in the form of long hair in tie dyed shirts, slurping on wheat grass juice and pounding down barley soup and brown rice.
To Kleszics, however, the “Hippies” were the open corridor to a world he had up to that point embraced in near secret, and by the time he entered the University of Delaware as an anthropology major in 1976, there they were, establishing the Newark Food Co-op, which was originally located on Haines Street.
Between his junior and senior years, Kleszics took a winter session course called Field Methods in Anthropology, which required him to study a particular group over the course of several weeks. It was a no-brainer; he chose to study the staff at the Newark Food Co-Op. Every aisle seemed to burst with freshness and every ingredient or product on every shelf had its own story, one that every employee knew well.
In 1979, he took a job there. He took over the store’s produce department one year later, and eventually became its main buyer, assistant manager, head manager and board member. He stayed at the Newark Food Co-Op for 16 years.
Soon after deciding to leave the Co-Op to devote his time to being a stay-at-home father to his young son, he was approached by a fellow board member about the possibility of partnering on a new venture: establishing a new organic food store in Delaware. Yes,
he said, but where? Kleszics pored through as much demographic information as he could find. He saw that Hockessin had the second-highest income and the highest education level of any town in the state – but no dedicated natural food store.
Then it did. Harvest Market Natural Foods opened in Hockessin in 1995, temporarily in the Lantana Square Shopping Center and soon after, locating to Old Lancaster Pike until moving to its current location on Lancaster Pike in 2005.
While the store is partly defined by its row after row of organic and local fresh produce, grass-fed meats, nutritional supplements and personal care products, the real persona of Harvest Market is found in its staff, which has grown from two employees in 1995 -- Kleszics and his former business partner – to 62 employees today, who include department managers, kitchen managers, a marketing team and Lydia Sadauskas, the store’s human resource director, who came to the Harvest Market from Lancaster Farm Fresh Co-op and Kimberton Natural Foods.
“The number one compliment we receive from our customers –even more important than the quality of the products we stock – is the friendliness and
helpfulness of our staff,” said Kleszics, who regularly sends his staff around the country to attend management training and nutritional seminars.“Our customer service is all encompassing. We treat our customers, our farmers, our co-workers, our delivery people –everybody – with the same respect and understanding.”
Very often, Kleszics is that go-to resource for the Harvest Market staff.
“Bob gives us a sense of confidence in knowing about the products we carry, and in the choices we provide,” said produce manager Laury Moran. “It’s a constant absorption of information about seasonal produce, and how and why things grow. He is an encyclopedia of knowledge, and we go to him before we go to the web, and for people of my generation who go to the web first for everything we need to know, that says a lot about the knowledge that Bob has.”
Like nearly every one of the 3,500 natural health food stores in the United States, Harvest Market does business in the wedge that divides the traditional, Western-based approach to health and the Eastern-influence of holistic, natural healing. Kleszics feels that while traditional medication is vital in the treatment of some diseases, they have contributed to the
great cultural divide that looks at health as “disease management” instead of “preventive management.”
“At the core of this debate is ‘Is the health of the American people going to improve?’” Kleszics said. “People have choices, and what’s missing is that Americans aren’t being exposed to those choices as easily as they should be. I was fortunate to be given the materials at a very young age to get me thinking about choices. I ate chopped salads from my Aunt Grace and I read books and I continue to experiment on alternatives.”
In June, Kleszics received a Service to the Industry Award at the Independent Natural Foods Retailers Association’s (INFRA) national conference in Minneapolis, given annually to a store, individual or company who is doing outstanding work that is important to the independent natural food retail industry.
In her nomination letter to the INFRA Board of Directors, Kleszics’ wife and business partner Karen Ashley – who is also the Vice President and Finance Director at Harvest Market -- wrote, “Like many of his INFRA peers, Bob bootstrapped the operation, bought used equipment at auction and lived in a storage warehouse next to the store without a shower while developing the business.
“As Bob brought organic and local foods to the Hockessin community, he developed long-standing relationships of trust and transparency with growers and producers, and a reputation for his commitment to outstanding product quality, fairness and honesty with customers and employees.”
