Out & About Magazine - July 2021 - Worth Trying

Special Section: Summer on the Riverfront

Will People Come Back to the Movies?

TRYING

ISSUE

Dogfish's Sam Calagione Talks Off-Centered Ventures

We heard it f rom a bird that you should check out the stuff inside

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2 INSIDE 2

Out & About Magazine Vol. 34 | No. 5

START

13

7 From the Publisher 9 War on Words 11 FYI 13 The Original Coloure Collective

FOCUS 16-19 Worth Trying

EAT

16

20 Three’s Company 25-27 Worth Trying

Published each month

by TSN Media, Inc. All rights reserved.

Contact@TSNPub.com Wilmington, DE 19801

DRINK 29 Two Sams 37 Worth Trying

Publisher Gerald duPhily • jduphily@tsnpub.com Director of Publications Jim Hunter Miller • jmiller@tsnpub.com

WATCH 39 Soul of Summer Revisits History

20

41 Will People Go Back to the Movies?

Contributing Editor Bob Yearick • ryearick@comcast.net Creative Director & Production Manager Matthew Loeb, Catalyst Visuals, LLC

PLAY 43-45 Worth Trying 48 Fill in the Blanks

Digital Services Director Michael O’Brian Contributing Designer Allanna Peck, Catalyst Visuals, LLC,

WILMINGTON 46 In the City 49 Summer on the Riverfront

Contributing Writers Jill Althouse-Wood, Danielle Bouchat-Friedman Adriana Camacho-Church, JulieAnne Cross, David Ferguson, Mark Fields, Pam George, Lauren Golt, Jordan Howell, Michelle Kramer-Fitzgerald, Ken Mammarella, Matt Morrissette, John Murray, Larry Nagengast, Kevin Noonan, Leeann Wallett

Contributing Photographers Jim Coarse, Justin Heyes and Joe del Tufo/Moonloop Photography, Butch Comegys, Lindsay duPhily, Matthew Loeb, Matt Urban Special Projects John Holton, Bev Zimmermann

49

Cover illustration by Matthew Loeb

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I AM POETRY I AM

Christian Wills INdependent Artist

Events & More

inWilmDE.com

START

From The Publisher

AN ISSUE WORTH READING

W

elcome to our 11th annual Worth Trying Issue.

As I have stated before, this is not a “Best Of.” Nor is it the overused “Top 10” list.

While such approaches are easy to digest, they are often a bit presumptuous. They are also frequently self-serving for the entity creating the accolade.

Out & About’s Worth Trying suggestions are just that, suggestions. We simply ask our staff and contributors to make a few recommendations — no strings attached — that we can share with readers. The contributors’ names are attached to their suggestions, which I like because it provides a measure of accountability.

In total, you have recommendations from 20 contributors represented on Worth Trying pages positioned throughout this issue. I hope a few pique your interest. Maybe even motivate you to get out and about.

Speaking of things worth trying, this issue feels like a timely one to share a few personal thoughts on collective behavior. I can’t be the only one who feels I’m peppered daily with stories regarding our destruction of the planet? It’s a bit overwhelming; these are not problems a single person can fix.

Or are they?

Individual acts of neglect over time have helped get us into this predicament, so why can’t they help get us out?

Plus, small acts of positivity are not only doable, they are easier to repeat and therefore become habit.

Years ago, I wouldn’t have thought twice about running water while brushing my teeth. Now, I make a habit of turning it off while brushing. Pretty simple gesture, yet imagine how much water that saves over the course of a single lifetime. Now multiply that by a million lifetimes.

No, I can’t singlehandedly reverse overfishing of the oceans, but I can cut down on my consumption of fresh fish.

Get enough individuals cutting down on fresh fish and you cut down the incentive to overfish. (Notice I did not suggest eliminating eating fish.)

Same goes for the societal environment. Little acts of open-mindedness can have a big impact. Can’t learn much when you’re doing all of the talking.

In that spirit, following are a few small things I’m attempting to make a habit. They are very manageable . . . and definitely worth trying.

Individual acts

of neglect over

• Adding a new conservation behavior to my daily routine at least twice a year (The latest is attempting to bring my own bag when shopping, or turning down the bag at purchase.)

• Tuning into a different news source at least once per week • Cutting back on eating meat at least two days per week • Working to break my habit of interrupting others (Not easy, but I’m improving.)

• Identifying a new thing to recycle at least once every six months • Reading a new book each month (Currently I’m three months behind.)

• Having more conversations with people not my skin color (Without question, the most enlightening endeavor on this list.)

time have helped get us into this

predicament, so why can't they

help get us out?

I know what you’re thinking, no revelations here. These are simple and rather obvious.

Exactly.

— Jerry duPhily

JULY 2021 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM

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It's Time to G.O.A.T. (Get Out Around Town) and have some fun this summer!

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8 J ULY 2021 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM

Visit our website for a full list of events (scan that QR code below)! For updates and exclusive, behind the scenes content showcasing all the amazing things coming your way, be sure to follow It's Time Wilmington on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok (@itstimewilmde).

GOOD TIMES (AND GOOD VIBES) REQUIRED

START

A writer/editor’s slightly snarky and relentless crusade to eliminate grammatical gaffes from our everyday communications

Compiled from the popular column in Out & About Magazine

THE WAR ON WORDS A monthly column in which we attempt, however futilely, to defend the English language against misuse and abuse

DEPARTMENT OF REDUNDANCIES DEPT. Turning over most of this section to readers, I give you . . .

Luann Haney, multiple winner of “War” contests, who offers this from an obituary in the Williamsport (Pa.) Sun-Gazette: “She is predeceased in death by her husband.”

Uber-journalist Larry Nagengast, who spotted this one by Matthew Prensky of the Salisbury Daily Times, in a story about President Biden’s visit to Rehoboth: “[businesses] will have to follow strict rules that must be followed." Larry says this falls under the “Do I make myself clear?”category.

Larry Kerchner, another multiple winner in our contests, who notes that, in a TV show titled Air Disasters, an aviation expert declared that a crash had resulted in “a fatal loss of life.” As Larry points out, there are no non-fatal losses of life.

And finally, long-time reader Debbie Layton, who caught this by columnist Noella Sudbury, in Delawareonline: “But as people begin to re-enter the workforce again . . .”

And here are a couple from your columnist: • Jeff Zillgitt, USA TODAY sportswriter: “[Tim] Duncan provided leadership, establishing an ethos that permeated throughout the organization.” Permeate: to spread throughout (something); pervade.

• The excellent new film The Courier is introduced with these words: “In 1960, the world was on the verge of imminent destruction.” There are two choices here: “. . . the world was on the verge of destruction,” or “. . . the world faced imminent destruction.”

By Bob Yearick

• Another reader says TNJ reported that a man "died Easter Sunday on what would have been he and his wife's wedding anniversary.”

That should be the possessive his.

• From the website of the National Council of Space Grant Directors: “The projects run the gambit of NASA's missions . . .” That’s gamut — range, scope. Gambit is a ploy, strategy, or scheme.

• Basketball legend Michael Jordan, in a speech during ceremonies honoring the late Kobe Bryant: “People always talked about comparisons between he and I.” Mike went 0 for 2 here. The preposition between takes objective pronouns – him and me.

• A reader sends this strange word combination from an article in Delaware Today titled “Coastal Dining”: “. . . the restaurant is approved to extend seating into the parking lot this summer to serve as many guests as possible while still abiding to COVID-19 protocols.” The writer should have chosen abiding by or adhering to.

• Phillies radio play-by-play guy Scott Franzke is one of the best, but when the netting behind home play collapsed during a June game, he referred to the guide wires holding up the netting.

Strange as it sounds, those are guy wires.

DISORIENTED A reader reports that new employees at her workplace receive orientation, after which they often say they have been orientated. This a back formation from orientation and is sometimes used humorously, but they would be better served to say “I received orientation.”

MEDIA WATCH

CHANGING EXPRESSIONS

• Headline from The News Journal: “Wilmington's inner-city Sinatra singer just landed on national TV. He could care less.” So he in fact could care. As noted here numerous times, it’s “couldn’t care less.”

• Reader Mimi Gregor caught this in TNJ: “For some, ditching their masks when the new rules went into effect Friday signified the beginning of the end of the pandemic and brought a feeling of normalcy that had alluded them for months.” To allude is to refer to or mention. The word needed here is eluded (escaped, evaded).

Last month, we discussed whether “best foot forward” shouldn’t be “better foot forward,” since we have only two feet. This month we’re wondering about the expression “in the worst way,” which sounds like a negative but always expresses a positive. E.g., “He wants to win in the worst way.” Why not “in the best way”? Sometimes the expression becomes a bit ironic. Take the case of the Green Bay Packers, who have done little to placate disgruntled quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Packers Head Coach Matt LaFleur recently said the team “wants Aaron Rodgers back in the worst way.” Subliminal message there, Matt?

Word of the Month

alterity Pronounced al-TER-uh-tee, it’s a noun meaning otherness: the state or quality of being other or different.

Follow me on Twitter: @thewaronwords

NEED A SPEAKER FOR YOUR ORGANIZATION? Contact me for a fun presentation on grammar: ryearick@comcast.net.

Buy The War on Words book at the Hockessin Book Shelf (hockessinbookshelf.com) or call me at 302-482-3737.

10 J ULY 2021 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM

START Things worth knowing

SALUTE TO DELAWARE CRAFT PRODUCERS

T

he 11th annual Delaware Beer, Wine & Spirits Festival returns to the Delaware Agricultural Museum & Village in Dover on Sat., Aug. 28 from 4–7:30pm. The event is the only statewide festival for the state’s craft alcohol industry and features every producer on the Delaware Beer, Wine & Spirits Trail. Admission is limited to 500 with VIP options. Visit DeBeerWineSpirits.com.

DELAWARE HUMANE AND SPCA TO MERGE

T

wo non-profit, no-kill agencies sharing complementary missions to support animals and people in Delaware and the greater region have agreed to merge. The Delaware Humane Association (DHA) and Delaware SPCA hope to complete the merger by this fall and create an organization that provides greater access to programs and services and results in a deeper positive impact. Operations will continue at each organization’s current locations in Wilmington, Stanton/Newark, and Rehoboth Beach. For more on the merger, visit DelawareHumane.org or DelSPCA.org.

