Tag: Revitalization

THE CRUCIBLE NOW SHOWING AT THE TRI-PAC

Courtesy of Village Productions
What if speaking the simple truth meant certain death. Would you lie? If being loyal cost you everything you love, would you betray? Themes of truth, loyalty and betrayal are explored in a new staging of The Crucible at the Tri-County Performing Arts Center, 245 E. High Street, Pottstown.

A Tony Award Winner for Best Play, this drama about the Puritan purge of witchcraft in old Salem is both a gripping historical play and a timely parable of our contemporary society. The story focuses upon a young farmer, his wife, and a young servant-girl who maliciously causes the wife’s arrest for witchcraft. The farmer brings the girl to court to admit the lie – and it is here that the monstrous course of bigotry and deceit is terrifyingly depicted. Arthur Miller’s masterpiece was written during Senator Joseph McCarthy’s House Un-American Activities Committee hearings, for which Miller was called to testify in 1956.

Visiting Director John Moletress recently received The John Aniello Award for Outstanding Emerging Theatre Company at the Helen Hayes Awards in Washington, DC. The award recognizes the excellent work of Mr. Moletress’ home theater, Factory 449: a theatre collective, which is committed to maintaining an ensemble of multi-disciplinary artists and professionals dedicated to the collaborative process of creating “theatre as event” through dynamic and innovative productions.

The cast includes Brent Adams, Jim Lewis, Andrea Frassoni, Sue Giddings, Nancy Dolan, Titilola Verissimo, Molly Lang, Cassie Van Druff, Isabella Rota-Talarico, Hannah Paczkowski, Ali Dougherty, Jeff Hunsicker, Bob Stineman, Frank DiElsi, Paul Fein, Paul Recupero, Emma Russek, Jim Ewald, Frank Licopoli, Elissa Drummond, Maggie Swahl, and Mark Schule.

The Crucible runs Thursdays through Sundays until March 20th. Tickets cost $13 – $21, with special group discounts available for all shows. Tickets may be purchased online at www.tripac.org, by calling 610-970-1199, or at the door if available. A study guide with more information about the show is available for download here. Parents: due to themes about relationships, this show is rated PG.

**If you’re coming to the Positively!Pottstown Happy Hour on Friday, March 18 at the Tri-PAC, AND you want to see The Crucible afterward, you can get a $2 discount on your ticket to the show! Simply call the box office at 610-970-1199 or email Beth at beth@villageproductions.org to purchase your discounted tickets. Then pick up your $2 coupon at the Happy Hour, get your tickets at the box office that night, and present the coupon at that time. Due to the staging, seating is more limited for this show.**

Village Production/The Tri-County Performing Arts Center is a dynamic performing arts organization founded in 2001 by a dedicated team of performing artists, arts educators, and area residents who dreamed of creating new and highly accessible performing arts opportunities for the community. Village Productions seeks to strengthen community, inspire creative exploration, educate, and entertain, through the presentation of quality performing arts events and educational opportunities geared toward a diverse audience.

Creating public art through local partnerships

I just had to share this link to the website of Olde Town Grove City, PA. I got it from Stephanie Dittrich Conlon; she’s the creator of Community Buzz, which covers Berks County towns. Thanks, Stephanie!

It’s a great example of a bunch of local partners coming together to create public art around a parking signage project. It involves students from a residential treatment community, the borough’s Design Committee, the school district, an artist-in-residence, ArtsErie and other arts funders, Interstate Machine and Fabrication, Canadian National Railroad, Tower Presbyterian Church and the Borough of Grove City, among others.

Pottstown is now creating a Heritage Action Plan that will include similar partnerships to come up with a vision, goals and objectives to draw visitors from the Schuylkill River Trail to its downtown. Check out the Pottstown Heritage Action Plan page at Facebook and join the conversation!

Heritage Action Plan needs your input!

Last Friday, about 20 individuals and representatives from many different organizations in the community gathered at the Tri-County Area Chamber of Commerce for a 3.5 hour workshop to really dig into Pottstown’s Heritage Action Plan. Pottstown is creating a Heritage Action Plan or HAP with funds from the Schuylkill River Heritage Area (SRHA). The purpose is to come up with a plan that will help promote and protect Pottstown’s heritage resources, make it a destination location and promote economic development.

