Category: Arts

Pottstown Shopping & Entertainment Guide: Arts & Entertainment

The arts are thriving in Pottstown! Here are some places to check out not only for show tickets,  but also for unique, hand-crafted pottery and jewelry, musical instruments,  and gift certificates for music, dancing, and acting classes. Please let us know of additional arts-related shops and venues; we’ll add them to the line-up.

Don’t be shy: support the inner artist in your child and yourself!

Tri-CountyPerforming Arts Center (TriPAC) has a full line-up of performing arts programming, hows and classes. A Christmas Story will run Dec. 1-18. A gift certificate will let that special someone choose what they want. TriPAC is putting on a new facade; don’t be deterred by the construction fencing! You will be blown away when it’s unveiled this spring. Their building used to be J. J. Newberry’s Department Store; my mom had her first job there! TriPAC is located at 245 E. High Street, Pottstown, PA 19464. Phone: 610-970-1199

 The Gallery on High is home to local artists – paintings, glassware, pottery, jewelry, scarves handmade soaps. If you want something that’s one-of-a-kind, you must go here! There’s also a custom framing shop inside for that special photo or painting that needs just the right frame. Peace: The Annual Holiday Show is running now through Jan. 7.  They are located at 254 E. High Street, Pottstown, PA 19464. Did you know that a well-known portrait photographer from the late 19th century – Isaac Lachman – once used this building as his Pottstown studio? Hours: Tues.-Fri., 10-4:40 pm; Saturday 10-3. Phone: 610-326-2506.

The Gallery School of Pottstown offers a wide array of classes for all ages and can host your next party. (I can’t wait to teach some creative writing classes there this spring!) Maybe there’s someone in your life who would like to explore a new facet of the arts? Check out their schedule here.  They are located on the second floor of 245 E. High Street, above The Gallery on High.

Know anyone who wants to take their musical development a little further? High Street Music Company offers instruction for brass, woodwinds, strings, guitar, bass, piano and drums. Check out their family discount, holiday specials and the coupons on their website! Know anyone who wants to finally record the EP that will break their career wide open?  High Street Music also has state-of-the-art microphones and digital equipment. They’re at 135 E. High Street (next to Bistro 137 and across from Borough Hall.) Phone: 610-906-3357.

For music instrument sales and rentals, stop in at Ben’s Music within Downtown Records and Tapes at 53 N. Charlotte Street, at the intersection with King Street. They also do instrument repairs. Their hours are: Mon. – Thurs., 10am – 5:30 pm; Fri., 10 am – 8 pm; Sat., 10 am – 4 pm; closed Sunday.

For the dancer in all of us and when you just gotta move, the Ballroom on High is THE place to be! SwingKat Entertainment hosts weekly dances and gives lessons in ballroom , country, salsa, and swing. Their 300-person venue in a historic building at 310 E. High Street is also available for weddings, birthday parties, business meetings, or funeral receptions.  For sure, check it out on Dec. 9th and attend the Come As You Art Ball, hosted by MOSAIC Community Land Trust and PDIDA.

Schuylkill Valley Regional Dance Company is in 40th year, exposing kids age 7 and older to dance. This year once again they will perform The Nutcracker Ballet. The show goes on at The Hill School Center for the Arts on Dec. 3 and 4. Go to their website for more details and tickets.

For free concerts that can become part of your family’s traditions, check out the Coventry Singers in concert on Saturday, Dec. 10 ; Reading Choral Society at Emmanuel Lutheran on Sunday, Dec. 11; and the Hill School’s Lessons and Carols in Alumni Memorial Chapel on Sunday, Dec. 11. Details can be found on the Positively!Pottstown calendar.

Positively Pottstown calendar is back up!

The Positively Pottstown calendar of Christmas concerts, performances, historical events, happy hours, craft and bake sales, and much more is here to help you plan your holiday shopping and entertainment!

Fun for the whole family starts with the Twelfth Night tours, which begin today at Pottsgrove Manor and continue until January 8th during regular museum hours: Tues.-Sat. 10 am to 4 pm; Sun. 1 to 4 pm

Get your gift-buying underway with a shopping march set for downtown Pottstown tomorrow (meet at Bistro 137, 137 E. High Street.) And take advantage of Sunday shopping as Pottstown offers another “Super Sunday” this Sunday, with free, fun activities for the kids at the Farmers’ Market.