Harvest Market’s mission statement at their website is simple: Harvest Market provides our community with the highest quality, most nourishing foods and related products available while conducting our business in socially responsible ways that are both sustainable and rewarding for our customers, our employees, our producers and our environment.
“Everything about why we decided to open Harvest Market, and what continues to motivate everyone here, is in that statement,” Kleszics said.“I came across the phrase ‘Right Livelihood’ several years ago, and since then, that’s what I hold myself to – that what I am doing makes a difference in the lives of every stakeholder we have –our staff, our customers, our producers, the environment and the community.”
To contact Staff Writer Richard L. Gaw, email rgaw@chestercounty. com
Seasonal fruits and vegetables burst with color throughout the year in the produce department.
Photos by Richard L. Gaw
Harvest Market owner Bob Kleszics, center, is celebrating his 40th year in the health food industry.
LYNDA JONES BOND
Lynda Jones Bond, 73, of Newark, Del., 73 passed away on July 3 at Christiana Hospital in Newark. Lynda was born in 1945 in Coatesville, to the late William C. and Marguerite Michelfelder Jones, Sr. She graduated in 1962 from Downingtown High School and received her nursing degree from the Chester County Hospital in 1964. Lynda’s nursing career was with Wilmington Hospital, and she retired from Jefferson Hospital as a hospice nurse.
She married James (Jim) A. Bond in 1966, and from that union they were blessed with three children, James, William and Heather. Lynda’s favorite pastime was spending time with her beloved grandchildren, traveling to Ocean City, Md., with family and friends, and giving her time to charitable causes. Lynda was an active member of Shiloh Presbyterian Church in Oxford, where she worked in the various ministries of the church. She was a member of the Helping Hands Ministry, where she served as past president; Board of Deacons, where she served as treasurer; SPC Outreach Committee member; and the Shiloh Lunch Bunch group.
Lynda and Jim helped numerous times The Sunday Breakfast Mission in Wilmington. Her giving spirit will be missed by all that knew and loved her.
Lynda leaves to cherish her memory her husband of 53 years, James (Jim) A. Bond; sons James (Karen) and William (Lisa); daughter Heather (Demetrius); six grandchildren; one sister, Suzanne (Alvin) Groff; one sister-in-law, Jacqueline (Robert) Almes; the Shiloh family; and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins and friends. Lynda was preceded in death by her parents, William C. and Marguerite Jones; and one brother, William C. Jones.
A service was held July 12. In lieu of flowers, please make donation to The Sunday Breakfast Mission, Wilmington, Del. Online condolences may be made at www.elcollinsfuneralhome.com.
KENNETH LEE CARPENTER
Kenneth Lee Carpenter, 66, of Wyndmoor, formerly of Oxford and Rising Sun, passed away on July 7 at the Chestnut Hill Hospital. Born in Havre de Grace, Md., he was the son of the late Kenneth Carpenter and the late Rebecca Benjamin. He was a member of the Eagles Club in Oxford. Kenny was an animal lover, and he also enjoyed shopping, traveling, and being with his family and friends. He is survived by one aunt, Betty Bare of Oxford; one uncle, Edward Benjamin of Rising Sun, Md.; and several cousins. He was predeceased by one brother, James/ Thomas Carpenter; and one sister, Margaret Jean Carpenter. His service and burial were held privately. To view his online tribute and to share a memory with his family, visit www.kuzoandfoulkfh.com.
FRANK W. MATCHNER, JR.
Frank William Matchner, Jr., of Fort Myers, Fla. (formerly of West Chester and Oxford, Pa., and Elkton, Md.) was called home by his Savior and Lord Jesus Christ on July 1. Born in 1919 in West Chester, he was the son of the late Frank Wiseman Matchner, Sr., and the late Martha Betts (Rickards) Matchner. He was preceded in death by his first wife of 45 years, Grace Emma (Leike) Matchner; his second wife of nine years, Elizabeth (Betty) Amanda (Tarr) Herrington-Matchner; a son, William Frank Matchner; a daughter, Janice Elaine (Matchner) Herr; and a brother, Ivan Thomas Matchner. He is survived by a brother, Marvin Sypherd Matchner of Lewisville, Texas; two daughters, Ruth Ann (Matchner) Vincent of Headland, Ala., and Martha Mae (Matchner) Livingston of Citrus Springs, Fla.; a son, Frank Walter Matchner III of Monrovia, Md. (Jean); 10 grandchildren; 32 great-grandchildren; and 15 great-great-grandchildren.