A CELEBRATION OF BLACK JOY AT DTC

T

he Whitney Project presents A Celebration of Black Joy at the Delaware Theatre Company July 13–17 as part of the Take 2! series. The show features singers Jea Street, Jr., and Nadjah Nicole (finalist on The Voice) and is executive produced by storyteller TAHIRA. Through storytelling and music, the production celebrates the joy that can be found in the lives of people of color throughout their history in America. The shows are outside in the DTC parking lot and are available in "boxes" of two or four people.

Visit DelawareTheatre.org.

A GRAND NEW SEASON

T

he Grand will resume indoor performances on Sept. 26 with a comedy show by Brian Regan at Copeland Hall. It will be the first indoor show at the Wilmington performing arts center in more than a year. Other performers scheduled for October include comedians Theo Von, Lewis Black and David Sedaris and musical acts Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox and The Temptations. Presale tickets went on sale in June with tickets to the general public available July 6 at 10am. The Grand plans to announce its Broadway in Wilmington series at The Playhouse sometime this month. Visit TheGrandWilmington.org.

BRANDYWINE VILLAGE MARKET IS BACK

T

he Fourth Annual Brandywine Village Market returns to Brandywine Mills Plaza at 19th & Market streets on Tuesday evenings beginning July 13 and continuing through Sept. 28. You can purchase fresh produce, enjoy musical entertainment, visit local vendors, and have dinner along with beer or wine. Hours are 5–7:30pm with no rain date. Visit BrandywinePartners.org.

WEIGH IN ON DELAWARE NATURE SOCIETY

T

he Delaware Nature Society is looking for public feedback — from what programs you enjoy to how the organization can help you better connect with nature. All those who take the survey are eligible to win a $100 Amazon gift card.

Visit DelawareNatureSociety.org.

CLIFFORD BROWN JAZZ FESTIVAL RETURNS

T

he 34th Annual Clifford Brown Jazz Festival returns to Rodney Square August 4–8. The festival remains free and open to the public, and the organizers will follow whatever COVID-19 restrictions are in place at that time. The lineup of performers is to be announced. Sunday, Aug. 8, features a dance program in partnership with the Delaware Art Museum that will also include the Boysie Lowery Living Jazz Residency graduates’ concert. Visit CityFestWilm.com.

NEXT FAB WEBINARS

N

extFab, which offers mentoring for creators, entrepreneurs and artisans in Wilmington and Philadelphia, has a series of new webinars scheduled. Make it Better: Adobe at Home Webinar is scheduled for July 11 at 1pm. Build a Viable Business with NextFab’s Artisans Accelerator is Aug. 12 at 1pm. And How to Sell Craft Fairs and Markets is set for Aug. 26 at 1pm. To register visit NextFab.com.

JULY 2021 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM 11

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START

Sara Crawford and André Wright, Jr. at a recent art opening they hosted at MKT Place Gallery in downtown Wilmington. Photo by Butch Comegys

Creative Solution The Original Coloure Collective hopes to empower minority small businesses through photography

By Jill Althouse-Wood

C

reative people have a reputation for being quirky — living on the edge, introducing design trends and art movements considered “out there” by some.

That may be a fair assessment, but other characteristics of creative people include ingenuity and the ability to solve problems. Fashion designer/stylist Sara Crawford and photographer André Wright, Jr. are two such creatives who are using their unique vision to solve some of the problems brought about by the pandemic.

At her day job as program director at the Women’s Business Center at True Access Capital, Crawford was able to see firsthand the devastating effects COVID-19 was having on small businesses. In January, Wright came to Crawford and asked her to work with him on some editorial photo shoots to promote Black artists and minority small businesses — groups that carried a deeper burden of the pandemic’s economic downturn. ►

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CREATIVE SOLUTION

continued from previous page Crawford understood the necessity of lifting up small minority-owned businesses, not just because the moment called for it, but also because of her roots in Wilmington. Her uncle was the first African American printer in Wilmington, and her grandfather owned small businesses on Wilmington’s East Side. She agreed immediately to Wright’s plan, and The Original Coloure Collective was born.

Crawford gets excited when she talks of the venture.

“Here in Wilmington, we want to create a better place to live, to cohabitate in,” she said. “A place that will sustain us. This project is important because we are learning how to come together for the common goals to grow business and sow unity. There are so many things happening right now that are just dividing us. I think it is most important that we are working together. That’s where our story started.”

Why harness the power of photo shoots? Crawford explains: “It is a different way going about promoting these businesses. We are looking at it from the visual, digital, virtual space aspect, and what businesses and solo-preneurs need right now is to be able to communicate and engage with their tribes. We are doing press releases, pitching to magazines, bloggers, and media outlets so they can get maximum exposure. We also share the photos with the individuals so they can use them within their business and social media content. On the back end, we have a full social media directive with content that everyone who signs up on the project follows.”

Together, Crawford and Wright come up with a vision for each photo shoot. They work from a list of businesses and individuals, research to determine which businesses fit and would benefit from their vision, then reach out to the businesses.

Since January, they have done two such editorial shoots and are planning a third.

The concept for their next shoot is neo-soul. They will be shooting at The Cooper, a new apartment building that just opened at 210 N. Market St. They plan to utilize the architecture, the courtyard, and perhaps have a cellist on hand to set the mood.

The second group The Original Coloure Collective wants to impact is Black artists.

“We want to inspire and influence the creatives here in Delaware,” said Model Nadjah Nicole during a recent photo shoot Crawford. “The arts with The Original Coloure Collective. community has dwindled Photo André Wright, Jr.

Local artist Andrew Major, co-founder and executive creative director of Rumkake Publishing, with one of his paintings during a show at MKT Place Gallery. Photo by Butch Comegys

due to COVID, and we want to be a part of building that back up because arts are really important to our community — to our story. We want to show them that you still can be a business in Wilmington. Still be sustainable. You can still be creative.”

To that end, The Original Coloure Collective will be collaborating on artist installations. Their first one, entitled The Rumkake Universe, took place Friday in early June at MKT Gallery and featured the comic book style of wwz Collective member Andrew Major.

Now that the collective has a few events under their belt, they are hoping to reach back out to the businesses that have participated and ask if there was an influx of business after they helped promote them. The goal is to create a measurable level of impact with businesses as well as with artists.

Vanetta Springer, of V Class Makeup Artistry, worked as a make-up artist on the first two shoots. Springer said that since that experience, “traffic to on my website has increased more than 40%. I am completely booked every weekend for the next two months with weddings.

I appreciate the opportunity I got to work with the collective.”

As their reach grows, The Original Coloure Collective hopes to scale up in terms of members.

“I don’t want to call it a production team because I don’t think that is what we are,” Crawford says. “I think of ourselves as brand architects. We are all about building up our community.”

— Follow the Original Coloure Collective @theoriginalcolourecollective

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FOCUS THE COMIC BOOK SHOP

TRYING

This is geek paradise, since comic book lovers still favor print over digital. It was established in 1989 and Sarah and Patrick Titus have owned and operated the shop at 1885 Marsh Road in North Wilmington since 2010. There are plenty of comic books, of course, highlighted by the heavyweights — Marvel, DC and anything related to Star Wars — but you can also buy action figures and statues here.

— Kevin Noonan, Contributing Writer

Welcome to our 11th annual Worth Trying Issue. Though we traditionally present this issue in January, we felt it more appropriate to delay the theme until we were operating in a less pandemic-restricted environment. This issue is devoted to personal recommendations from staff and contributors to Out & About. These suggestions on where and what to eat, drink, see and do are scattered throughout these pages, interspersed with our usual assortment of feature stories, news items and other fun stuff.

MARINI PRODUCE Fresh fruits and vegetables are worth getting excited about. Every summer I anxiously await the opening day of Marini Produce on Veale Road and from May to September I make weekly trips to stock up on corn on the cob, juicy tomatoes, and perfectly ripe cantaloupe. In recent years, they've added delicious Di Bruno Brothers cheeses, homemade baked goods, and refrigerators stocked with fresh salsa, grab-and-go salads, and so much more. But I'll be honest, the best part about visiting Marini Produce is to see Norman, the adorable pot-bellied pig who resides in the front of the farm stand.

GRAB A BOOK AND A BITE The appropriately named Reader’s Café at the Rt. 9 Library is open for curbside service from noon until 5:30pm Monday through Friday. The menu includes fresh-made lunch and dinner items including salads, soups, sandwiches, and seasonal specials.

Place your order from 10am till 5pm by calling 395-8407. Or visit the café – and the library — at 3022 New Castle Ave., New Castle. See the menu at NCCDE.org/1749/The-Readers-Café.

— Bob Yearick, Contributing Editor

16 JULY 2021 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM

— Lauren Golt, Contributing Writer

MORE THAN MUSHROOMS The quaint Southern Chester County borough of Kennett Square (Pa.) may be known as the “Mushroom Capital of the World,” but its proximity to Hockessin, Newark and Wilmington makes it an ideal destination to experience a different vibe.

State Street is idyllic and a great place to stroll, shop, dine or catch live music courtesy of Kennett Flash and Kennett Brewing Company. The Creamery and Victory Brewing Company have expanded the footprint of gathering places beyond State Street (Kennett’s Main St). And the non-profit Historic Kennett Square has done a fantastic job of planning community events year-round — from art strolls to dining in the streets. Visit HistoricKennettSquare.com.

— Jerry duPhily, Publisher

JESTER ARTSPACE Brush up on your painting or learn how to make great videos on your cellphone this summer while getting to know more about north Wilmington’s newest art collaborative, the Jester Artspace, which is a couple of months away from moving into its new digs, the old Jester Farmhouse on Grubb Road.

While work on the interior continues, the Artspace team is hosting a pair of free events in Brandywine Hundred. Alan Baseden, head of the Artspace board, will lead the video workshop from 9 a.m. to noon on July 17. An outdoor sketch event, with a costumed model holding a pose for 20 minutes at a time, is planned for July 24 from 10 a.m. to noon. Location for both events had not been determined as of press time.

Anyone wanting to give gouache painting a try can sign up for two workshops ($40 each) on Aug. 21 and 28 from 9 a.m. to noon, led by artist Charley Parker.

