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The Lady and the Shallot takes root in Campus Town
Game changer
InteRVieW By JOe EMAnsKi
The Lady and the Shallot opened in the Trenton Farmers Market in 2018 as something of a novelty: a vegan food stand at a time when there were almost no restaurants around that were committed to a completely plant-based menu. Owners Kate Wnek and Francesca Avitto spent seven years at the farmers market, building up a base of loyal customers. While there they have also witnessed the growth of the vegan dining market, including other stands within the farmers market. So successful has The Lady and the Shallot been that Wnek and Avitto are making the leap to a tradi-
tional bricks-and-mortar restaurant spot. The new location is in Campus Town, the mixed commercial and residential zone on the campus of The College of New Jersey in Ewing. The new sitdown restaurant is set to open in December, offering all of The Lady and the Shallot’s familiar favorite dishes as well as some new ones. When it comes to running The Lady and the Shallot, Kate and Francesca say they share responsibilities about as equally as any partners can. They both create the menus and recipes, prep, cook, and work the register. At the same time, they say, they do have different See RESTAURANT, Page 10
Finding the perfect Christmas tree: A tradition born in Mercer County By BIll SAnseRVinO
Kenneth Rankin, above, along with fellow Ewing High School graduates Darnelle Forrest and Naire Preston are helping to turn around the Centenary University men’s basketball team. For more on the three, see Page 17.
For New Jersey’s many tree farms, the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas bring the crowds they work toward all year — people who come not just to buy a tree, but to take part in something that feels like the official start of the season. What many don’t know is that Mercer County has bragging rights when it comes to this tradition. The first commercial Christmas tree farm in the United States took root in Hamilton Township, where William V. McGalliard began planting Norway spruces in 1901. Hoping to turn rocky farmland into profit, he instead helped spark a holiday custom that swept
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the nation. He planted 25,000 spruce seedlings and 5,000 saplings from Charles Black of Hightstown. When the first trees matured around 1907, McGalliard sold them for $1 each, long before choosing a tree became the family-centered excursion we know today. Born in 1857, McGalliard spent his life in White Horse, where he farmed, served on local boards, and built the town’s water works. His blend of entrepreneurship and public service helped transform his community, and his unlikely gamble on Christmas trees grew into a nationwide industry. Though his farm is now the site of Kingston See TREES, Page 4
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