He was raised in West Chester and graduated from West Chester State Teachers’ College. He served in the U.S. Army and fought in Germany during World War II. After the war, he became a mathematics teacher at Oxford High School and Oxford Middle School, and he held second (part-time) jobs for several years on the Oxford Police force and as the proprietor of Matchner’s Used Cars in Oxford. He was a life member and former Post Adjutant of the Roy W. Gibson Post No. 535 American Legion (Oxford), a member of the Gray-Nichols Post No. 1779 VFW (Oxford), and a member and former Captain of the Oxford Fire Company. He also volunteered as a Sunday school teacher and served on several committees of the Oxford United Methodist Church. After moving to Maryland, he became a member of the Wesley United Methodist Church in Elkton, and after moving to Florida, he became a member of Grace Church in Fort Myers.
A funeral service was held July 9. Burial with military honors took place at Upper Octorara Cemetery in Parkesburg. In lieu of flowers, memorials can be sent to Grace Church (www.egracechurch.com/shores).
ROBERT W. MCMAHON
Robert W. McMahon, 89, of Nottingham, passed away on July 7 in the V.A. Maryland Healthcare System of Perry Point, Md.
Born in 1930 in Johnson City, N.Y., he was the son of the late Leonard McMahon and Teresa (Goldie) Brown. Bob was a veteran of the U.S. Navy and a lifetime member of American Legion Mason Dixon Post 194, North East, Md. VFW Post 6027 and Fleet Reserve Association Branch No. 269. He is survived by his five children, Darlene Scarlato, Richard McMahon, Maynard McMahon, Donna Walters and Ellen Crowe; 11 grandchildren; 13 great-grandchildren; one sister; and three nephews. In addition to his parents, Bob was preceded in death by his wife, Jeanette McMahon. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Alzheimer’s Disease research. A graveside service is pending at Arlington National Cemetery.
HARRY R. SOLWAY
Harry Robert (Bob) Solway, 81, of Nottingham, passed away on July 4 at home. He was the husband of Ann Curtis Solway, with whom he shared 60 years of marriage. Born in Wilmington, Del., he was the son of the late Herman and Bessie Pogach Greenstine (a.k.a. Betty Solway Smith), and stepfather Ernest Solway.
He founded Bob’s Crane Service in Landenberg and Nottingham. He mounted his first crane on a 1942 Chevrolet Army truck. Bob was a member of the Waterloo Boys SE PA Chapter of the Two-Cylinder Club, and volunteered at Rough and Tumble Engineers Association. After retiring, he enjoyed restoring John Deere Tractors and pulling them.
He is survived by his wife; two sons, Michael Kimmel Solway and wife Nancy Self of Monrovia, Calif., and Keith Robert Solway and wife Belinda Ann Solway of Nottingham, Pa.; two granddaughters; and one great-granddaughter.
A life celebration service will be held at 3 p.m. Aug. 3 at Ann’s home (garden), 245 Kirks Mill Rd., Nottingham. Please bring a side dish and a chair. In lieu of , please send contributions to Rough & Tumble Engineers Historical Assoc., P.O.Box 9, Kinzers, PA 17535; or Brandywine Valley Chapter Professional Horsemen’s Assoc. c/o Nancy J. Tully, 226 S. Union St., Kennett Square, PA 19348. Online condolences may be made at www.elcollinsfuneralhome.com.
RICHARD J. WEAVER, JR.
