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Homecoming pageantry at Avon Grove and Unionville...1B
Chester CountyPRESS
www.chestercounty.com
Covering Avon Grove, Chadds Ford, Kennett Square, Oxford, & Unionville Areas
Volume 151, No. 41
Wednesday, October 11, 2017
East Marlborough 93rd annual Unionville Community Fair & Farm turns down request for major Show draws families, fun Willowdale Pro Rodeo to take place Oct. 14 country concert By John Chambless Staff Writer The all-star Country Spirit USA Music Festival will be taking place somewhere in Chester County from Aug. 24 to 26, but it won’t be in East Marlborough Township. At a special meeting of the township supervisors on Oct. 9, representatives from the proposed threeday concert heard from a packed room of residents who had major concerns about traffic and safety, as well as noise from the event, which had been proposed for the Willowdale Steeplechase grounds at routes 82 and 926. The festival, as envisioned by Alan Jacoby and Impact Entertainment, will book superstars on the caliber of Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, Toby Keith and Brad Paisley, with two stages of entertainment. The organizers have been scouting possible locations in the county for the past two years, and their first choice was the natural ampitheater of the Willowdale grounds. The company, which has successfully run a similar country music festival in California for four years, has the endorsement of the Chester County Visitors Bureau. Susan Hamley, executive director of the bureau, told the supervisors last week that the event would showcase the county’s open space and attractions to a new
audience of thousands of people, “and would put us on the map even more” as a destination. Jacoby’s company has been putting on largescale events for more than 30 years, and he said the Willowdale property has many benefits, including access to Route 926 and Route 82, an ideal sloping hillside for seating, and a buffer of trees and ground to keep sound from spreading too far to nearby homes. Jacoby said he expects between 10,000 and 15,000 people per day. The music would run from 2 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and from noon to 9 p.m. Sunday. The township supervisors first heard about the event at their meeting on Oct. 2, and to give them time to examine a lengthy list of details about the concert, they asked for the special meeting on Oct. 9. Residents of nearby communities, including Ovations at Longwood, said they objected to the noise and traffic the event would generate, particularly stretched over three nights. Several residents said that one night wouldn’t be so much of a disruption. Jacoby said that having an event of this scale for only one night would not generate enough revenue to make it worthwhile. Camping was planned for the event, and neighbors expressed concerns Continued on Page 3A
Photos (2) by Richard L. Gaw
Haley Allen of Goldie Flowers shows off colors for a bright fall afternoon.
The llamas made their annual appearance at the fair.
By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer Despite an inclement afternoon that swept through Chester County this past Sunday, spirits were far from dampened at the annual Unionville Community
6,000 in Chester County benefit from 2012 executive action
Kennett Borough Mayor speaks out on behalf of DACA recipients By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer
Timeless art at Bookplace ...8B
INDEX Opinion.......................7A Calendar of Events......8A Education....................2B Obituaries...................4B Classifieds..................6B
© 2007 The Chester County Press
60 Cents
In June, students at the Greenwood Elementary School sent letters to Kennett Square Borough Mayor Matt Fetick, as part of a letter-writing campaign that gave ideas on what the mayor’s office could do to fill the students’ wish lists. Many of them wrote to Fetick, asking for more playground equipment in the town parks. Others requested that there be more activities at the Kennett Library. Six children wrote, ‘Let me stay in the United States,’ and ‘Let my parents stay in the United States.’ “When a child under the age of 10 has a concern that they or their parents may be removed from their home, and that child at that age has to be thinking about that? That bothers
me,” Fetick said on Oct. 6. “It’s not the right thing. This immigration issue is big, but we can take it in incremental steps. We can say, ‘Let’s create a pathway for everyone who is here illegally, but did not come of their own free will. That is an easy one to attack.” Fetick was less than an hour removed from joining Downingtown Mayor Josh Maxwell in condemning the current policy of the Trump administration that calls for finding a replacement for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals – or DACA – created in 2012 as an executive action by then-President Obama, that shields nearly 800,000 undocumented immigrants, including 6,000 in Chester County – who were brought to the U.S. as children, from deportation. Referring to the large Hispanic population who
live in the Kennett Square community, Fetick called the Dream Act “the best of America,” and said its passage would be extremely important for the “health of the Kennett Square community.” “Nowhere in history do we hold people accountable for the sins of their fathers,” Fetick said. “We do not hold people accountable for what other people do. Yes, it is quite possible that there are kids who now know that their family is here illegally, but when you come here as a child through your parents’ choosing, we don’t hold people accountable to that and send them back home. It is not a value that I as a lifelong Chester County resident believe in. I don’t believe this is a value that this country was built on. We hold people accountable for who they Continued on Page 3A
Fair & Farm Show last weekend, as hundreds of families, artisans, performers and livestock made their way to the Willowdale Steeplechase grounds to enjoy three days of fun, participation and discovery. A new feature this year
gave visitors tours of the raised vegetable gardens and greenhouses being run by students at the Patton Middle School, demonstrating how students are learning about sustainable gardening, how modern Continued on Page 4A
The John H. Ware IV Memorial Hunger Help Walk will benefit four local nonprofits The walk will take place this Sunday, Oct. 15 By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer The John H. Ware IV Memorial Hunger Help Walk will take place on Sunday, Oct. 15. The event will raise funds to support the work of the Avon Grove Bridge Food Pantry, the Church of God Divine Sent Food Cupboard, the Lighthouse Youth Center, and the Neighborhood Services Center, which is to provide food to families in the community. “The blessing of this fundraiser is that it supports four area agencies that have food programs,” explained Buzz Tyson, the executive director of the Lighthouse Youth Center. “The goal is to raise $15,000 from the event, and that will be divided among the four agencies.” The John H. Ware IV Memorial Hunger Help Walk is sponsored by the Oxford Area Civic Association and the Oxford Area Ministerium. Tyson explained that the event was named in memory of the late John H. Ware IV two years ago as a way to recognize all that Ware and his family have done for the community through the years. Tyson called Ware a friend, and said that he can remember a lot of times when he would visit with Ware and tell him about a particular need in the community—and then Ware would generously help Continued on Page 3A