Over the next 24 hours, I’ll be putting up several posts to let you know, or remind you, of all that Pottstown’s restaurants, retailers, and arts venues have to offer this holiday season. Stay tuned!

A Thanksgiving Poem

A List of Praises
by Anne Porter 
Give praise with psalms that tell the trees to sing,
Give praise with Gospel choirs in storefront churches,
Mad with the joy of the Sabbath,
Give praise with the babble of infants, who wake with the sun,
Give praise with children chanting their skip-rope rhymes,
A poetry not in books, a vagrant mischievous poetry
living wild on the Streets through generations of children.

Give praise with the sound of the milk-train far away
With its mutter of wheels and long-drawn-out sweet whistle
As it speeds through the fields of sleep at three in the morning,
Give praise with the immense and peaceful sigh
Of the wind in the pinewoods,
At night give praise with starry silences. 

Give praise with the skirling of seagulls
And the rattle and flap of sails
And gongs of buoys rocked by the sea-swell
Out in the shipping-lanes beyond the harbor.
Give praise with the humpback whales,
Huge in the ocean they sing to one another.

Give praise with the rasp and sizzle of crickets, katydids and cicadas,
Give praise with hum of bees,
Give praise with the little peepers who live near water.
When they fill the marsh with a shimmer of bell-like cries
We know that the winter is over. 

Give praise with mockingbirds, day's nightingales.
Hour by hour they sing in the crepe myrtle
And glossy tulip trees
On quiet side streets in southern towns.

Give praise with the rippling speech
Of the eider-duck and her ducklings
As they paddle their way downstream
In the red-gold morning
On Restiguche, their cold river,
Salmon river,
Wilderness river. 

Give praise with the whitethroat sparrow.
Far, far from the cities,
Far even from the towns,
With piercing innocence
He sings in the spruce-tree tops,
Always four notes
And four notes only. 

Give praise with water,
With storms of rain and thunder
And the small rains that sparkle as they dry,
And the faint floating ocean roar
That fills the seaside villages,
And the clear brooks that travel down the mountains 

And with this poem, a leaf on the vast flood,
And with the angels in that other country.

Cantatica presents “An American Thanksgiving” at Emmanuel Lutheran

This Tuesday, November 22nd at 7:30 pm, the professional chamber ensemble and artist-in-residence Cantatica will present music of gratitude, remembrance and rejoicing at Emmanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church. Please note that the Coventry Singers will also be guest artists.

The concert will include Let Us Break Bread Together, Simple Gifts, Zion’s Walls, He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands, How Can I Keep From Singing, Battle Hymn of the Republic, Dixie, and Johnny Has Gone For a Soldier.

Emmanuel Lutheran offers a free Music at Emmanuel series throughout the year. Check out their Facebook page here. Their next concert features the Reading Choral Society in “A Celebration of Light” on Sunday, December 11.

Emmanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church
150 N. Hanover Street
Pottstown, PA 19464
610-323-4312

It’s nutroll time again at Holy Trinity!

It’s that deliciously special time of year for nutroll, poppyseed roll, and apricot roll! The Slovak American Women’s Guild at Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church in Pottstown’s South End is rolling out the dough, spreading the filling and baking up a storm in the church basement as I type this. I had a chance to try my hand in the kitchen yesterday and am looking forward to joining in more fully next year. The sweet and flaky outcome is surpassed only by the quiet camaraderie in the kitchen. Thank you to Bonnie Stankunas and the other women who welcomed me into the fold!

Here are the details on the sale: It’s this Sunday, November 20th before and after 10 a.m. Mass. Sales start at 9 a.m. and will go until the start of Mass, and then pick up again around 10:45. These rolls are all handmade; there’s just 300 of them, so get there early to purchase yours — a wonderful holiday treat at just $10 per roll. Yum!

Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church is located on South Street between Franklin and Evans Streets.

Meet Byers’ Choice Artist Joyce Byers Sunday at MCCC Gallery in Pottstown

 A heartwarming holiday exhibit that features handmade Christmas Carolers designed by Joyce Byers of Byers’ Choice Ltd., the internationally-known collectible figurine business located in Chalfont, has opened in Montgomery County Community College‘s North Hall Art Gallery, 16 High St., Pottstown.