To learn more about the new venue, go to jesterartspace.org.

DELAWARE’S NEW MURALS Murals make up a new way to explore the state.

It’s the fifth themed concept from the Delaware Tourism Office, following trails highlighting food, drink, history and the great outdoors. The $100,000 selfie-ready project goes from Hagley Museum, north of Wilmington, down to the Delaware Botanic Gardens, near Dagsboro. Most sites are free to visit, and the state’s tourism folks really want you to partake of the attractions that host the art as well. DelawareDiscoveries.com.

— Ken Mammarella, Contributing Writer

— Larry Nagengast, Contributing Writer

FIRST STATE PRESIDENTIAL SPICE BLEND Perfect for summer grilling, Wilmington’s own Second Chance Farms has introduced a limited-edition duo of First State Presidential Spice Blends. This tasty artisan duo honors Delaware’s own President Joe Biden with “No Malarkey,” a salt-free savory seasoning, while Vice President Kamala Harris’ blend boasts a tangy mix of Indian and Jamaican flavors. Both blends are hand-mixed and packed in numbered collectable tins by returning citizens (formerly incarcerated persons). Only 2,021 sets have been produced.

Get them while they last. SecondChanceFarm.com.

— Jill Althouse-Wood, Contributing Writer

JULY 2021 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM

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VALLEY GARDEN PARK If you're a parent looking for something fun and inexpensive to do with your children, try a picnic in Valley Garden Park in Greenville. I'll grab a big blanket and fill a canvas bag with snacks, drinks, and utensils, then pick up a couple of sandwiches at Janssen’s Market on the way. Their wraps are perfect to cut up in pieces so everyone can enjoy a bite of something different. We'll pick a spot on the grass, usually near the stream which is full of small toads perfect for entertaining my sons, and enjoy our lunch. After we eat, we walk to the edge of the park, near Campbell Road, where there's a view of Hoopes Reservoir. Valley Garden Park has plenty of shaded areas, a strollerfriendly path and plenty of open space for playing catch or kicking a ball around.

— Lauren Golt, Contributing Writer

AROUND AGAIN AND AGAIN USED BOOKS There used to be several used bookstores in New Castle County, but, one by one, they fell victim to a new, technological world. Connie Maglio wouldn’t let that happen to the store at which she worked across from Graylyn Crest Shopping Center, so she took all of her books and opened her own shop at 1400 Philadelphia Pike in North Wilmington. Customers can bring their books and Connie will give them a store credit. That keeps the prices low and Connie has many loyal customers because of that. Her mission statement: “Keep Books Alive.”

MAIN STREET ALFRESCO Enjoy outdoor dining on Newark’s main thoroughfare that is closed to auto traffic on Wednesdays from 4-9pm through Sept.

29 (exception: first week of August moved to Tue, Aug. 3 to coincide with National Night Out). Restaurants such as Caffé Gelato, Home Grown Cafe, Taverna Rustic Italian, Iron Hill Brewery, Grotto Pizza and other dining venues combine to offer an eclectic menu of options, all within walking distance. Visit NewarkDE.gov/calendar for the schedule and complete list of participants.

— Michael O’Brian, Digital Services Director

— Kevin Noonan, Contributing Writer

NEWARK UNION CEMETERY Despite its name, this burial ground is nowhere near Delaware’s largest college town. It’s just off Baynard Boulevard in the heart of Brandywine Hundred and many of its headstones read like a roadmap to the history of 18th and 19th century farmland transformed into Wilmington’s most popular post-World War II piece of suburbia. Weldin, Talley, Carr, Wilson, Sharpley, Forwood, Day, Beeson and Miller — names now attached to the area’s most prominent streets, subdivisions and parks — are engraved on the stones atop many of the cemetery’s 900-plus graves.

Its history dates back to 1682, when Valentine Hollingsworth donated a half-acre of the nearly 1,000 acres he had received in a land grant from his friend, a guy named William Penn. While some 17th-century graves remain unidentified, in the Quaker tradition, others show a range of design, from plain headstones to decorative baroque shapes. Restoration of the cemetery’s stone wall plus small flags mounted on medallions on the graves of 64 military veterans of wars from the Revolution to Vietnam add to the site’s appeal. In the center of the cemetery is a plot laid out for a special veterans’ memorial due to be installed later this year. In all, it’s a pleasant place for a relaxing walk back in time.

— Larry Nagengast, Contributing Writer

RAINBOW’S EDGE Pet adoptions are at an all-time high, but senior animals are often the last to leave the shelter. Reasons are many: fancy breed adoptions can cost an arm and a leg; humans can’t bear the thought of only a few years with a pet; veterinary cost worries.

But many people will tell you that caring for a senior pet in its golden years brings a joy that is unmatched.

Plus, a frosty-fur-baby’s behaviors are likely well established: they’re usually big nappers and cuddlers.

Bust a fuzzball out of the brig! Visit Delaware Humane or window shop on Petfinder.com.

— JulieAnne Cross, Contributing Writer

18 JULY 2021 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM

OPEN EARS

HIPPO THRIFT For those of you touched by the “thrift sickness,” the nice weather and lifting of pandemic restrictions (yes, you can try on that three-dollar velour track suit now instead of rolling the dice on it fitting) means it’s time to get serious about hitting the yard and estate sales, consignment shops, and secondhand stores again.

Though each has their own circuit of shops they prefer, one diamond in the rough that deserves a slot on any north Delaware thrifter’s dance card is Hippo Thrift, located across from James Street Tavern (alcohol goes well with thrift shopping) at 1 W. Market Street in Newport. Owners Allan and Cathy Rash give the store the feel of having been curated, as if they beat you to all the best yard sales and shops and obtained the coolest knick knacks, art, furniture, records, and clothes. To boot, the prices are reasonable, and they truly live up to the phrase on their sign: a big mix of cool finds.

Quarantine made people thirsty for experiences. 2020’s limitations have given way to 2021’s excitement for being out and surrounded by people, and the last year may have changed your brain and your ears. Check out a band or a DJ you didn’t think you’d be into before the pandemic. You may have more affinity for acoustic music now that you’ve practiced sitting for months. All that sitting may mean you just want to dance, and never sit down again, so pop in for a DJ’s set. Your tolerance for loud may be higher after all those Zoom calls, so grab a front row seat at a rock show. Check out Oddity Bar bands or DJs at The Queen.

— JulieAnne Cross, Contributing Writer

— Matt Morrissette, Contributing Writer

NEW HIKING OPTION The Conservation Fund recently donated 254 acres in Delaware County to First State National Historical Park on the Delaware-Pennsylvania border — adding many new miles of trails. The added “Beaver Valley Property,” located near the Brandywine River, includes meadows and wetlands vistas made famous by painter Andrew Wyeth.

Late Summer is the perfect time to catch site of migrating butterflies like monarchs and the Tiger Swallowtail, the non-migrating state butterfly of Delaware.

— Jill Althouse-Wood, Contributing Writer

THE MARKET AT SWIGG It's always a great experience stopping at Swigg for my favorite wine, beer and spirits. But once I discovered their little "honey badger" of a meat and cheese display in the corner of the store, my visits became more frequent. Stocked with local cheese, artisan meats, tinned fish, local honey, and primo crackers, Swigg's Market corner has everything you need to complement your liquid haul. They also make custom gift baskets.

— Matthew Loeb, Creative Director JULY 2021 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM

19

Three’s Company Sleeping Bird Coffee is the latest addition to the burgeoning Miller Road Station

By Matt Morrissette

N

ow thriving in its third incarnation as Miller Road Station, the 105-year-old building across from Haynes Park in Wilmington’s Ninth Ward was the subject of great speculation during its long period of dormancy from 2000 until 2015. With its beautiful Spanish Colonial architecture and convenient location near Salesianum, the Triangle neighborhood, and the I-95 exit on Concord Pike, it seemed a foregone conclusion that someone at some point would do something with the building.

“Someone” turned out to be the owners of Talleyville Towne Shoppes on Route 202, Ralph and Rose Pepe, who purchased the building in late 2015 from the Wilmington Urban Development Grant Corporation, a governmental organization that held the property during the extended period of environmental cleanup required after the building’s prior two lives.

Constructed in 1916, the building was at first home to The Delaware Chemical Engineering Company and served as Francis du Pont’s laboratory. The property was then sold in 1946, beginning its second phase as the headquarters of the Harper-Thiel Electroplating Company, which closed its doors in 2000. The building sat vacant for almost two decades as the State of Delaware decontaminated the site. ►

20 JULY 2021 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM | InWilmDE.com

FOCUS

Above: Sleeping Bird Coffee founders Leigh Ann Tona and Zach DeLong. Below (l-r): Sal Pizzo, Danny Tumolo and Alex Petrak of La Pizzeria Metro. All photos by Joe del Tufo

JULY 2021

| OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM 21

KRESTON

THREE'S COMPANY continued from previous page

WINE & SPIRITS

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E D F O R US .

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WILMINGTON 904 Concord Avenue Wilmington, DE 19802 Tel: (302) 652-3792

KRESTONWINES.COM 22 JULY 2021 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM | InWilmDE.com

Wilmington Brew Works CEO Craig Wensell (second from left).

After more than a million dollars spent on renovations to the building and grounds, Miller Road Station opened with its first tenants, Wilmington Brew Works, in June of 2018.

Initially attracted to the location by the architecture and the possibilities for outdoor seating and activities the site offered, WBW CEO and brewer, Craig Wensell, was nonetheless pleasantly surprised by how quickly things took off.

“When we first opened, we did great business,” Wensell explains. “As a matter of fact, we blew the doors off our fiveyear-business-plan. I made a very conservative projection about our initial sales, but doing that well out of the gate wasn’t something I had anticipated.”

In September of 2019, Wilmington Brew Works was joined at Miller Road Station by La Pizzeria Metro, a new effort from Mike and Mindy Tumolo, owners of the wellloved Café Riviera in Concord Mall and the Pizzeria Pronto food truck. A symbiotic relationship formed quickly between the two businesses.

According to Mike Tumolo, the aesthetics of the property, the rapid success of WBW, and the track record of the building’s owner, made the location an obvious choice.

“I know the owners to be fair and honest people so that was the initial draw,” says Tumolo. “Obviously, the brewery does quite well and pizza being a sharable item makes it perfect for people who are hanging out and drinking beer.