On July 7, Richard (Ricky) J. Weaver, Jr., loving husband and father to one daughter, passed away at the age of 82 with his family and loved ones. Ricky was born in 1936 to Richard J. and Elizabeth (Winchester) Weaver. He graduated from Oxford Area High School in 1955 and went on to hold various positions in the Oxford area. In 2016, he married his long-term girlfriend, Barbara Ann Hall. Ricky aided in raising Barbara’s daughter, Lisa Mary (Hall) Carroll. He was also a devoted grandfather to two granddaughters and one grandson, Zachary.
He was a lifelong member of the Oxford Fire Company, where he dedicated 65 years to the organization. He also served as a police officer, a dog warden, crossing guard, parking enforcement officer, and with the borough street department in Oxford for 50 years. Rick was a member of The Improved Order of Red Men for 65 years and worked many years at Lincoln University. Everyone who knew Rick knew of his love of cars. He was passionate about them, and owning the newest ones that came out. He was known for his quick wit, his infectious smile, and his kind and compassionate spirit.
He was preceded in death by his loving stepfather, Horace McComsey; and his mother, Elizabeth. He was survived by his wife Barbara; his daughter Lisa and her husband Richard Carroll. He is also survived by his three grandchildren.
A funeral was held July 12.
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“Yee
from Aug.
to 9, from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. each night. Dinner will be included. Call 610255-5280 or visit www. kemblesvilleumc.com.
Through Aug. 21
‘Summer Fun’ series West Grove United Methodist Church continues its Wednesday night “Summer Fun for Everyone” series. The free weekly event is held through Aug. 21. The whole community is invited on Wednesdays from 6 to 8 p.m. There will be hotdogs, games, fellowship and a brief word from pastor Monica each week. All beverages will be supplied. Side dishes are welcome, but not required. Games will be available, as well as a gated playground with new equipment. Weather permitting, there will be a slip-and-slide set up. For more information, visit www.westgroveumc.org or call 610-869-9334.
A summer getaway in Kennett Square
By John Chambless Staff Writer
There’s a clear summer light throughout the Square Pear Gallery in Kennett Square this month as part of the current show, “A Day at the Beach.”
In the front room, Liz Finley’s large expanses of sky blue and curling surf set the perfect mood. They would be shimmering centerpieces in anyone’s collection, but they just set the stage for the diverse show.
Joe Milligan’s gray-toned watercolors of off-season, or cloudy, beach days strike a contemplative mood. Milligan’s “Morning Set-Up” is a summertime view of a family’s belongings placed on an empty beach, awaiting the arrival of people.
West Chester artist Catherine Quillman shows a collection of small, square views of longago beach scenes and quaint cottages that are charming in a cartoony way, packed with lovely details. Lisa Budd’s underwater watercolors of fish have a fascinating depth and a sense of swirling currents, in addition to their striking blue tone.
David Eldreth’s five small, open-ended abstracts could be beach views, if you choose to see them as such. Kevin Cummins shows eight etchings of contemporary resort towns, such as “Beach at Bethany,” which is a brilliant depiction of people, surf and sky. “Steel’s” captures the retro architecture of a boardwalk salt water taffy stand.
John Slivjak’s glowing oils of people in the surf have glistening highlights and sun-
baked colors that flawlessly evoke the sensations of swimming and sunning.
In a different medium, Alejandro Lemus shows several nautical-themed bronzes of mermaids and whales that combine form and movement in masterful ways.
The show as a whole reflects a careful selection process, and the impeccable eye on color, media and styles gives “A Day at the Beach” very wellrounded appeal. It’s the best way to visit the shore right here in Chester County – and you can do it without sunblock.
“A Day at the Beach” continues through July 31 at the Square Pear Fine Art Gallery (200 State St., Kennett Square). Call 484-883-5429.
It’s always good to foster the arts in young people, and the “Empowering Youth” exhibit at the Oxford Arts Alliance is doing just that this month. The show recognizes the work of the Garage Youth Center locations in Kennett Square and West Grove.
The Garage locations provide after-school and youth development programs. Leading the exhibition is Brittney Bautista, who has seven pieces in the show. Bautista is in 11th grade at Kennett High School, and clearly shows artistic promise in her expressive portraits and in a finely rendered still life of berries done in colored pencil.
