Hamilton Post
OCTOBER 2018
COMMUNITYNEWS.ORG
Happy campers
Finding a new way to farm
Wilson Center, YMCA, township team up for water safety program
Couple hopes to rejuvenate farming, just as it has given them new purpose
By eRin kAmeL
By scott moRGAn Close your eyes and think of a farm. Was it a three-quarter-acre patch of earth on Hamilton’s border with Allentown? Because that’s what Kat Mitchell sees when she thinks of a farm. To be fair, this particular small parcel at 444 Sawmill Road in Hamilton is her farm. Well, hers and her soon-to-be husband Jay Reid’s. They don’t own the land they cultivate—it’s part of the larger Wind Dance Farm—but they do own the vision for what it could become. It’s a vision centered on community and good stewardship of the land, where pesticides are a no-no. Resilient Farms, honestly, could be an amazingly accurate name—if these two young farmers can make it work like they see it working and if they as young farmers can help rejuvenate an industry that itself is growing old on the vine. But an organic farm, founded a year and a half ago, does need to spring from seeds. Reid’s sprouted in Hamilton, where he grew up. Mitchell’s beginnings are a little more international. She was born Virginia in 1988, but in 2000 her father, a journalist for CBN News (Christian Broadcasting Network) landed a job in Israel; her parents still See FARM, Page 16
FREE
Ever y Halloween, Vince Farina turns his Moro Drive home into a spooky display. It has quickly become a family and neighborhood tradition.
Frights for free Love of Halloween inspires family to turn home into haunted house By scott moRGAn If you live in or around the unassuming neighborhood near Tally Road or Moro Drive, just off Quakerbridge Road north of Miry Run, you’re already familiar with the main character in this Halloween tale. If you don’t live in this particular residential half-circle,
fear not, this is not a grisly tale of the macabre. It’s one about a guy who, with the blessings of his wife, gives his neighborhood quite the show every time All Hallows Eve rolls around. The annual spectacle is a presentation of Vince Farina, mildmannered computer techie by day (and night), and his wife, Deb, an even more mild-mannered life coach. To get a sense of the Farina Family Frightmare, you can drop by the Facebook page of that name, where there are fangs and tombs and skeletons aplenty to show you how elaborate things
can get every Halloween at the Farina residence. But the full effect of Farina’s ghoulish productions should really be walked through to be appreciated. And he’ll let you do it, for free, because he just loves Halloween that much and gets a kick out of finding creative ways to bring the boo. You’ll know you’re in the right place when you see the Frightmaster beckon you to the Farinas’ two-car garage. And you’ll know it’s him because of the red vest, top hat, and “a $15 skeleton mask, but the best See FRIGHTS, Page 14
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The John O. Wilson Center, the Hamilton Area YMCA and Hamilton Township proved, for the second summer in a row, the power of partnership. This summer, the Wilson Center paired with the Hamilton Area YMCA to offer its 50 summer day campers, ages six to 14, free water safety and swimming lessons. Hamilton Township, meanwhile, provided transportation for campers, free of charge, between the two facilities. “It’s a whole community effort, actually,” said Angelo Hall, executive director of the John O. Wilson Center, describing the collaboration that makes the swim program possible. And the kids love it. “My favorite thing about the swimming program is that [the instructors] want us to be better at swimming,” said Olivia Ames, 12. “I wasn’t a really strong swimmer before the program started, but now I’ve learned to gain more strength while I’m in the water.” The partnership has gone so well that the two facilities have expanded their offerings to more programs for the kids. Starting in mid-July, the Wilson Center and YMCA started a new 12-week youth weight management fitness program. For this program, YMCA instructors visit the Wilson Center twice a week, to teach the kids various exercises and See CAMP, Page 12
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