We’ve been good for them, and they’ve been good for us.”

With the addition of LPM to the shopping center, WBW saw a second spurt of growth to their already loyal customer base.

“La Pizzeria Metro definitely brought some more traffic in,” Wensell says. “Pizza and beer are a natural fit! The fact that they do consistently amazing work on their pies and other food is what I would point to as the best component for the expansion in attendance of our patrons.”

As both businesses still find themselves thriving postpandemic, they’ve been joined at Miller Road Station by a new craft coffee shop with a fantastic pedigree. Sleeping Bird Coffee, a joint effort by Leigh Ann Tona (former owner of the I Don’t Give a Fork food truck) and her real-life partner, Zach

DeLong (former proprietor of the Scission Espresso truck which is now Sleeping Bird’s truck), opened in the spring of 2021.

Despite feeling gratitude for the success and longevity of the I Don’t Give a Fork food truck, Tona was eager and ready to move on Tona and DeLong have been a welcomed addition to a new challenge. to MIller Road Station with Sleeping Bird Coffee.

“I had done the food truck for eight and a half years, and I was tired of feeling like I didn’t have a home base” Tona says. “It was a great business in terms of freedom (for the most part), and it was lucrative. However, I was tired of driving everywhere all the time and being outside in the elements.”

According to Tona, it was being fans and patrons of Wilmington Brew Works and La Pizzeria Metro, mixed with a bit of serendipity, that brought them to Miller Road Station.

“Zach and I found the coffee shop location by accident,” Tona explains. “We love Wilmington Brew Works and La Pizzeria Metro and asked the owner of LPM what they thought about a coffee shop at the shopping center while we were eating there (we knew each other through food trucks).

He said the landlord was looking for people to run a coffee shop so we really got lucky there.

“We met with the landlord originally in August of 2019 and signed the lease in September of 2020. We are very appreciative of LPM and WBW's success, and we would not have chosen the location without them being there. They paved the way for Miller Road Station, us, and the success of everyone.”

Still new to the neighborhood, Sleeping Bird’s offerings of craft coffee, pastries, breakfast toasts and sandwiches, salads, wraps, and even soft serve ice cream on the weekends are still being discovered by locals.

“Most of our original business was followers of Zach’s truck, but every day we get new people coming into the shop and asking when we opened because they’re from the neighborhood and never noticed a coffee shop,” says Tona.

As construction continues along the stretch of Miller Road near Miller Road Station, the Ninth Ward appears poised to become a desired site for new local business and one of Wilmington’s new and hip “places to be.” And if the seemingly always packed parking lot and the sea of happy faces spilling out of Wilmington Brew Works, La Pizzeria Metro, and Sleeping Bird Coffee are any indicators, the future looks bright and tastes delicious.

JULY 2021

| OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM

23

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PHO BAMI If you’ve never experienced the simple yet exotic pleasure of the Vietnamese hoagie called a báhn mí, then get yourself to this unassuming storefront restaurant in Fairfax. There are plenty of delightful dishes on the menu including pho (beef noodle soup) and bún (meat and vegetable served over rice vermicelli noodles and lettuce), but I rarely get past #181 on their extensive menu, báhn mí with wonderfully tender and flavorful grilled pork. The hoagie features meat plus several toppings (pickled daikon radish, cucumber, carrot, jalapenos, and cilantro), served on a soft Vietnames wheat baguette.

— Mark Fields, Contributing Writer

SWEET LUCY’S For a true double dip in desserts, try this twofer under one roof on Concord Pike — a cone or a sundae at Sweet Lucy’s Ice Cream & Treats, topped with a Cajun-Sno New Orleans-style sno ball.

Meg Hurst and her husband Dan own both businesses. They started Cajun-Sno with a single truck in 2013. They’ve got two trucks now and they also sell their shaved-ice specialties alongside more than two dozen varieties of ice cream from Woodside Farms, Hy-Point Dairy, Frozen Farmer and Hershey’s at Sweet Lucy’s, which they purchased two years ago.

With juices made from scratch drizzled over ice, it’s easy to mix multiple flavors and create a rainbow of colors in a single snocone. (Sugar-free varieties are available too.) The selection of ice cream flavors may well be the best in the region. And don’t forget to check out the ice cream cakes — made from scratch and made to order.

— Larry Nagengast, Contributing Writer

BURGERS BY WILDWICH While you were slogging your way through the pandemic, the “Best Burger in Town” debate was quietly settled by Mike Stanley’s Burgers

by Wildwich food truck. After a run of bad luck (one failed downtown Wilmington location, another location decimated by the pandemic, and the theft and damaging of his prior food truck), Stanley purchased the wellknown I Don’t Give a Fork truck and returned to his food truck roots.

Located at the corner of Concord Pike and Sharpley Road, the truck delivers perfect burgers cooked flattop-style, fries that are devastating, loaded or not, and perfectly balanced scratch sauces. The totality of these modest elements is nothing short of transcendent.

You can find Burgers by Wildwich at their usual location Tuesday through Friday from 11:30am to 7:30pm, and on the road at breweries, community pools, and food truck events all over the state on the weekends.

— Matt Morrissette, Contributing Writer

STU & SAMMY’S CHICKEN CUTLET SANDWICH

CURRY & COCKTAILS Indian restaurants are often mom-and-pop shops with lunchtime buffets. Curry & Cocktails, however, is shaking things up. The Middletown eatery touts fine cuisine and an upscale ambiance. While some selections are over $20, the bulk is less than $19.

— Pam George, Contributing Writer

The wonderful thing about Wilmington’s food hall, DE.CO, is that the variety of high-end options can satisfy almost anyone’s tastes, even on a modest budget. The brainchild of Makers Alley chef James Sparks, Stu & Sammy’s is one of the more recent additions to the group of eight culinary vendors.

And what a wonderful addition it is.

Boasting delicious slow-baked wings and an array of deli sandwiches, Stu & Sammy’s is also home to their champ of a chicken cutlet. Simply put, it’s a masterful combination of lightly fried chicken breast, prosciutto, sharp and mild provolone, broccoli rabe, and roasted reds — all on a soft but hearty roll coated with marinara.

They describe their fare as “comfort food,” so get ready to settle in and enjoy the best chicken cutlet sandwich in town. Visit DecoWilmington.com.

— Jim Miller, Director of Publications JULY 2021 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM

25

TRYING WILD FLOUR BAKERY

— Leeann Wallett, Contributing Writer

NAAMANS PIZZERIA Thanks to a FB group touting local takeout, many discovered Naamans Pizzeria (3100 Naamans Road) across from Target in North Wilmington. The hidden gem, which has no website, makes killer chicken cheesesteaks, gyros and Greek salads. Portions are generous, and the family-run business has been known to throw in complimentary fries.

— Pam George, Contributing Writer

LA PIZZERIA METRO

Photo Joe del Tufo

Think traditional brick-oven style with a modern-day twist. La Pizzeria Metro brings the best in hand-crafted, wood-fired pizza to Wilmington's local residential neighborhoods just north on Miller Road. Connected to Wilmington Brew Works and now Sleeping Bird Coffee, Metro can be enjoyed for lunch and dinner any day of the week.

— Michael O’Brian, Director of Digital Services

Photo Joe del Tufo

When my favorite local bakery closed at the beginning of the pandemic, I had a small panic attack. Where would I get my bread and baked goods? I don't remember the exact time or place when I first heard about Wild Flour Bakery, but it came to me at a time when all I wanted was a good loaf of bread or pastry to wait out this pandemic.

Wild Flour Bakery is a family-owned bakery run by Nishon and Laura Yaghoobian that sells a plethora of tasty baked goods and breads. It even provides free delivery on Wednesdays to local North Wilmington addresses (put in your order before midday Tuesday). Laura makes all the local deliveries so be sure to say "hi."

Ordering is as simple as clicking on the beautiful product photos in its online store at wildflourbakery. net/shop. My favorites include the challah onion and poppy seed buns for mini sliders; sourdough for my morning toast; and the carrot cake squares that are my midday pick-me-up. If you'd rather bake-yourown, Wild Flour also sells active dry yeast and two different types of flour.

E AT

SLEEPING BIRD COFFEE Biscuits and lattes from the Sleeping Bird coffee truck (previously known as Scission Coffee) were something to look forward to every weekend during the pandemic. But now they can be enjoyed every day since they opened their shop this spring. Located at Miller Road Station in Wilmington (between La Pizzeria Metro and Wilmington Brew Works), Sleeping Bird is open Tuesday-Sunday for breakfast and lunch and is the perfect addition to the Ninth Ward neighborhood. Along with their popular maple biscuits (seriously good), they offer breakfast sandwiches and toasts (the Strawberry Toast with brûléed brie and balsamic is a must-try), and sandwiches and salads for lunch, as well as several unique lattes. On weekends, they offer cinnamon buns…but act fast as they fly out of the shop.

— Amy Watson-Bish, Special Projects

SIW MEALS TO GO A produce stand deserves attention when it counts chefs among the customers. Last year, SIW in Chadds Ford (4317 Creek Road) took it a step further with weekly meal pickups, and they are back in 2021. Prepared

by Gerald Allen and Natalie Eguez, dinner for two has featured pulled pork with rolls, potato salad, coleslaw, cucumber salad, and pickled veggies. Visit SIW-vegetables.blogspot.com for upcoming menus.

— Pam George, Contributing Writer JULY 2021 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM

27

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The Two

Sams

Two years after the merger with Sam Adams, Dogfish’s Sam Calagione talks about off-centered ventures and adventures and the release of a new book

Samuel Adams founder Jim Koch and Dogfish Head founder Sam Calagione are now operating as a dynamic duo.

By Jim Miller

Photos courtesy Dogfish Head Craft Brewery

A

s a co-founder of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery — and as its primary spokesperson for 26 years — Sam Calagione is a figure who truly needs little introduction in a local magazine like Out & About. Whether you are talking to the governor of the state or the bartender at your local pub, everyone seems to have a “Sam story.”

Yet there always seems to be something new to talk about regarding Calagione and his “little brewery that could.” That’s because Dogfish never stops taking outlandish risks in its quest to make off-centered beer (or spirits), and Calagione has never lost his exuberance for brewing and talking about beer.

