Category: Education

Historic House Tours set for this Sunday afternoon in Pottstown

I don’t know how my mom and I are going to get to all these houses on Sunday, but we’re going to do our darnedest to make it happen.

The Historic Pottstown Neighborhood Association presents its Historic Pottstown by Candlelight tour tomorrow, December 9th from 1-6 pm. This tour has been organized in a big way, once again, by Sue & Bill Krause, some of Pottstown’s long-standing, extraordinary volunteers.

Tickets/brochures can be purchased ahead of time TODAY for $12 at Carter’s Locksmith Shop, 127 N. Hanover St., or Pottstown Florist at 300 High St. Otherwise, it will cost you $13 on the day of the tour TOMORROW and then you can only purchase a ticket at Carter’s.

DETAILS: There is a trolley to take you around to most of these buildings. When you get your ticket, you can get the full scoop. Note that there is a Victorian Tea held by the Doe Club at the Elks Lodge #814 at 61 E. High Street from noon-2pm only. Refreshments and lavatories are at Zion’s United Church of Christ at 100 N. Hanover St. (built in 1796). There will be a Live Nativity on the lawn next to Emmanuel Lutheran from 2:30-4:30, weather permitting.

Twenty – 20! – buildings are on this year’s tour. I’ve scanned part of the brochure (see below) so you can check out the buildings and descriptions here. (See above. You MUST have a ticket/brochure to enter any of these buildings tomorrow afternoon!) There are plenty of newcomers… just a few… the Alumni Chapel and Memorial Hall at the Hill School; The Highland House, recently purchased by Wyndcroft School; the former Dr. Porter house at 344 E. High Street; a home on Queen Street in the East End with original woodwork and hardwood floors, representing the beauty of so much of Pottstown’s brick twin housing stock and many, many more. And if that’s not enough, don’t forget about Pottstgrove Manor, the historic home of the founder of our dear town, John Potts…

According to the estimable Evan Brandt in this Mercury article, “From 2 to 8 p.m., Pottsgrove Manor’s annual “Twelfth Night” tours, which continue until Jan. 6, will be transformed into a “Pottsgrove Manor by Candlelight” tour at the historic residence, 100 King St.

A donation of $2 is suggested for this event.

For this one-night-only event, costumed interpreters will portray colonial guests of John Potts, the ironmaster who founded Pottstown and built his mansion in 1752.

As visitors make their way through the house, they will hear the strains of music played on historical instruments, see English country dancing, catch a whiff of the delicious smells in the kitchen as historical cook, Deborah Peterson, prepares a colonial feast, play traditional tavern games, and enjoy the beauty of the mansion lit by candlelight and bedecked with greenery.

Next door to the mansion, in the Miller’s House, young visitors can make free colonial crafts to take home, and complimentary seasonal refreshments of hot spiced cider and cookies will be served.

Outside in the manor’s courtyard, visitors will be able to warm themselves by a bonfire (weather permitting) and enjoy historic carols sung by the Colonial Revelers singing group between 2 and 4 p.m.

Visitors are asked to park at the Carousel at Pottstown building, 30 West King Street; a shuttle will transport visitors to and from Pottsgrove Manor throughout the event. Handicapped parking is available in the museum’s parking lot.”

 

Hometown Holiday activities begin this weekend in downtown Pottstown

Local arts and historic organizations and businesses, along with the Pottstown Downtown Improvement Distric Authority, otherwise known as PDIDA (puh-dee-da), iarebringing a host of Hometown Holiday events to downtown Pottstown on the weekends leading up to Christmas.

Events kick off this Saturday, Dec. 1st when Santa and his elves arrive at 5 p.m., making a healthy, heart-warming entrance at High and Evans Street, before heading down High Street to Smith Plaza for the lighting of the Christmas tree there. Smith Plaza itself will be all lit up, too!

At the Plaza, visitors can enjoy holiday music, free trolley rides from 4:40 to 8 p.m., and horse-drawn wagon rides from 5 to 7 p.m., for just $10.

Santa’s Village will be open with Santa himself, kids’ crafts, reindeer food making, and a coloring contest at Tango Marketing, 139 E. High Street, just across the street from  Smith Plaza.

In the 300 block of High Street, the Empire Hook & Ladder Fire Company will provide roasted chestnuts and other treats. Additional events, including children’s story hours, open houses and activities for children, will be held Fridays, Dec. 7, 14 and 21 and on Saturday, Dec. 8 and 15.