A “Meet the Artist” afternoon reception with Byers is planned for tomorrow, Sunday, Nov. 13 from 1 to 3 p.m. Christmas Caroler figures are displayed throughout the gallery in vignettes that include Victorian themes as well as telling the story of Scrooge and The Twelve Days of Christmas. Each unique figure is created with an upturned face – mouth open in song.

The exhibit, “Handcrafting Christmas Tradition In Our Community,” continues through Dec. 16 during regular gallery hours, Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., and Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The gallery is closed weekends, except for Nov. 13. Both the exhibit and receptions are free and open to the public.

For more information about the exhibit, call Montgomery County Community College Galleries Director Holly Cairns at 215-619-7349.

MOSAIC Community Land Trust reception this Saturday

Please join the MOSAIC Community Land Trust for a FREE reception this Saturday, November 12 from 7-9 pm as they thank their Community Garden volunteers and welcome guests to their office and gallery located at 10 South Hanover Street, Pottstown, Pennsylvania, across from the Brick House restaurant.

Exhibiting artists are Raun Kercher and Lev Ritvalsky. 

MOSAIC will also be unveiling its new logo, which was designed by Raun.

For more information on MOSAIC Community Land Trust, please visit and subscribe to the blog here or become a friend on Facebook. Pottstown is on the brink of revitalization, and MOSAIC is a part of that. You can learn about other events, how to get involved, and follow the development of the community garden at 423 Chestnut Street by getting connected.

Raun Kercher

“Raun Kercher’s artwork covers a history of American music from the genres of both American Blues and Jazz. The artwork tells a history while capturing emotions expressed in music.”

Read a previous review of Raun Kercher’s Exhibition here, or visit his website

Let Ritvalsky
“My art, regardless of the medium I’m using, is simply an end result of whatever happiness runs from my brain through my hands to my tools each day that I work. This talent brings great energy to my life and I am honored to have it. My art isn’t about making a statement, unless that statement is to bring a smile to someone when they see my work.”

RSVP now for Friday happy hour!

The next Positively!Pottstown Happy Hour is taking place this Friday, Nov. 11 from 5-7 pm at the Milkman Lunch Co. & Cake Shoppe at 451 N. Charlotte Street. Our hosts are owners Sam Rhame and Chris Longeway.

In case you haven’t been to their shoppe or had one of their melt-in-your-mouth delectable cupcakes, these guys are putting Pottstown on the map for their gorgeous artistry with fondant. Plus they have cheery messages on the blackboard outside their shoppe every day. They are spreading love, happiness and inner peace through cake, which – if you think about it – could do a lot for world peace, too. 

Join us this Friday afternoon and see for yourself!

RSVP to positivelypottstown@gmail.com

Party at the library on a Saturday night? Strange, but true!

Are your Saturday evening plans still up in the air? Come out and enjoy “Wines of the Southern Hemisphere” in a fundraiser taking place tonight, November 5th from 6:30-9 pm at the Pottstown Regional Public Library at 500 E. High Street. Tickets are $40 per person.

Not only will you be helping the library to continue its comprehensive programming for children, teens and adults, but you’ll get to learn more about wines from Dean and Lisa Foster of Vintage Connections. There will be food by chef Jerry DeLena and music by classical guitarist Dillon Taylor.

As a reader and a writer, I think stories and story-telling are fundamental to who we are as human beings, how we try to make sense of the world. On the most basic level, this is what public libraries are all about – making our history and stories accessible to all, letting us hear all the voices that have something to say.

I hope to see you there!

500 E. High Street, Pottstown, PA 19464

610 970 6551; ppl.mclinc.org

Trick or Treat with Pippin! Last two shows today!

Trick or Treat with PIPPIN on Sunday only. LAST TWO PERFORMANCES, treats galore, costume contest and GIVEAWAYS!!!

 The snow was a TRICK, but we have your TREAT!

PIPPIN

Grand Finale Sunday Only!

3:00 pm Matinee

7:30 pm Final Performance!

 

Sunday Night Performance Includes

Free beverage of your choice!

Season Subscription Giveaway!

And if you dare …

Come in costume for 2nd giveaway – tickets to our June musical!

 

TRI-COUNTY PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

245 E. High Street, Pottstown, PA 19464

610.970.1199

Tickets at the door (as available) or pick your seats online at www.tripac.org.

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