A little over two years ago — May 9, 2019, to be exact — there truly was “something new to talk about”: The Boston Beer Company, the famed home of Samuel Adams Boston Lager, had acquired Dogfish,

Delaware’s first and most successful craft brewery, for $200 million.

It was the biggest story in the craft beer industry, and many questions and hot gossip ensued. But the primary concern was: How much would things change?

The answer to that question requires some perspective. In 1995, when Calagione started Dogfish, he was scrappy and fresh-faced, right out of college, intent on starting something new and exciting in a budding craft beer industry that totaled only about 600 players coast to coast.

Today, that number has multiplied to more than 8,700 craft breweries, among which Boston Beer is the second biggest in terms of overall beer sales. And Boston Beer’s second biggest non-institutional owners?

As a result of the 2019 merger, Calagione and his wife and business partner, Mariah.

So, yes, things change. ►

JULY 2021

| OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM 29

THE TWO SAMS continued from previous page

Other changes since the merger include a vast reinvestment in brewing equipment and properties, including the addition of the company’s latest brewpub, Dogfish Head Miami, which, like its sister pubs, holds off-centered events like “Waffle Party Vinyl Brunch.”

But as Sam was quick to point out during an Out & About interview last month, not much has changed regarding the core principles at Dogfish: They are still making off-centered beers just as they were 26 years ago. If anything, Calagione says, the merger has created a learning opportunity on both sides. Two craft entities sharing their distinct “Sam-ness.”

The timing of the interview is good for another reason other than the two years to reflect on the merger: Calagione has a new retrospective book coming out soon called The Dogfish Head Book: 25 Years of Off-Centered Adventures, which he co-wrote with Mariah and longtime Dogfish co-worker Andrew Greeley.

So here’s Calagione speaking about the past, present and future adventures of Dogfish:

O&A: In 2019 when it was announced that Dogfish would be merging with Sam Adams, it had everybody talking. Huge news. Two years later, from your view viewpoint, how has this merger worked?

Sam Calagione has co-authored a new book with his wife Mariah and long-time Dogfish Head colleague Andrew Greeley.

30 JULY 2021 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM

| InWilmDE.com

Calagione: It’s worked really well. Jim Koch — co-founder of Sam Adams, the Boston Beer Company — and I have been friends for

Mariah and Sam Calagione outside the new Miami taproom, Dogfish Head Miami.

over two decades.

I was the chairman of the board of the Brewers Association, which is the trade group that represents the vast majority of the now over-8000 American indie craft breweries. And as a fellow indie craft brewery owner, Jim Koch was on that board with me.

We became great friends; we did collaborative beers together.

And we could just tell — Mariah and I — when we hung out with him and his co-workers, that it was just a really similar vibe to our company culture, meaning “people first, product second,” a love for innovation, and a love for pushing ideas outside the box, whether it was beer, spirits, or hotels or seltzers.

So we shared all of that, aligned our forces, and away we went!

Our collective company, Boston Beer, grew double digits last year. We’ve invested more and more in our Delaware properties since the merger, [creating] dozens more jobs in Delaware, [investing] millions of dollars in more expansion in our breweries, and, as of a month ago, even opened Dogfish Head Miami.

So, I’d say the ride has been intense and fun!

O&A: Both companies have been staunch supporters of the craft beer industry, but the personality of each is a little different. Also, the founders — you and Jim Koch — have two different personalities. Can you tell me a little bit more about that friendship with Jim Koch?

Calagione: Well, I think we’re complementary. And there are actually lots of leaders in our midst: David Burwick, our CEO [of Boston Beer Company]; Mariah Calagione, my co-founder, and now a very important leader as well at the Boston Beer Company.

We all kind of have our unique and complementary superpowers.

And I guess like you said, we are a little different than each other.

I started out of college as an English major and went from waiting tables to opening this culinary-centric, off-centered brewery, whereas Jim got his multiple degrees at Harvard and worked for a short time as a business consultant. So, yes, he comes from the more buttoned-up beer world, but he grew up in a family of brew-masters in Ohio and [became] a homebrewer.

We both essentially started with a homebrewers’ passion. And now we’re just kind of homebrewing on a much larger scale. ►

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THE TWO SAMS continued from previous page

O&A: What are you most proud of when you look back on your career, you being a pioneer in the craft beer industry?

Calagione: Oh, well, that’s easy. We have a book coming out [The Dogfish Head Book: 25 Years of Off-Centered Adventures] – Mariah, myself, and Andrew Greeley. I want to give him mad props — [he] runs the Dogfish Hotel and is a fellow recovering English major. The three of us, with the help of our co-workers, wrote a book celebrating the first 25 years of Dogfish Head [focusing on] all the brand building, locations, different products that we released, our projects, and collaborations.

And, to your question, if there’s one thing, it’s that when Dogfish opened as the smallest commercial brewery here in the first state, there were no other breweries in America that were committed to making the majority of their beers incorporating culinary ingredients into their recipes — whether it was peaches from Fifer Orchards [in CamdenWyoming, Del.] or coffee from a little roastery on Second Street in Lewes.

Right out of the gates, we were collaborating with other entrepreneurs inside and outside of Delaware from the food sector to do these culinary-inspired beers. And from the mid-‘90s, when we started doing that, through the early 2000s, we mostly got made fun of — or people would get mad at us for screwing with the tradition, the holy tradition, of sticking to classic beer styles that only have water, yeast, hops and barley.

But flashforward to today and look at the amazing diversity of breweries across the country that are making fruited sours and chocolate stouts and pastry stouts. It’s awesome to watch this creativity explode globally, and Dogfish is really proud of how early we decided to make that the centerpiece of our philosophy of brewing and our company’s mission.

O&A: Yeah, you guys were really like farm-to-table before farm-to-table became a thing. I mean, in the brewing sense.

Calagione: You’re totally right. It was just starting to go off in the culinary world [when Dogfish started]. In that era, they were called microbreweries, not craft breweries.

When I wrote my business plan right out of college, I wrote it in the New York City Public Library. I really studied the work of what Alice Waters, a chef on the West Coast, was doing, and James Beard, the famous food-educator from the from the East Coast. [They had] similar messages, which is: “America grows world-class agricultural goods.

Let’s stop genuflecting to European culinary traditions. And let’s create our own creative culinary tradition in America.”

I took that philosophy and kind of brought it into the commercial brewing landscape.

O&A: When you got started, you attempted to sail across the Delaware Bay in a rowboat with a six-pack of your own beer to deliver to Cape May. Since then, you’ve done everything from honor the Grateful Dead with beer to actually going to tombs where there were dead people to reverse-engineer beers with the Ancient Ales series.

You’ve done all sorts of off-centered things. What do you feel was the most successfully off-centered thing you’ve accomplished so far?

Calagione: Oh, that’s a great question. The most successfully offcentered thing was to make it not absurd, but actually exciting for today’s beer consumers to learn of a new beer that has an ingredient that's never been commercially brewed with before. Because in the early part of my career, there was just a lot of resistance and doubt and surprise.

For example, yesterday I was chatting with Dave Vitella, one of the founders of the great Surf Bagel, down in Lewes. Surf Bagel and our company [were led by] Bryan Selders, who runs brewing in our Rehoboth location. We’re brewing this fundraiser beer for the Delaware Brewers Guild and crushing up pumpernickel bagels into that beer as we made it, while Dave was taking brewing ingredients and making a custom Dogfish bagel out of it.

It’s just really heartwarming that, now in 2021, that’s just fun and exciting — and we don’t have to explain that we’re deconstructing what beer means and we’re playing outside of modern stylistic guidelines. It’s just part of this culture of experimentation.

And it’s also been great to watch other breweries and wineries and distilleries in our state thrive and not feel bound by the last generation’s militant definitions of whatever it is that they make.

O&A: You said you were an English major. When you were going to school, did you realize that you had a genius for marketing?

Was there something that you had done in college or high school, because that’s a little bit of a jump. Not a lot of people go from studying English to starting their own business.

Calagione: Yeah, I would never consider myself a genius. Miles Davis or Jackson Pollock or a Hemingway would be some of my heroes that I think are geniuses.

I think what I’ve always had from that era that you mentioned, from junior high school on, was a love of storytelling and a love of rebelling.

Sometimes, for worse, not better. I got kicked out of high school where I grew up in Massachusetts.

I used to love to tell stories and live stories. Sometimes the exciting stories would get me in trouble. But I was able to kind of funnel that passion more constructively into creating stories of beer: recipes that were stories and stories of events, like our Analog-A-Go-Go music and beer festival.

I was able to distill that passion for storytelling and rebellion and bring them in a healthier way to this industry where we can rebel against international conglomerates that essentially relied on one lightlager beer style to dominate the commercial landscape — and tell these awesome stories that really are acts of fiction. They’re pieces of fiction.

When I write an email to my co-workers and say, “Hey, let’s do this beer with bagels,” it’s really up to my co-workers to take these ideas and turn them into works of nonfiction. So, our company’s success is about the people first and the products second.

O&A: That’s an important part — company culture. Everyone I ever talked to who works at Dogfish, they mention that. It seems to be a real core value to what you are doing.

Calagione: Yeah, well, hearing you say that I want to change my earlier answer. What you just said is actually the legacy, the thing I’m most proud of [from] our journey. In this book that we’re releasing in a month or two, it’s nice because Andrew took the time to weave in interviews with different co-workers that have been with us for a dozen-plus years to tell their story of their journey with Dogfish. Because it’s essentially a microcosm of our overall journey. ►

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KEEP YOUR RECYCLING OUT OF BAGS. PLACE ITEMS LOOSE IN THE CART.

JULY 2021

| OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM 33

O&A: You [recently] announced the release of your songwriting collaboration with Nashville country music star Jimmie Allen, who was born in Milton, Del., the home of Dogfish. If you had just three words, what three words would you use to describe that experience?

And why those words?

Calagione: Fun and fishing. Fun because I’ve gotten to know Jimmie through the years. He’s a big fan of 60-Minute and Slightly Mighty, our low-cal IPA. He grew up riding his bike through where our brewery is now. Over the years, we’ve had a blast. We go fishing together.

We’ve done that a bunch of times.