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Elsewhere, the show is a mix of work by students who have
taken part in Garage programs, examining themes in art history through their own original work. It’s an interesting idea for an exhibition, showing the creative spark in the region’s youth, and possibly giving an important boost to an artist of the future.
The Oxford Arts Alliance
(38 S. Third St., Oxford) hosts the “Empowering Youth” exhibit through Aug. 9. Gallery hours are Tuesday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. visit
www.oxfordearts.org.
To contact Staff Writer John Chambless, email jchambless@chestercounty. com.
Catherine Quillman shows nostalgic beach views in the exhibit.
‘Day at the Beach’ by John Slivjak.
Kevin Cummins shows etchings of contemporary beach towns.
‘Serenity’ by Liz Finley.
operating permit or a proposed condition thereof by filing a written protest with the Department. Any person(s) wishing to provide DEP with additional information that they believe should be considered prior to the re-issuance of this Title V Operating Permit may submit the information to the address shown in the preceding paragraph. All comments shall be submitted within 30 days of publication of this notice. Each written comment must contain the following: Name, address and telephone number of the person submitting the comments. Identification of the Title V Operating Permit, No. 15-00104. A concise statement regarding the relevancy of the information or objections to the re-issuance of the Title V Operating Permit. A public hearing may be held, if DEP, in its discretion, decides that such a hearing is warranted based on the comments received during the public comment period. All persons submitting comments or requesting a hearing will be notified of the decision to hold a hearing by publication in a local newspaper of general circulation or the Pennsylvania Bulletin or by telephone, where DEP determines such notification is sufficient. Written comments or requests for a public hearing should be directed to Mr. James Rebarchak, Regional Manager, Air Quality, Department of Environmental Protection, Southeast Regional Office, 2 East Main Street, Norristown, PA 19401, telephone No. 484-250-5920. 7p-10-3t
ESTATE NOTICE
Estate of Hilda B. Grauman, Kennett Township, Pennsylvania, Deceased, Notice is hereby given that, in the estate of the decedent, Letters Testamentary or of Administration have been granted to Frank William Grauman. All persons having claims against said estate are requested to make known the same and all persons indebted to said decedent are requested to make payment without delay to Frank William Grau-
man, Executor, 2128 Wallace Street, Philadelphia, PA 19130. 7p-10-3t
ESTATE NOTICE
Estate of Kevin Wells-Knecht aka Kevin John Wells-Knecht, Wells-Knecht, Kevin aka Wells-Knecht, Kevin John, late of Wallace Twp., Pennsylvania, Notice is hereby given that, in the estate of the decedent set forth below, Letters testamentary or of administration have been granted to Michael Knecht.. All persons having claims against said estate are requested to make known the same to them and all persons indebted to said decedent are requested to make payment without delay to Michael Knecht, c/o John R. Lundy, Esq., Lundy Beldecos & Milby, PC, 450 N. Narberth Ave., Suite 200, Narberth, PA 19072, Executor. Lundy Beldecos & Milby, PC, 450 N. Narberth Ave., Suite 200, Narberth, PA 19072 7p-3-3t
ESTATE NOTICE
Estate of Clive Armitage, Late of Kennett Square, Chester County, PA, LETTERS TESTAMENTARY on the above
Estate have been granted to the undersigned, who request all persons having claims or demands against the estate of the decedent to make known the same and all persons indebted to the decedent to make payment without delay to Cynthia R. Armitage, Executor, Or Attorney: Rebecca Sallen, Esq., Sallen Law, LLC 325 Merion Road, Merion Station, PA 19066. 7p-3-3t
Notice of Intent to ISSUE A Title V Operating Permit
Notice is hereby given in accordance with 25 Pa. Code §§ 127.424(b) and 127.521, that the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) intends to renew Title V Operating Permit No. 15-00104, issued to Flowers Baking Company of Oxford Incorporated (“Flowers Baking Company”), located in Oxford Borough, Chester County. This Title V Operating Permit is for Flower Baking Company’s bakery plant in Oxford, PA. The facility is a major source for VOC. Sources include boilers, heating processes, a fire pump, a fryer line, an oven line, and an emergency generator. The fryer (Source ID 101) is equipped with mist eliminator to reduce PM. The bread oven (Source ID 108) is controlled by a catalytic oxidizer. All other sources have been deemed uncontrollable at this time. The fire pump (Source ID 036) is subject to 40 CFR Part 63, Subpart ZZZZ. The emergency generator (Source ID 700) is subject to 40 CFR Part 60, Subpart JJJJ. Applicable requirements have been incorporated
