Pottsgrove Manor will be hosting a colonial cooking workshop, entitled “Chocolate in the Very Best Manner,” on Saturday, February 11th from 10:00am to 3:00pm.
Have a hand in preparing—and eating—colonial chocolate dishes in this hands-on workshop. Foodways historian Deborah Peterson of Deborah Peterson’s Pantry will teach participants how to prepare authentic chocolate “receipts” in Pottsgrove Manor’s reconstructed 18th-century kitchen. Participants will receive a booklet of all the recipes prepared during the workshop.
The workshop is open to participants ages 12 and up. There is a $50 fee per person. Spaces are limited, and registration and payment are required by February 7th. Workshop attendees should wear comfortable clothing and bring an apron and a sack lunch. In case of inclement weather, the workshop will be held Saturday, February 18th. A printable registration form is available at http://historicsites.montcopa.org/pottsgrovemanor. Call the site at 610.326.4014 to register or for more information.
Pottsgrove Manor, home of John Potts, colonial ironmaster and founder of Pottstown, is located at 100 West King Street near the intersection of King Street and Route 100, just off Route 422, in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. Pottsgrove Manor is operated by Montgomery County under the direction of the Parks and Heritage Services Department.
Regular museum hours are: Tuesday to Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. & Sunday, 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Tours are given on the hour; last tour of the day begins as 3:00 p.m. Groups of 10 or more should pre-register by calling 610.326.4014.
This Saturday, January 21st from 11:00am to 3:00pm atPottsgrove Manor,visitors can see what’s cooking in the colonial kitchen with the program “A Distillation of Desserts.”
This open-hearth cooking demonstration will feature Pottsgrove Manor’s historic cooks preparing authentic 18th century recipes for sweets and treats made with a variety of libations. This program wraps up the exhibit “Spirituous Liquors and Healthful Distillations: Alcohol in Colonial America.” Visitors can take a tour of the exhibit during their visit; this will be one of the last opportunities to see the exhibit before it closes on January 29th.
Regular museum hours are: Tuesday to Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. & Sunday, 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Tours are given on the hour; last tour of the day begins as 3:00 p.m. Groups of 10 or more should pre-register by calling 610.326.4014.
Pottsgrove Manor, home of John Potts, colonial ironmaster and founder of Pottstown, is located at 100 West King Street near the intersection of King Street and Route 100, just off Route 422, in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. Pottsgrove Manor is operated by Montgomery County under the direction of the Parks and Heritage Services Department.
This afternoon at 3 pm is your last chance to take the family to A CHRISTMAS STORY at theTri-County Performing Arts Center, 254 E. High St., Pottstown. This is a classic holiday tale of the mischievous, be-speckled young boy, Ralphie, who dreams of getting a BB-gun for Christmas. In the weeks before the big holiday, Ralphie and his friends and family get into all kinds of sticky situations – including a bully with yellow eyes, a tongue stuck to a lamp post, a bar of soap in the mouth, a garish major award, and a Chinese Christmas dinner. Based on the humorist Jean Shepherd’s novel “In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash”, A CHRISTMAS STORY is the perfect holiday treat for the whole family! Tickets are $21 for adults, $19 for seniors and students, and $15 for children 12 & under.
And Twelfth Night Tours at Pottsgrove Manor are running through Sun., Jan. 8 during regular museum hours, which are Tues.-Sat. 10 am to 4 pm and Sun. 1 to 4 pm. Learn about traditional colonial celebrations of Twelfth Night. Pottsgrove Manor is at 100 W. King Street, near Route 100 in Pottstown. There is a $2/person suggested donation.
Among this year's first taggers, courtesy Pine Hill Tree Farm
Do you have a young family that is starting to create its own holiday traditions? Ever want to get back to basics and enjoy the satisfaction that comes from picking your own Christmas tree and sawing it down in the crisp December air while the kids sip hot chocolate and think you are the best mom or dad in the whole wide world?
You can do all that at the Pine Hill Choose-N-Cut Christmas Tree Farm on Sheep Hill Road in North Coventry. Pine Hill has been run by the Sally and Dick Heylmun family for 45 years! And for the past 20 years, they have held their prices steady at $25 a tree. Now they are offering a $5 discount if you get your tree on Monday through Thursday; just mention Positively!Pottstown. That is a great price for that special tree that will work for you and your home. (Some of the larger and more perfect specimens are individually priced higher.)
Pine Hill is just 2 miles from downtown Pottstown, yet has that full country atmosphere. Mrs. Heylmun still mows around the trees, shears them, and generally oversees the care of the farm, keeping the place like a lawn. Having raised 5 boys on a teacher’s pay, the Heylmuns know what it costs to raise a family, and they have refused to raise prices.
This year, there’s an abundance of Scotch pines. They also have a good supply of white pines and Norway spruce. There’s a limited supply of Colorado Blue spruce.
The Douglas firs and Fraser firs are pre-cut from a local farm and will be delivered this year the day before Thanksgiving, Dec. 1, and Dec. 8. The Pine Hill website provides nice photos and descriptions of the various trees and their needles, so you can decide ahead of time what kind of tree you’re interested in.