Throughout the holiday season, beginning next Thursday, Dec. 6th,  Steel River Playhouse’s “Annie” will be performed and run through Dec. 22. You can also stop in at ArtFusion 19464 at 254 E. High Street for their winter show, “The Secret Life of Trees”, and to pick up unique gifts.

On Sunday, Dec. 9, the Candlelight Tour of Pottsgrove Manor runs from 2 to 8 p.m., while the Pottstown Holiday Historic House Tour will be from 1 to 6 p.m. A $12 ticket includes a Victorian Tea presented by the Doe Club at the Pottstown Elks from 12noon-2pm.  All homes and buildings on the tour are open from 1pm-6pm.  Free trolley transportation and refreshments for all ticket holders. Tickets are available after Thanksgiving at Carter’s Locksmith Shop, 137 N Hanover Street. $12 in advance, $14 day of tour. For more information contact Sue Krause at (610) 323-2229.

All of these events are sponsored by the Pottstown Downtown Improvement District Authority, Historic Pottstown Neighborhood Association, Pottgrove Manor, Steel River Playhouse, ArtFusion 19464, and individual businesses. BUY LOCAL, PLAY LOCAL, AND CELEBRATE THE HOLIDAYS LOCAL!

The Mercury has posted my blog entry about YWCA’s Literacy Program!

Check out the link HERE.

Remember: Clicking through to the YWCA’s Literacy Program support page and plugging in your valid email address will result in a $1 donation going to the Y’s literacy activities from an anonymous donor. Your email will not be used by the Y or anyone else to solicit you!

Please show your support today for helping others in our community learn to read and write and take on the world!

ArtFusion presents holiday party & holiday show: The Secret Life of Trees

This comes from ArtFusion 19464, a GREAT place to get fun, unique, and beautiful holiday gifts!

Take a peek into the Secret Life of Trees

ArtFusion 19464’s annual holiday show opened November 10 and will be on display in their main gallery through January 5, 2013. The challenge of this show was to interpret the theme of “the secret life of trees.” 38 local artists responded with an amazing breadth of work, from oils and watercolors to recycled sculpture and ceramics. One piece will be awarded a $100 best in show prize, sponsored by Fulton Bank, Pottstown branch. Other show sponsors are: Window Sponsor Dolan& Mayerson, P.C.; NCG, Inc.; Wolf, Baldwin & Associates; and Keller Williams Realty Group.

Participating artists include: Alita Abruzzese, Denise Bennett, Roselyn Cadoff, Mary Chisak, Arline Christ, Richardson Comly, Phillip Compton, Danielle D’Aries, Peter Ehlinger, Cassie Eshelman, Teresa McWilliams Farina, Lisa Foster, Gail Fronheiser, Bob Hakun, Susan Klinger, Mary Kosar, Virginia Gaudiello, Joe Hoover, Millie Lea, Judy Lupas, Ellen Marcus, Charles McCann, Donna Meyers, Geoffrey Meyers, Cari Myford, Harriette Nadler, Beverly Nuzzo, Carol Ross Noyes, Gwendolyn Parrish, Joni Peters, Jackie Pierson, Sue Ploppert, Barbara Rambo, David Ruser, Jodie Scharadin, Dora Siemel, Connie Worth, and Arleen Yeager.

The community is invited to the official opening reception for this show on Friday, December 7 from 5-8pm. This fun event is ArtFusion’s annual holiday party.  Refreshments will be served. That evening is also the perfect chance to start your holiday shopping. Although this event is free, ArtFusion does ask that you RSVP to 610-326-2506

Artist Leigh Ritasse will be creating caricatures during the party as a fundraiser for ArtFusion.  A black and white head and shoulders image is only $20. That evening ArtFusion will also be collecting donations of canned goods for a food drive run by the Pottstown Keystone Chapter 565 of Vietnam Veterans. This food will go to local veterans and their families for the holidays. They are asking for non-perishable items like instant potatoes and stuffing, cranberry sauce, cornbread mix, etc.

ArtFusion 19464 is a 501(c)3 non-profit community art center. The school offers day, evening and weekend classes to all ages. The goal of these classes is to help students develop their creative skills through self-expression and independence. ArtFusion’s gallery hosts rotating shows featuring local artists. The gallery also sells handcrafted, one-of-a-kind gift items.  The gallery is open Tuesday through Friday from 10am-5pm and Saturday 10am-3pm. The gallery is closed Sunday and Monday.

Celebrate National Small Business Day & “Buy Local” this Saturday!