I sent them some lyric ideas for the song. I sent them into my phone and sent him a recording of them. But as I’ve said, I love to tell stories and write, but I wouldn’t call myself a songwriter or a singer.

It was actually on a boat based in Delaware called The Prime Hook, which goes out of Indian River Inlet. He and I took this deep-sea boat out one day with a bunch of Hazy-O! beers. And we’re fishing with his fatherin-law and a couple of our buddies. He went into the pilot house and sat there and just riffed on [the ideas] I’d sent him and expanded it not just to the chorus, but to the different verses. So being there on that day, catching fish together, having fun, is a day that I won’t soon forget.

We [released] a music video with this album, that’s [was] an official Record Store Day release. Essentially the video is a love poem to the to the beauty of coastal Delaware. We shot the sunrises of Delaware, and all the fun we were having on that boat that day, interwoven with scenes of Jimmie singing this song in a famous music hall in Nashville, Tenn.

O&A: This is nothing new. You’ve done tons of musical projects with different bands around the world. You’ve been a huge proponent of music, the arts, and Record Store Day. What value do you place on the arts in society, and do you see society placing the right amount of emphasis on the arts?

THE TWO SAMS Calagione: Wow, that’s a great continued from previous page existential question. It reminds me…

Mariah and I were lucky enough to go do some beer events in China a few years ago. And then three days later, we got to do some beer events in Cuba. So we got to visit two communist countries within, like, 10 days of each other.

China’s considered this massive first world power, and Cuba’s considered generally more of a third-world, economically-challenged, small island. And yet when we’re in China, frankly, the population just didn’t seem that happy. They didn’t seem that creative. They didn’t seem that open and free and warm. But obviously [they have a] massive, successful economy.

Then, when we were in Cuba, there was pretty much a lot of poverty.

But everyone’s so happy. In Cuba, the elite of that society are the artists, the musicians, the dancers, and the bartenders. So I think they got their priorities right over there.

I know a lot of us who read this in Out & About can probably say that art — whether it’s the music form, the movie-TV form on Netflix, the cooking form, when we got takeout from our favorite restaurants, and the liquid form, when we brought our beers home — art is what got us through the pandemic.

It was such a stressful time. And it reminds us of what our priorities should be. It’s art that evokes the human spirit, but what also brings people together over an awesome meal, pairing great food with great beverages, while listening to great music. Art is existentially important, I think, to the journey we’re on.

— As mentioned in the interview, The Dogfish Head Book: 25 Years of Off-Centered Adventures is expected to be out in stores this summer. For more information about the book, the beer, and the brewery, go to dogfish.com.

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34 JULY 2021 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM

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Wednesdays: July 14 & 28 August 4 & 18 5PM–7PM

The Brandywine Zoo is excited to announce a new happy hour series to Sip & Stroll through the Zoo and enjoy an adult beverage from Bellefonte Brewing or Liquid Alchemy Beverages. Fun animal encounters and activities for all ages!

Experience a wild evening out at the Zoo on Wednesday nights and appreciate a close encounter of a wild kind!

Alcohol is available for purchase, must show valid ID. Kona Ice and Hy-Point ice cream are also available for purchase for all ages. Social Distancing will be maintained and masks are encouraged when not eating or drinking. Tickets are limited to allow for social distancing within the zoo and it is a rain or shine event.

Tickets: Non Member Adults $10, Children $7 Brandywine Zoo Member Adults $5, Children $3

Purchase tickets: brandywinezoo.org/events/specialevents/ Brandywine Zoo, Wilmington, DE • FREE PARKING The Brandywine Zoo is managed by the Delaware Division of Parks and Recreation, with the support of the Delaware Zoological Society.

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OLD FASHIONED DESTINATIONS During the pandemic, the hubby and I took full advantage of take-out cocktails. Being bourbon lovers, we frequently ordered old fashioneds. Two of the best we've had come from Farmer & Cow and Crow Bar, both in Wilmington. Mike Day of F&C told us at the time that he missed making drinks for people during the shutdown. He certainly put his all into making ours, each and every time. The crafters behind Andrea Sikora's Crow Bar did the same. I still order an old fashioned at both locations to start an evening of fun.

— Michelle Kramer-Fitzgerald, Contributing Writer

LITTLE GOAT COLD BREW SODA There’s no doubt that the good people at Little Goat Coffee Roasters in Newark create some delicious caffeinated beverages. One that sticks out on their menu is the cold brew soda. With a small boost of caffeine, two flavors (strawberry cardamom and blood orange), and just enough bubbles to make you say “ah” after a long sip, Little Goat’s cold brew soda is a must-try pick-meup this summer.

— David Ferguson, Contributing Writer

THEY'RE CRAFTY

WBW ARTIC SLUSH What’s better than enjoying a cold beer on a hot summer day? How about an Artic Slushie from Wilmington Brew Works. The “playfully pretentious” brewery is serving up three at any one time Wednesday through Sunday. There’s the Beer Slushie, using one of their fruited sours; the Cider Slushie, using one of their flavored ciders; and the non-alcoholic Soda Slushie, using their Italian soda syrups (rum or vodka can be added).

Each are 12oz and are $8 (the nonalcoholic Soda Slushie is $5).

— Amy Watson-Bish, Special Projects

Torbert Street Social prides themselves on their craft cocktail program, and they should.

It's an inventive menu, with several creations I've given a double take and a raised eyebrow.

But I was impressed with each one I tried. My faves? Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragonfruit — a tall, neon pink libation with dehydrated yogurt around the rim, and a mix of top-shelf vodka, aperol, lemon, dragonfruit simple syrup and club. Or the All About the Benjamins (Milk Punch) — a slightly sweet, yet warm & spicy drink with a vodka base, cinnamon clove simple syrup, lemon & pineapple juice and, yes, milk. Ask them how it's made. Want something more "mainstream"? How about Bird and the Bees, with lavender-infused gin, honey and lemon.

— Michelle Kramer-Fitzgerald, Contributing Writer

2SP'S BOGEY SUMMER ALE V&M BARLOUR Vincenza & Margherita Italian American Bistro in North Wilmington has a banging Neapolitan pizza and delectable veal dishes, but don’t miss V&M’s Barlour menu — part ice cream parlor and part cocktail bar. Boozy ice cream flavors include vodka mint chocolate chip and CBD-infused bourbon cherry vanilla.

— Pam George, Contributing Writer

As its name implies, the Bogey has a bit of a deviant streak, particularly for a summer ale. Why? Because it's not boring.

Instead, the Bogey sticks out in a crowd. It’s got an orange taffy sweetness paired with a considerable hop kick, which comes from the Mandarina Bavaria varietal. In this way, it’s distinctive and memorable.

On the other hand, this brew is easy to drink, which is where it aligns nicely with other summer ales. Bogey’s scorecard reads 5.5% ABV. It feels lighter than that — not so much on the palate — but definitely in the breezy manner in which it goes down the fairway, so to speak.

— Jim Miller, Director of Publications JULY 2021 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM

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WATCH

History Revisited Questlove’s debut documentary Summer of Soul features incredible performers from ‘Black Woodstock’

By Mark Fields

I

n the summer of 1969, tens of thousands were groovin’ on Max Yasgur’s upstate New York dairy farm to the songs of Janis Joplin, Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Jimi Hendrix at the Woodstock Music Festival. That festival, with its accompanying soundtrack album and award-winning documentary, has passed into the realm of legend. In fact, Rolling Stone named it as one of the 50 moments that changed rock history.

That same summer, similar numbers of people gathered in another New York green space to enjoy some of the most familiar names in popular music, and that event, the Harlem Cultural Festival, is sadly unknown to the world. Despite featuring riveting performances by Stevie Wonder, Mahalia Jackson, B.B. King, The 5th Dimension, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Hugh Masekela, Ray Barretto, Mongo Santamaria, and Sly and the Family Stone (and many, many others), no distributor at the time was willing to assemble the hours of footage captured and release a film or TV special.

And so, these passionate, political performances have never been seen before and have, in fact, slipped out of the public’s consciousness…until now.

Ahmir Khalib Thompson, aka Questlove, has made his directorial debut with a celebratory, tightlyconstructed, and deeply moving documentary film called Summer of Soul, or When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised. Just seeing these performances after all this time would have been enough to justify a film.

But Questlove deftly combines the stirring concert footage with first-hand accounts from several festival attendees and performers as they watch themselves on film for the first time after more than 50 years and remember the musical and cultural significance of this moment in time. The director also incorporates video news clips and photos from the period that distills the historical context in which the festival was staged. As a result, Summer of Soul is not just an exceptional concert film but also a bracing assertion of inclusive history. ►

Pictured at top (l-r) during performances at the Harlem Cultural Festival: B.B. King, Abbey Lincoln, Sly Stone of Sly and the Family Stone.

Critic’s Note: Summer of Soul makes a nice pairing of New York-centric musical movies with Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In The Heights, also in release this summer. Miranda (who coincidentally appears in an interview in Summer of Soul) wrote this loving celebration of Latinx life in the New York neighborhood of Washington Heights before he broke out with Hamilton, but In The Heights has a similar worldly exuberance. The engaging cast, infectious music, and eye-popping choreography and direction make this movie a visual and auditory delight.

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WATCH continued from previous page

The subtitle of the film is a reference to Gil Scott-Heron’s poem-song of the same era that was a cutting yet lyrical indictment of the mainstream media’s whitewashing of public opinion. Scott-Heron asserted that TV and film content was selectively packaged to sell both products and dominant white culture, and Questlove clearly believes that this “lost” cultural festival was another example of the same phenomenon.

Summer of Soul powerfully demonstrates how significant African-American and Latinx musicians engaged their own audiences and the wider culture with music that was simultaneously joyously performed and deeply felt. Music that reflected a generation’s obstacles, aspirations, and profound determination.

On the heels of the racial awakening sparked by the George Floyd murder in 2020, Questlove’s timing is right on. This film is a searing reminder of how long these conditions and frustrations have persisted. But it is also an offering of hope that music, and musical artists, can lead the way to a different, better future.

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WATCH

Penn Ketchum says the value proposition for movie patrons has not changed — a night out of the house.