Remember: You choose and cut your own tree. They do offer saws to borrow. No chainsaws, please!
Choose-n-cut your tree on Monday through Thursday, mention Positively!Pottstown and get a $5 discount – no coupons required!
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!
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!
It’s apple season and Pottsgrove Manor is holding interactive demonstrations on how the colonial settlers made hard cider, apple butter and other apple recipes. It’s taking place this Saturday, October 22 from 11 am-3 pm. Visitors can try their hand at the cider press and youngsters can make a themed craft to take home. There’s a $2 suggested donation per person.
Pottsgrove Manor is located at the intersection of King Street and Route 100 in Pottstown. For more info, visit their website.
Pottsgrove Manor
100 West King Street
Pottstown, PA 19464-6318
Phone: (610) 326-4014
Fax: (610) 326-9618
Hours: Tues.-Sat. 10 am to 4 pm; Sun. 1 to 4 pm
Come to the Park for a day filled with music, art, food, and educational experiences.
Join us for Free, Family Experience
5th Annual Schuylkill River Festival
Riverfront Park and College Drive Montgomery County Community College
Pottstown, PA 19464
I found a short history of the origin of Labor Day at the U.S. Department of Labor website. There seems to be some question about who actually proposed the tradition, but it seems pretty clear that it was first put into practice in 1882 in New York City. Check out the story here.
From the DOL… “The vital force of labor added materially to the highest standard of living and the greatest production the world has ever known and has brought us closer to the realization of our traditional ideals of economic and political democracy. It is appropriate, therefore, that the nation pay tribute on Labor Day to the creator of so much of the nation’s strength, freedom, and leadership — the American worker.”
Wishing all those who work, a satisfying day of rest.
Thanks to resident Debby Penrod for reporting that Pottstown’s long-standing Fourth of July celebration made the Channel 6 news. See the videohere.
The comment near the end about the event being funded through private donations, rather than tax dollars, will surely strike locals as a skimming of the surface of the very real difficulty of funding the event. The many volunteers who make this and many other community events happen are to be commended for all their hard work and dedication throughout the years. Unfortunately, it’s no longer business-as-usual for the private or public sectors. There’s got to be a new modelof broader and more innovative collaboration in order to keep these community events going — if they are to keep going at all.
Balloon lifts off
As part of the Heritage Action Plan process that took place this spring – the plan is in the final stages of being drafted – it was noted that Pottstown is the host for local and regional events just about every month out of the year. See list below.
What does this have to do with raising money for the Fourth of July? The marketing of these events is left up to the individual organizations who run them. Pottstown, as the home of these events, does not “claim them” as their own, supplementing and coordinating with the existing marketing. Imagine the events on this list always being promoted together, wrapped up in a simple, cohesive branding message, on the Borough, PDIDA, PACA and (eventually) PAID websites.
Pottstown would suddenly look like a place where something fun is always happening. Potential visitors would see the pattern and realize that there is fun and safe entertainment to be found in Pottstown on a regular basis. This is a crucial step (among many others) toward marketing Pottstown’s empty storefronts, industrial space and housing to newcomers — and this is where new donors, volunteers and organizational partners can be found to help keep traditional community events like the Fourth of July going. Donors, especially, want to feel like they are supporting not only a worthwhile cause but a “winning” cause.
Pottstown already has a winning line-up. It just needs to flesh out a couple months, come up with the message (speak with one voice!) and market the hell out of it.
And just because I can’t help myself, here are a few ideas to toss onto the table:
January – continue the winter holiday spirit with Friday Night Lights downtown with literary readings, music and hot cider at multiple venues; bring in outside talent as well as locals, including students from all schools.
February – come up with a Valentine’s Day-themed event or weekend; schedule historical walking tours and coordinate with Pottsgrove Manor & Historical Society programming over Presidents’ weekend.
March – St. Patrick’s Day Pub Crawl (Brickhouse, Frankie & Johnnie’s, Pourhouse, Jack Cassidy’s)
April – Repent from Pub Crawl by focusing on Easter season events and holding historic church tours every weekend; add outdoor activities such as Schuylkill River bike and kayak tours every weekend.
November – Open up the holiday season with Pottstown Pie Festival. Re-claim Mrs. Smith and our pie-making heritage!!
Festivals/Special Events in Pottstown, by month
January – Polar Bear Plunge
February – ?
March – ?
April – Easter/Cross Walk
May – BMX National Event; Classic Car Show
June– Schuylkill River Sojourn; Soap Box Derby; Volleyball Rumble; Summer Solstice/Dog Show; Classic Car Show
July – July 4th; Classic Car Show
August – Classic Car Show
September – Carousel of Flavor; Open Doors; Classic Car Show
October –Schuylkill River Festival; Halloween Parade; Shiver on the River
November – ?
December – Candlelight House Tour; Hometown Holiday Celebration
Positively Pottstown blog 