Did you know that shopping at small, local businesses keeps more of your money circulating in the local economy and helps keep those businesses in business? Every purchase means something to those entrepreneurs. Plus, it’s nice just getting to know the folks who have invested in your town for many years or have taken a chance starting a new business more recently.  The holidays are a perfect time to show that you care about sustaining the economic health of your own community by BUYING LOCAL. Below are a few ways you can “Buy Local,” have some fun, and feel part of a growing community of intentional shoppers.

1) This Saturday is National Small Business Day, and there will be a Cash Mob unfolding in downtown Pottstown. Here’s how you can take part…

VISIT  the Pottstown Visitor Center located at 17 N. Hanover Street, before you begin your downtown shopping, any time from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

PICK UP your “Shop Local” cash mob sticker, a map of the Downtown Pottstown Shopping District and detailed instructions on how to play the “Where In The World is Captain Buy Local and Small Biz” game while you shop throughout downtown Pottstown. (Yes, there is actually a superhero called Caption Buy Local and his sidekick Small Biz. Hey, this is Pottstown, and we have superheroes.)

PICK UP special offers and holiday treats that will be offered to Cash Mob participants throughout the day by various merchants.

RETURN your game entry with the approximate amount of money spent by you and your family during the Cash Mob to either the Visitor Center office, or Grumpy’s Hand-Carved Sandwiches, 137 E. High Street, when you are finished with your Cash Mob shopping. The BUY LOCAL organizers want to tally how much is spent in the downtown this Saturday. Remember, the School District spent $55,000 this past spring with their BUY LOCAL challenge; these efforts literally pay off for our merchants!

ArtFusion 19464

2) The Pottstown Downtown Improvement District Authority is running a holiday 5 for $25 Raffle. This is another way to Buy Local, only you can win some big bucks for yourself. Here’s how this works:

BUY a $25 Raffle Ticket at the Visitors’ Center at 17 N. Hanover Street or at Cole’s Tobacc0 or call  Sheila at 610-323-5400 c/ 484-948-6061

SPEND $25 at each of 4 different, participating downtown merchants who are listed on the ticket.

SAVE your receipts.

BRING YOUR RECEIPTS AND TICKET to the Visitors’ Center, Cole’s or Grumpy’s or a participating merchant when you are done shopping. You have until December 22nd at 5 pm to do your shopping and turn in your ticket & receipts!

  • All money collected from this raffle will be used to support the Hometown Holiday Events 2012.
  • ONLY 300 Raffles will be sold. Last sale date is December 22 at 12pm.
  • 1st prize is $2,000; 2nd prize is $1,000; 3rd prizes will include merchandise & gift cards.
  • The drawing for prizes will be held at The New Visitors’ Center at 17 N Hanover St. at 7pm, December 22, 2012. You do not have to be present to win. 

 

 

 

Anonymous donor to support YWCA Literacy Programs with your help!

A campaign to boost the literacy programming at the Pottstown YWCA began this past week and runs through December 11th. Here’s how it works:

The Mercury and several of their  Town Square bloggers, including Positively Pottstown, are talking about literacy – reading and writing. We’re including this link for our readers to click on. It takes you to a page that looks like the one shown at the bottom of this post. When you type in your valid email address, an anonymous donor will give $1 to the Pottstown YWCA literacy programs. It couldn’t be easier! (And please tell them that Positively Pottstown sent you. :-))

In case it hasn’t been obvious by now, I’m a big fan of reading and writing. I’ve been actively writing short stories, novels, memoir, essays, and poetry since about 1996, and I have been an active reader all my life. I still keep my Nancy Drew collection close at hand.

As a teen I went through, yes, a Harlequin Romance phase – boxes and boxes of them during the summer months when there was a used book store in the North End Shopping Center. You could turn a box in for credit and cart home the next batch. Then there was all that college reading, although that’s all a bit fuzzy now…

As a full-fledged adult, though, I’ve been through a Willa Cather phase, a Jack Kerouac phase, a Dawn Powell phase, and an extended journey through American road trip stories. There are tons of them – fiction and nonfiction. Quite recently, I went on a Flannery O’Connor jag and moseyed through The Complete Stories, a National Book Award winner. If I had to recommend just one story for you to read, it would have to be “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” It is taut and chilling.

What I love best about getting to know an author’s work is that it always seems to lead me to find out more about their own lives. Understanding where they grew up, what their family life was like, and what made them tick as a human being leads to all sorts of fascinating connections and a better understanding of their writing. For instance, Flannery O’Connor’s Catholicism  greatly influenced her work, but she also had some major mother-issues! The mother characters in her stories are usually really irritating and often wind up dead. O’Connor suffered from lupus and lived at home with her mother until her premature death in 1964 at the age of 39.