After a long haitus, movies aren’t just coming soon, they are coming now. Penn Ketchum, owner of Penn Cinema, reflects on the pandemic and looks forward to the return of moviegoers

By Mark Fields

I

’m not ashamed to admit that entering Penn Cinema several weeks ago for the first time in nearly 16 months, I was giddy at the prospect of seeing a movie in a movie theater. I believe that movie-going gap is the longest period of time I hadn’t set foot in a movie theater in more than 45 years. I was not a happy camper.

Like everyone else, I made do with streaming films during the pandemic, but as soon as we were fully vaccinated, I was ready for the IRL cinema experience. In truth, the movie itself – Those Who Wish Me Dead – was nothing to get excited about, but still sitting there in my reclining seat watching Angelina Jolie’s face 12 feet high was enough.

Like virtually all indoor venues, Penn Cinema has been mostly closed by COVID-19 since March 2020. Now that many restrictions on public gatherings have been lifted in Delaware, owner Penn Ketchum is eagerly awaiting the return of movies and moviegoers to Penn Cinema on the Riverfront. This movie reviewer and fan, similarly thwarted from his cinematic obsessions, spoke with Ketchum about the pandemic and the re-emergence of the movie industry after such a long hiatus.

How did you and Penn Cinema get through the pandemic?

With a lot of hope. Like everybody, all our struggles were related to finances. It’s hard to pay bills when you have no

revenue. But, the owners put money into the business, and our vendors were very flexible. We’re going to come out the other side OK. It helps to realize that the challenge we faced was universal. We felt we weren’t alone, and that made us feel just a little bit better.

How is Penn Cinema positioned now to re-emerge?

The business itself has not been changed by the pandemic, but we have now normalized the process of renting the theaters for private use. We have private screenings almost every day; businesses and even families renting the theater.

We figured out how to do that, and I suspect that will continue after the pandemic. ► JULY 2021

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WATCH continued from previous page

Penn Cinema has been on Wilmington's Riverfront since 2012.

Is the greater use of at-home streaming going to affect the movie theater business?

A lot of people believe that the industry has changed, but that’s not accurate. For patrons, the value proposition of a night at the movies is getting out of the house. That’s unchanged. And, studios are only driven by making money, which is good for me, because when they make money, we make money. Big movies are only profitable when they are released to theaters, so I guarantee that will continue to happen. I do think that the savviest studios have learned that they can actually leverage interest for their next theatrical release by streaming other, related content. Advanced sales for Black Widow are really strong, and I think that’s because of the various Marvel TV series.

Are you seeing different behavior from audiences?

I do think that people are more sensitive to the idea of [being in] a big crowd than they were before. Patrons are calling and asking about what nights might be a little less busy. That’s good for us, because there is always going to be a crowd Saturday night at 7.

Are you seeing audiences coming back?

Yes, Of course, the bigger the movie, the bigger the audience. That was true before the pandemic, and it still is. After so much isolation, I think that people want to reconnect over this shared interest.

We hear from people coming into Penn Cinema that they have really missed the community of movie-going.

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SUMMERTIME ART STUFF Looking to busy yourself this summer? Why not indulge your creative side in music lessons at The Music School of Delaware; dance or music classes or the new CAMP NIA at Christina Cultural Arts Center; a pottery class at Center for the Creative Arts; or drawing/painting class at Delaware Art Museum? Summer is the best time to give these types of adventures a try.

FOR THE BIRDS

STATE PARKS PASSPORT PROGRAM Enjoy discovering the beauty and variety of Delaware’s many state parks, from Auburn Valley to Trap Pond by completing the annual photo collection project called the Passport. Take a hike and record your experience with a selfie taken at each of 20 locations in various parks. Submit them by November to win bragging rights, plus free state parks swag including a free annual pass for the parks next season (while supplies last).The specific parks and photo locations are detailed at DeStateParks.com/Passport.

— Mark Fields, Contributing Writer

— Joe del Tufo, Contributing Photographer

Photo Joe del Tufo

— Michelle Kramer-Fitzgerald, Contributing Writer

One of my favorite things to do outside is photograph birds. It's challenging, connecting, and often surprising. Delaware has a number of world-class spots for birding, especially during the migration seasons. Bombay Hook and Prime Hook are always excellent, as is the heron rookery just off of Pea Patch Island. That said, sometimes any forest or body of water at the crack of dawn can be rewarding.

I've captured images of three different kinds of owls in the forest just a few yards from where I live.

BECOME A CERTIFIED COMMUNITY WILDLIFE HABITAT

DELAWARE GREENWAYS The state’s collection of trails and pathways has evolved way beyond a pedestrian path here, a bike-friendly path there. Delaware now has 200 named trails and 165 miles of asphalt, boardwalk and concrete trails and more are in the “real” planning stage. Out-of-staters have taken notice, regularly coming to places such as Delaware City, where they park for free and take advantage of the Castle Trail. Ditto for the Riverfront and Historic New Castle, the bookends of the brandnew Markell Trail. For you, a Delawarean, these greenways are a benefit of residency. So, take advantage. Grab your bike, sneakers or hiking shoes and hit the trail.

This spring, The Ardens achieved their goal of becoming a Certified Community Wildlife Habitat. They partnered with the National Wildlife Federation and Delaware Nature Society to make their already green community even more wildlife friendly. Approximately 40 residents certified their leaseholds as habitats. The community also earned points toward certification by doing education and outreach. This program creates wildlife-friendly zones in urban and suburban areas to combat loss of habitats.

Find out how your neighborhood can participate at NEW. org/CommunityWildlifeHabitat.

— Jill Althouse-Wood, Contributing Writer

— Jerry duPhily, Publisher JULY 2021 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM

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Three unique programs over three weeks!

ROCKWOOD PARK • JULY 16 – AUGUST 1 Get tickets at delshakes.org

PRESENTED WITH SUPPORT FROM

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH NEW CASTLE COUNTY MATTHEW S. MEYER, COUNTY EXECUTIVE

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FINE CRAFT FAIR JULY 31 - AUGUST 1 pacrafts.org

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WHERE TO WATCH JustWatch.com will help you find a newly recommended or fondly remembered TV series or movie. The site tracks more than 150,000 titles on 200 streaming services available in the U.S., plus links to rent or buy them as well. Friends, for instance, is on four streaming services, with only two having all 10 seasons for bingeing. On the other hand: Dead Poets Society, which was filmed in Delaware, is only available to rent or buy. And The Pretender, a series partly set in Delaware, is only available to buy.

— Ken Mammarella, Contributing Writer

THE BARD IS BACK Delaware Shakespeare brings three times the fun for their Summer Festival this year. Summer Mix Tape, Rosalind x 3, and Shakespeare Poetry Slam are a trio of programs that celebrate original music, explore an iconic character, and introduce Bard-inspired hip-hop/ spoken word performances. Dates run three weeks from July 16 to August 1. With pay-what-you-decide ticket options, a beautiful outdoor setting for you to picnic as well, you simply cannot miss this Festival. Visit DelShakes.org for schedule.

— Michelle Kramer-Fitzgerald, Contributing Writer

BIKE, HIKE & BREWS

DELART DRIVE-IN MOVIES For the months of July, August and the first two weeks in September, DelArt Drive-In will take place on the lawn of the Sculpture Garden at the Delaware Art Museum. Admission is free, just bring a chair or blanket. Movie theater concessions will be available for purchase, along with beer, wine, soft drinks and water.

Visit delartcinema.com for schedule.

Every Wednesday evening in summer from 5-8pm, stroll or roll through areas of Hagley Museum & Library normally closed to foot traffic. Bring a picnic to enjoy at their picnic pavilion on Workers’ Hill or buy from a featured food truck to eat at a table along the Brandywine. Dogfish Head beer and Woodside Farm Creamery ice cream are also for purchase. On the last Wednesdays of the month, bring your leashed dog(s) to walk at Hagley. Admission is just $3, and free for Hagley members and children five and under.

— Jill Althouse-Wood, Contributing Writer

— Bev Zimmermann, Special Projects

RIDE THE JAM

Photo Joe del Tufo

The Jack A. Markell Trail (JAM) was a gamechanger when it arrived on the Wilmington Riverfront in the fall of 2018. Connecting the City of Wilmington to historic New Castle, the boardwalk trail gives bikers, runners and walkers access to areas unseen to most and a fun (and free!) spot to exercise and explore. And you never know who you will run into on the trail!

— Joe del Tufo, Contributing Photographer

Look for more Worth Trying suggestions throughout this issue!

THE CITY MAYOR PRAISES ADDITIONS TO ‘ENERGIZE THE WAREHOUSE’ INITIATIVE

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ayor Purzycki joined elected officials and community leaders on June 14 to celebrate the arrival of three new clean energy technologies to The Warehouse as part of the Energize The Warehouse initiative, which will help local teens learn about clean energy, electric transportation, and sustainable farming and agriculture. “The Teen Warehouse has become a focal point for idea sharing, innovative thinking, and a desire to learn,” the Mayor said. “The fact that it all happens in an environment that is energized by teens is both meaningful and hopeful. I am honored to be part of the announcement for this clean energy initiative and express my thanks to Delmarva Power and DNREC for helping to transform teen learning and new skill sets into solutions that can benefit our neighborhoods and our City as a whole.”

Local student and chair of The Warehouse’s Teen Executive Committee, Anaya Patterson.

U.S. Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester, REACH Riverside CEO Logan Herring, and Mayor Purzycki at The Warehouse on June 14

RODNEY SQUARE RENOVATIONS UNDERWAY

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hase one of a nearly $7 million renovation of Wilmington’s Rodney Square has been completed. The City’s main public square, originally constructed in 1921, was in need of major upgrading and repairs when Mayor Mike Purzycki launched the project a few years ago. Mayor Purzycki and the Rodney Square Conservancy joined elected officials and other community leaders recently to celebrate the progress of the overdue facelift, which features an attractive new lighted fountain as pictured above. Four new flagpoles are also being added.

Financial support for the first phase of the Rodney Square project was provided by the City of Wilmington ($1.5 million) and the State of Delaware ($1.8 million), as well as by members of the Rodney Square Conservancy Board of Directors.

46 JULY 2021 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM

Mayor Purzycki opens the new and improved Rodney Square in Downtown Wilmington.

A SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT TO OUT & ABOUT MAGAZINE

IAN SMITH NAMED NEW PARKS & RECREATION DIRECTOR

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ayor Mike Purzycki appointed Ian Smith as the City’s next Director of the Department of Parks and Recreation. Smith moves to City government from State government where he was the Delaware Program Director of Youth Advocates Programs, Inc. (YAP) since 2016. Smith began his new role on June 1.

“We eagerly await his review of the $3 million department operating and capital budgets and his plan for moving forward. Ian will have a team of about 40 full-time employees and scores of parttime and temporary workers who are on the front lines every day delivering life-affirming services and critically needed recreational programming to children and families across the City. We wish Ian well. I am also very grateful to Deputy Parks and Recreation Director Wayne Jefferson for his continued service to our City and for assisting Ian in his new post.”

Ian replaces former Parks and Recreation Kevin F. Kelley, Sr. who retired from government service on February 1.

Director of Parks and Recreation Ian Smith

“IAN BRINGS A WEALTH OF EXPERIENCE AND AN INFECTIOUS ENERGY AND ENTHUSIASM TO THIS POSITION.” -MAYOR MIKE PURZYCKI

MAYOR DECLARED JUNE LGBTQ+ PRIDE MONTH IN WILMINGTON

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ayor Mike Purzycki issued a Proclamation designating the month of June as LGBTQ+ Pride Month in Wilmington. The Pride flag was displayed in the lobby of the Mayor’s Office on the 9th Floor of the Louis L. Redding City County Building throughout the month. The full text of the Mayor’s Proclamation can be found here: www.wilmingtonde.gov/Home/Components/News/ News/5514/225

A SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT TO OUT & ABOUT MAGAZINE

JULY 2021 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM

47

WIN A $50 GIFT CARD TO PIZZA BY ELIZABETHS!

START

Fill in the You know the drill: (1) Ask your friends to help “fill in the blanks” for the missing words needed below.

(2) Once completed, read aloud and watch hilarity ensue.

(3) Got a funny one? Take a photo and send it to us at Contact@TSNPub.com. Best one wins a $50 Gift Card to Pizza By Elizabeths (One entry per person; must be 21 or older to enter). Have fun!

A DAY AT THE BEACH

Every summer hundreds of thousands of people flock to Delaware’s famous beaches to frolic in the ocean waters and soak up the summer sun.

Whether you’re one to indulge in a game of beach (

game or sport

) or simply relax and (

comfy beach blanket all day, there is something for everyone at the First State’s ( Early-birds can catch the (

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) swimming along the (

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) on a

) beaches.

adjective

) rise over the Atlantic each morning , while surfers catch air off the

) at Indian River Inlet. Lucky nature lovers might even spot a family of ), playing their own brand of (

noun

Known for its rich history, Lewes offers more than 5000 acres of public ( Henlopen State Park. Meanwhile, Rehoboth has so many (

adjective

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food singular

) at its Cape

) restaurants, it’s often a tough task

deciding where to make dinner reservations. Ask yourself: Are you in the mood for ( something fancier like a juicy (

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Just down the street, Dewey is the perfect place for people who enjoy drinking a few pints of craft (

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). Like we said, there’s something (

48 JULY 2021 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM

adjective

) for everyone!

mythical beast plural noun

).” ) who just want to

25th Anniversary In 1995, the Riverfront Development Corporation of Delaware was created to oversee the growth and restoration of the public and private land surrounding the Christina River. Formally home to shipbuilding and industrial centers, the land had become deserted and largely unusable. Thus, RDC began the process of rehabbing the landscape and working with local and regional developers to revitalize the area.

Now, celebrating our 25th anniversary, Riverfront Wilmington has become one of the area’s most vibrant and exciting destinations to live, play, and work. Once a largely abandoned shipyard, the riverfront is now teeming with residences, hotels, restaurants and indoor and outdoor attractions.

As we enter our 26th year — and look beyond — the Riverfront Development Corporation is thrilled to continue the expansion of the Riverfront area as we move to the east side of the river. We can’t wait to celebrate everything Riverfront Wilmington has to offer with you all year long!

OPEN

MON-FRI: 9AM-6PM SAT: 9AM-4PM Stop in and enjoy fresh produce, salads, sandwiches, coffee, pizza, sushi, Mexican,Thai cuisine and much more!

The Riverfront Market

RIVERFRONT RESTAURANTS ARE OPEN

for in-house indoor and outdoor dining

Banks Seafood Kitchen & Raw Bar Big Fish Grill

Riverfront Bakery

Ciro Food & Drink

River Rock Kitchen

Cosi

Starbucks

Del Pez

Taco Grande - NEW!

at the Riverfront Market!

Docklands

The Juice Joint

Pachamama Peruvian Rotisserie Serena’s Soulfood

Drop Squad Kitchen

Timothy’s on the Riverfront

Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant

Ubon Thai

Dine-in or carry out NOW OPEN

JULY 2021 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM

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Ongoin RIVERWALK MINI GOLF RETURNS FOR THE 2021 SEASON With 18 holes of golf, soft serve ice cream, and bike rentals. Individual bikes may be rented to tour the riverfront and Jack A. Markell Bike Trail. Surreys may also be rented for a group to tour the Riverwalk. Riverwalk Mini Golf is open throughout the summer, Wednesday-Sunday, 3:00-9:00pm. Details available at Riverwalkminigolf.com

DELAWARE CHILDREN’S MUSEUM HAS OFFICIALLY REOPENED TO THE PUBLIC! After being closed for over 15 months, the state’s only children’s museum has reopened, offering fun and interactive learning activities for children to help Develop Creative Minds.

The museum’s summer hours are Saturday-Sunday and TuesdayWednesday, 10am-5pm, and Thursday and Friday 10am-8pm.

Admission is $10, and admission on Thursdays and Fridays from 5-8pm is just $5! Memberships can be purchased for $99 for the entire family. Following local and state recommendations, since children are not yet able to be vaccinated, masks must be worn while in the museum. More info can be found at Delawarechildrensmuseum.org

THIS SUMMER, WE ARE EXCITED TO BRING TWO NEW WATER ATTRACTIONS TO THE RIVERFRONT! Delaware Cruises and Events will offer tours of the Christina River throughout the summer. Paradise Tiki Tours provides a tropical atmosphere with an authentic palm thatched canopy, tiki lighting, music, and an island-inspired cocktail menu. Info and booking can be found at Delawarecruises.com

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oing Events AFTER CANCELLING THE 2020 SEASON, WE ARE THRILLED TO HAVE THE RIVERFRONT SUMMER CONCERT SERIES BACK AT TUBMAN-GARRETT PARK! Each Thursday in July and August, beginning July 8th, the park will be alive with music from a local act of a different genre. The free concerts will be held from 7-8:30pm. Additionally, this year we will feature interlude performances from various local arts institutions. Also, as part of our 25th anniversary celebration, the RDC will also host a monthly summer lunchtime concert at Hare Pavilion along the Riverwalk from 12-1pm. Here is the full concert schedule:

JULY 8 • Sunset Riders (Southern Rock & Country) • Interlude performance from The Music School of Delaware Jazz Combo — The Blue Monks JULY 15 • Sean Reilly (Vocalist in the Frank Sinatra style) • Interlude performance from Opera Delaware JULY 22 • Blues Reincarnation Project (Blues & Rock) JULY 29 • Kid Davis & The Bullets (Bluegrass, Americana & Swing)

AUGUST 5 • Gerry Timlin (Family Night with Irish Folk Music) AUGUST 12 • Calla Bere & the Attitude (Rock & Blues) • Interlude performance from Opera Delaware AUGUST 19 • Stacey LaChole & the BlacSoul Band (R&B, Pop, Soul, Gospel, Funk and Jazz) AUGUST 26 • Best Kept Soul (R&B, Gospel, Jazz, Funk, Hip Hop and Rock) • Interlude performance from the Christina Cultural Arts Center

SUMMER LUNCHTIME CONCERTS AT HARE PAVILION JULY 14 • Skip Barthold (Jazz guitarist, Singer and Songwriter)

AUGUST 18 • Alyssa Garcia (Pianist, Alternative Pop)

FOR A FULL LISTING OF EVENTS, PLEASE LOG ON TO:

RIVERFRONTWILM.COM JULY 2021 | OUTANDABOUTNOW.COM

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RIVERFRONT EAST

THE FUTURE OF RIVERFRONT DEVELOPMENT IS GROWING ALONG A BEND IN THE CHRISTINA.

Riverfront East the converging point ofisdowntown Wilmington andin the Christina.

The future of isRiverfront development growing along a bend the current Wilmington, Delaware, Riverfront—86 acres Wilmington of mixed-useand the current Riverfront East is the converging point of downtown opportunity to build a vibrant, bustling and sustainable urban community.

Wilmington, Delaware, Riverfront — 86 acres of mixed-use opportunity to build Aaplace for businesses to thrive and lives to flourish.

At the completion vibrant, bustling and sustainable urban community. A place for businesses to ofthrive Riverfront East,toindividuals andthefamilies will have the opportunity and lives flourish. At completion of Riverfront East, individuals and tofamilies live, work and play in a uniquely Wilmington community that fits a Wilmington will have the opportunity to live, work and play in a uniquely diversity of lifestyles.

Downtown Wilmington to the north.

Riverfront community that fits a diversity of lifestyles. Downtown Wilmington to the north.

Wilmington development development to the west. Two main thoroughfare Riverfront Wilmington to the west.

Two mainstreets. thoroughfare streets.

And uponupon acres acres of underutilized brownfieldbrownfield ready for development, Andacres acres of underutilized ready for development, free concerns of gentrification.

This site,This at the innerat bend the bend of the freefrom from concerns of gentrification. site, the ofinner Christina River, is perfectly situated to become a cultural cornerstone of cornerstone Christina River, is perfectly situated to become a cultural the stimulate for generations More of city theandcity and economic stimulategrowth economic growth toforcome. generations to come. information can be found at Riverfronteast.com More information at Riverfronteast.com

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Welcome Back!

The DCM is reopen to the public!

Visit our website for Summer hours, pricing, and safety protocols!

DelawareChildrensMuseum.org /Delawarechildrensmuseum

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/DEchildrensmuseum

MANGO COCONUT corriander

cucumber mint limeade HOUSE MADE LEMONADE

Try all of the flavors. available in an 8 can party pack.