TPY; VOC – 33.7 TPY; HAP – 0.3 TPY; and GHG – 19,294.12 TPY (reported as CO2e). Allowable emissions from the facility have not increased as a result of this permit renewal. Individual limits apply to the various sources at the facility. The operating permit contains requirements to keep the facility operating within all applicable air quality requirements for this source. Copies of the application, DEP’s analysis, inspection report and other documents used in the evaluation of the application are available for public review during normal business hours at Southeast Regional Office, 2 East Main Street, Norristown, PA 19401. A person may object to the operating permit or a proposed condition thereof by filing a written protest with the Department. Any person(s) wishing to provide DEP with additional information that they believe should be considered prior to the re-issuance of this Title V Operating Permit may submit the information to the address shown in the preceding paragraph. All comments shall be submitted within 30 days of publication of this notice. Each written comment must contain the following: Name, address and telephone number of the person submitting the comments. Identification of the Title V Operating Permit, No. 15-00104. A concise statement regarding the relevancy of the information or objections to the re-issuance of the Title V Operating Permit. A public hearing may be held, if DEP, in its discretion, decides that such a hearing is warranted based on the comments received during the public comment period. All persons submitting comments or requesting a hearing will be notified of the decision to hold a hearing by publication in a local newspaper of general circulation or the Pennsylvania Bulletin or by telephone, where DEP determines such notification is sufficient. Written comments or requests for a public hearing should be directed to Mr. James Rebarchak, Regional Manager, Air Quality, Department of Environmental Protection, Southeast Regional Office, 2 East Main Street, Norristown, PA 19401, telephone No. 484-250-5920. 7p-10-3t
ESTATE NOTICE
Estate of Hilda B. Grauman, Kennett Township, Pennsylvania, Deceased, Notice is hereby given that, in the estate of the decedent, Letters Testamentary or of Administration have been granted to Frank William Grauman. All persons having claims against said estate are
requested to make known the same and all persons indebted to said decedent are requested to make payment without delay to Frank William Grauman, Executor, 2128 Wallace Street, Philadelphia, PA 19130. 7p-10-3t
FICTITIOUS NAME REGISTRATION
An application for registration of the fictitious name, BELLY RUB PET CLUB, 122 Peacedale Road, Landenberg, PA 19350 has been filed in the Department of State at Harrisburg, PA, pursuant to the Fictitious Names Act, Act 1982-295. The name and address of the person or persons who are party to the registration is Karla Kelley, 122 Peacedale Road, Landenberg, PA 19350. File Date: June 15, 2019. 7p-17-1t
ESTATE NOTICE
ESTATE OF MARJORIE N. PICKEL, DECEASED. Late of the Township of London Grove, Chester County, PA, LETTERS TESTAMENTARY on the above Estate have been granted to the undersigned, who request all persons having claims or demands against the estate of the decedent to make known the same and all persons indebted to the decedent to make payment without delay to CALVIN C. PICKEL, EXECUTOR, c/o Albert R. Riviezzo, Esq., P.O. Box 673, Exton, PA 19341, Or to his Attorney: ALBERT R. RIVIEZZO, FOX ROTHSCHILD LLP, P.O. Box 673, Exton, PA 19341 7p-17-3t
NOTICE OF PETITION TO CHANGE NAME IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS CHESTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, PETITION FOR A CHANGE OF NAME, Docket No,2019-05035-NC AND NOW, this 24th day of May, 2019, upon consideration of the Petition and upon motion of Brett David Eakins, a hearing is hereby scheduled for : the 26th day of August, 2019, at 9:30 am
Oxford Area High School honors Students of the Month
Oxford Area High School recently held a breakfast to recognize the school’s Students of the Month for May. Each month teachers in selected departments nominate underclassmen for this honor, with the final selections made by the school administration.