Well, I could go on and on… the thing is, if you, too, have been touched by some great books, please give others in the Pottstown area the chance to experience the same thrill of seeing a story unfold on the page and in their imaginations. Click here, plug in your email and let that anonymous donor give $1 on your behalf to the Pottstown YWCA’s literacy programs. You will be helping to  write a great big happy ending for this campaign!

 

Pottstown Area Artists’ Guild meeting this Tuesday

The November meeting of the Pottstown Area Artists’ Guild will be held Tuesday, November 20th from 7:00 to 9:00 PM. It will take place in the Boyer Gallery of The Hill School’s Center for the Arts located at Beech and Sheridan Streets in Pottstown. (See directions here.)

After a short business meeting, artist Loretta Gable Englerth  will be demonstrating her techniques in watercolor and other mediums. Loretta is a self-taught artist, born and raised in Chester County.

The meeting is free and open to the public.  You do not have to be an artist to attend. Those simply having an interest in art are welcome. The PAAG was founded in 1960. Its mission is, “to promote, inspire and support the artistic spirit within the community.” If you have any questions, need more information, or need directions, please call Barbara Tschantre, president of the Pottstown Area Artists Guild, at 610-764-7586.

SENIOR FOLLIES! SENIOR FOLLIES! THIS WEEKEND!

Seniors Just Want to Have Fun!

Zany, high energy antics this Saturday and Sunday only

Steel River Playhouse

245 E. High Street, Pottstown, PA 19464

 

“Let’s Start the New Year Right,” according to the members of Steel River Playhouse’s 55+ theater troupe which performs its semi-annual Senior Follies this weekend.  The troupe forecasts 2013 through popular songs, zany and campy antics, and as much laughter as they can generate. 

Basic Information

“Let’s Start the New Year Right” will be performed this Saturday, November 17 at 7PM, and this Sunday, November 18 at 3PM in the Newberry Loft at Steel River Playhouse, 245 E. High St., Pottstown, PA 19464.  Tickets range from $8-$12.  More information and tickets are available on-line at http://www.steelriver.org or by calling 610.970.1199. Tickets are also usually available at the door.

Semi-Annual Public Performances
The Senior Follies troupe performs publicly twice yearly as part of Steel River Playhouse’s education program.  This performance is directed by two veteran performers and directors at Steel River Playhouse, Deborah Stimson-Snow, Artistic Director, and Steve Reazor, Education Director.

“This is part of our education program, so everyone who wants to gets to participate in some way.  We have costumes and music, and, frankly, it’s as much fun putting it on as it is watching it in the audience,” Marta Kiesling, Executive Director, said.  “But the seniors take this opportunity seriously, even if fun and laughs are the objective.  Their energy and enthusiasm is infectious.”

Great for Groups

Laughter truly is contagious.  For performers and audience alike.  Come and share, and bring lots of friends!

 

 

Belle Rouge Salon hosting wine & cheese education evening

Belle Rouge Salon is hosting a night of wine and cheese education. It will be held at their salon at 257 E.High Street this Friday, November 16th from 7-9 pm. There is plenty of parking in the Borough lot across the street, on the corner of High and Charlotte, across from The Farmers’ Market.

Tickets are $25 per person with partial proceeds being donated to the Pottstown Cluster of Religious Communities. For more info contact Tracy Williams @ 610 326-5400 or bellerougeonhigh@gmail.com.

POTTSTOWN STUDENT GOVERNMENT WANTS YOUR BLOOD

This comes to us via John Armato at the School District…

Pottstown High School Student Government is hosting a blood drive on November 16th. It will be held in the high school band room and will begin at 7:30 AM. 

The requirements for someone to donate blood are:

  • must be 17 years of age
  • must be at least 110 pounds
  • must not have received a tattoo or body piercing within the last year.

You must register in advance by Nov. 13th! To donate contact Mr. Mark  Agnew at magnew@pottstownsd.org with  name and time you would like to donate on Nov. 16th. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask.

Blood transfusions save more than 4 million lives each year. Student Government President Megan O’Donnell reminds all “it is estimated that blood is needed every two seconds, and that 1 out of 7 people entering the hospital will need blood. Since blood cannot be manufactured or harvested, it can only come from people like YOU – the volunteer blood donor! Thank you in advance!”

DEADLINE TO REGISTER IS NOVEMBER 13.  THERE WILL BE NO WALK-INS THAT DAY. Enter at the High School main office.

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