To Subscribe Call 610.869.5553 INSIDE
Chester CountyPRESS
www.chestercounty.com
Covering Avon Grove, Chadds Ford, Kennett Square, Oxford, & Unionville Areas
Volume 154, No. 15
Wednesday, April 15, 2020
$1.00
Mushroom Festival canceled due to pandemic concerns By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer It is often said that only death and taxes are assured, but for the throngs of visitors who descend on the Borough of Kennett Square on the weekend after Labor Day every year, the annual Kennett Square Mushroom Festival is about as close as one can get to a sure thing. Like thousands of other large-scale public events of its kind throughout the U.S. and the world, however, the 2020 festival -- originally scheduled for Sept. 12 and Sept. 13 -- will be canceled, due to increasing safety concerns expressed by its Board of Directors about
the COVID-19 outbreak, as well as empathy for a mushroom industry that has been hit hard as a result of the pandemic. In a release issued by the Avondale-based American Mushroom Institute in January, mushroom growers entered 2020 with record sales volumes, increasing retail prices and solid demand for fresh mushrooms. Since March, however, the local mushroom industry has absorbed a substantial financial blow, stemming from the temporary closure of many of its customers like restaurants, retail stores and food Courtesy photo manufacturing centers that Because of safety concerns about COVID-19, the 2020 Kennett Square Mushroom Continued on Page 2A
Festival, scheduled for Sept. 12 and 13, will be canceled.
Toughkenamon Streetscape Camp Dreamcatcher at 25: and Transportation Life-changing Improvement Plan completed programs bring help and hope to children By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer
After more than a year of input from the public, elected and appointed offiLa Comunidad Hispana cials and a lot of erasures news...1B and re-drawings, the vision that imagines a new and revitalized Toughkenamon is now complete. The Streetscape and Transportation Improvement Plan in the Village of Toughkenamon creates a streetscape concept for the village, identifies ways to improve transportation and mobility in the village, and offers ideas to enhance aesthetics, create more housing diversity, and stimulate opportunities for KACS and partners plan investment. food drive...3B More specifically, the plan imagines accommodations for safe routes to public transportation, crosswalks, pedestrian amenities and landscaping, as well as ideas for increasing walkability; reducing speeding and cut-through traffic;
Courtesy image
The Streetscape and Transportation Improvement Plan in the Village of Toughkenamon offers a blueprint for a new village that provides improved transportation and mobility, enhanced aesthetics, housing diversity and investment.
providing new road connections; creating a consistent streetscape that will include lighting and signage; increasing parking accommodations; and establishing a park near the village. The final plan is available for public viewing on the New Garden Township website (www.newgarden. org), and will be presented to the township’s Board of Supervisors for adoption at a future public meeting.
As the 15-month process began, two initiatives dovetailed, beginning with the formation of a committee made up of township staff, local residents, landscape architects and planners. The committee worked with Natasha Manbeck and McMahon Associates and Jennifer Reitz of Thomas Commita & Associates towards the creation of a plan that now becomes Continued on Page 3A
While we’ve been indoors… Farm along Brandywine Creek branch now preserved...4B
INDEX Opinion.......................5A Obituaries..................2B Classifieds.................4B
© 2007 The Chester County Press Photo by Richard L. Gaw
The Landenberg Church may be conducting its weekly services online, but the welcome arrival of Spring in Chester County has served as nature’s gift during a very challenging time.
Photo courtesy of Fred Weiner
“It’s like this circle of love that people give to each other,” said Camp Dreamcatcher executive director Patty Hillkirk.
By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer In the beginning, there was hope. When Patty Hillkirk took the first steps toward establishing a camp for youngsters who are affected by HIV or AIDS, she hoped to be able to make a difference in their lives, and she also wanted the camp to provide hope to the children that a brighter future was waiting for them. Hillkirk, a psychotherapist who graduated from Penn State University and trained at the Pennsylvania Gestalt Center, envisioned a camp that would that would offer much more than a fun, outdoor experience. She wanted the children to have a safe, supportive environment where they could share their feelings of fear, sadness, and anger and begin the process of healing and learn how to cope with the enormous challenges that come with living with HIV or AIDS. In those days, a child who had been diagnosed with the deadly disease would face significant health issues and they could only
expect to live to their teenage years. The children of parents who had HIV often suffered greatly, too, dealing with feelings of isolation and loss. They were targets for bullying and discrimination. Many lived in poverty and lacked food and steady shelter. Some experienced community violence and were victims of abuse. These were the children that Hillkirk wanted to help when she established a nonprofit organization in January of 1996. The first weeklong camp took place later that same year, and while there were other camps on the East Coast that served children who had been impacted by HIV and AIDS, what distinguished Camp Dreamcatcher from the very start was the emphasis on the counseling and therapeutic support. “That’s really what makes us unique,” Hillkirk said during a recent interview. She explained that, from the very beginning, Camp Dreamcatcher focused not only on helping each child live with HIV and AIDS, but on addressing issues Continued on Page 2A