Students of the Month are chosen based on criteria including demonstrating an effort and desire to learn; involvement in school and classroom activities; respect for all school policies and personnel; concern for the school community and friendliness and support for other students. The following Students of the Month for May were named after being nominated by members of the science department.
Trent Brooks, freshman: Nominating teacher Millie Erickson said, “Trent is a student who brings happiness to anyone around him. He works hard to accomplish his academic goals.
“Trent always has a positive attitude and is always respectful to peers and staff. He shows qualities of being a good friend and gets along with everyone.
“Trent knows he sometimes has to work harder than other students to complete his work but he never lets the pressure of work affect his mood. He graciously accepts help if needed and is very aware of his abilities. Trent is kind and caring and a true joy to have in class.”
Dylan Gerrard, freshman: Nominating teacher Joan Lafferty said, “Dylan is an excellent student in my biology class. He is attentive and listening at all times and will not hesitate to ask questions if he doesn’t understand the content. Dylan is intrinsically motivated, which shows in his work.”
Kenna Mullins, freshman: Nominating
teacher Anne Marie Anderson said, “Kenna does exceptionally well in biology class with a consistent A for all marking periods. She goes above and beyond to understand the material, always comes prepared for class and is always helping her classmates.”
Emiliano Zetune, freshman: Nominating teacher John Zitarelli said, “Emiliano is a fantastic student. He is extremely motivated and hard-working.
“Emiliano is a genuine friend to his peers and very well-respected. It has been a pleasure to teach him this year.”
Aisha Martin, sophomore: Nominating teacher Stephen Cahill said, “Aisha is very conscientious, polite and is a diligent worker.”
Liam Riess, sophomore:
Nominating teacher Michele Brooks said, “Liam is a very wellrounded student. He always does his best work in forensic science and asks immediately for missed work when he’s out. Liam works well with his classmates and is always kind and respectful to me.”
Kelvin Figueroa, sophomore: Nominating teacher Christina Peterson said, “Kelvin has the best grade in chemistry and has consistently been one of the highest grades on tests this year. He is a model student.
“Kelvin completes all of his work and helps other students stay on task to complete their work. He will explain difficult concepts to other students.
“Kelvin is an active member of both the school and the community. He is truly
a wonderful student, one that I am happy to have in my class.”
Jonathan BernalUrrutia, junior: Nominating teacher Ben
Young said, “Jonathan has been a consistently outstanding student who always earns excellent grades.”
Jenna D’Amico,
junior: Nominating teacher Phil Wesel said, “Jenna is an outstanding student who always does excellent work in science class.”
Courtesy photo
Oxford Area High School recently named its Students of the Month for May. Seated from left are freshman Kenna Mullins, junior Jenna D’Amico and sophomore Kelvin Figueroa; standing from left are freshman Trent Brooks, sophomore Liam Riess, freshman Emiliano Zetune and junior Jonathan Bernal-Urrutia. Freshman Dylan Gerrard and sophomore Aisha Martin are not pictured.
July 20
Christmas in July
The 3rd Annual Christmas in July & Craft Fair will be held on July 20 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Pavilion at Vista Ridge at Ware Presbyterian Village (1162 Kensington Lane, Oxford). Artisans will be selling jewelry, quilted and embroidered items, handpainted cards, stained and fused glass, handbags, paintings, scarves, wreaths, painted porcelain, felted animals and bird houses, wood products, books, puzzles, flowers and more. A food court will offer local cheeses, honey, jams, wines, truffles and more. A handmade quilt will be sold by silent auction. The Ware model railroad will be on display at the Ware Mansion. Parking is free. Transportation is available on campus via a shuttle bus. Box lunches and beverages will be available for purchase. For more information, email cijatware@zoominternet.
net.
July 25 to Aug. 3
‘The Producers’
The Brandwiners will stage the musical comedy
“The Producers” at the Longwood Gardens Open Air Theatre from July 25 to 27, and Aug. 1 to 3, at 8 p.m. More than 50 performers will present the comedy from Mel Brooks which originally was a film, and later presented as a Tony Award winning stage musical in 2001. Tickets are available by calling 800-338-6965 or purchasing online at www. brandywiners.org. All ticketholders receive free admission to Longwood
Gardens for the day.
Aug. 2
Murder Mystery Art Stroll
Downtown Kennett Square will be the setting for an audience-participation murder mystery on Aug. 2, presented by the Kennett Area Theatrical Society. Participants meet the detective at the scene of the crime in Sycamore Alley (between La Verona and the Franklin Center) to gather clues, question murder suspects in participating downtown locations, and attempt to identify the murderer and solve the mystery. Prizes will be awarded to random winners.
Aug. 2
First Friday in Oxford
Enjoy food, music, and activities at Oxford’s First Friday event. The stores in the downtown will have extended hours and special deals. Hours are 5 to 8 p.m.
Aug. 3
Connective Art & Music Festival
The second annual Connective Art & Music Festival will be taking place in downtown Oxford on Aug. 3. There will be three stages of live music, along with art, food and games. Visit www. downtownoxfordpa.org.
Aug. 9
Outdoor Movie
Penn Township Park (260 Lewis Rd., West Grove) hosts a free outdoor screening of “Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse” on Aug. 9 at sunset. There will be food from the 22BBQ food truck, and The Station Hand-Dipped Ice Cream Shoppe. There will be free face painting, yard games and other
activities. Sponsored by the Avon Grove Library (www. avongrovelibrary.org).
Aug. 11
Sunset Park Day
Penn Township Park (260 Lewis Rd., West Grove) hosts Sunset Park Day on Aug. 11 from 3 to 8 p.m. There will be music by Revolution Heroes and the Stone Mountain Road
Blue Grass Band, food from 22 BBQ, Sweet Magnolias Bakery and Ole Tapas, carnival games, a Ferris wheel, a train ride and more. Admission is free. Visit www.penntownship. us.
Aug. 16
Movies in the Park
Oxford Memorial Park will host an outdoor screening of “Coco” on Aug. 16 at dusk. The event is free. Bring your own seating. The movie previews start at 8:30 p.m. In the event of rain, the event will be cancelled. Visit www.OxfordPa.org or the Oxford Facebook page for more information.
Aug. 17
Everyday Hero Run
The 3rd Annual Everyday Hero Run is a 5K run and one-mile walk dedicated to the memory of Oxford resident Jerome Rodio. Run (or walk) the scenic route through Nottingham Park in Oxford. Proceeds benefit the Oxford Veterans Breakfast and the Oxford Chamber of Commerce. Visit www.OxfordPa.org.
To submit items to the Calendar of Events, e-mail jchambless@chestercounty. com. There is no charge. Not every submission can be included. Items should be submitted at least two weeks before the event.
Willowdale Steeplechase announces new date for 2020
The Willowdale Steeplechase has been a Chester County Mother’s Day tradition for more than 27 years. Next year’s race, the 28th Running of the Willowdale Steeplechase, continues that tradition – but with a big twist.
The 2020 races will run on Saturday, the day before Mother’s Day.
The races will run on Saturday, May 9, 2020. They’ll still be a big part of Mother’s Day weekend, but for those who have other family traditions on Mother’s Day itself, the Saturday
race date will give them an opportunity to experience the Willowdale Steeplechase and still honor their own special traditions.
“We decided to move race day to Saturday so that businesses and families will no longer have to choose between a Sunday celebration with mom or a day at the races.” said Willowdale Steeplechase race chairman, W. B. Dixon Stroud, Jr.
As always, Willowdale will feature steeplechase racing, pony races, Jack Russell
terrier races, boutique shopping, an antique car display, a tailgate competition, food vendors, and activities for children. Stroud also announced “Tents on the Turn,” new for 2020. “There will now be four hospitality tents right on the rail,” he said. “These tents will allow guests to enjoy a festive lunch with the sound of pounding hooves and an exciting up close and personal view of the racing.”
For more information, visit www.willowdale. org.