On hand were Bob Folwell and Kara Wilson from the SRHA, as well as heritage planning consultants Shane and Peter Johnston from Peter Johnston Associates of Easton, MD. They were there to give an overview of the heritage planning toolkit, which they developed and which is being used to guide Pottstown through the process.

Our first step had been reaching out and trying to find “partners” to participate. A partner can be just about anyone, from an interested citizen to the Pottstown Area Health & Wellness Foundation, the Tri-County Performing Arts Center, The Hill School, the Pottstown Community Land Trust, or local blogger Roy Keeler. I have gotten back partnership forms from several participants. To anyone else who would like to be an official partner: please get me your forms by this Friday, March 11! The Partnership_Form can be accessed here for anyone reading this for the first time.

After forming useful partnerships, the next step from the toolkit is creating a vision and goals. On Friday, we went around the room and people shared their vision for what the town could look like and feel like in an ideal world, while consultant Shane Johnston typed away. We came up with some common themes, which will be posted here shortly. We will also open up that conversation to the public for more input.

The next major step from the toolkit is to identify and assess a community’s heritage resources. Before we can market Pottstown, we need to catalogue exactly what resources we have and then decide which ones will provide the most immediate, visible return if we spend money to promote them. When this HAP is completed in April, we will apply for $25,000 to the SRHA to implement those top priorities over the course of the next year.

In an effort to bring the wider community into the conversation, we are putting out a request for help in identifying Pottstown’s “heritage resources.” Readers are welcome to respond here or at our Facebook page: Pottstown Heritage Action Plan.

So, what exactly is a “heritage resource”?

Here are a bunch of categories and some examples to get you thinking:

Historic Sites/Structures
– Downtown historic walking tours
– Potts Cemetery
– Edgewood Cemetery
– Various war memorials

Archeological Sites/Structures

Cultural Sites (Churches, Synagogues, etc.)
– Any historic church in town

Educational Institutions and Libraries
– Pottstown Historical Society
– Pottstown Regional Public Library

Museums & Other Interpretive Centers

Arts, Entertainment, and Shopping Areas

Major Highways and Roads

Trails, Greenways, Bikeways, Railroads

Sensitive Environmental Areas, Natural Wonders

Parks and Recreation Areas
– Riverfront Park
– Memorial Park

Tourism Dependent Businesses (hotels, restaurants, bars)

Special Events/Festivals that highlight local history/culture
– Schuylkill River Festival
– Carousel of Flavor
– July 4th
– Volleyball Rumble

Tourist Facilities (public restrooms, parking)

Other Resources

WE NEED YOU TO JOIN THE CONVERSATION
What are some of Pottstown’s resources that you’d like to see on the list? As people respond, I’ll periodically update the list. Because of our short time frame to complete the plan, it would be great if people could get their suggestions in by this Friday, March 11th. If you have any questions, or would like to be involved further, send an email to PtownHAP@gmail.com Thanks for participating!

Big Turnout for Farmers’ Market Happy Hour

Farmers' Market, High & Charlotte
This past Friday night we had an awesome turnout of about 75 people for the Happy Hour at the Farmers’ Market. The new owners, Ben Moscia and Elise LeBoutillier, were our gracious hosts. They’ve already done a lot of work to spruce up the Market and will be putting things in motion over the coming weeks and months to do even more work on the building and the exterior and get new tenants in. Please, please support their efforts and the businesses that are already there by BUYING LOCAL.

Sheila and Gene Dugan of Grumpy’s provided a really nice spread, including scrumptious chocolate cake and carrot cake by Company Cakes at 26 N. Charlotte Street.

We heard inspirational words and updates from Mayor Heath, Superintendent Dr. Reed Lindley, Borough Manager Jason Bobst and WPAZ station manager Ross Landy.

Mayor Heath

There were a lot of new faces at this event, and I hope we can keep bringing people together to make connections and forge partnerships that will create a better Pottstown.

The next Happy Hour will be on Friday, March 18 from 5-7:30 pm at the Tri-County Performing Arts Center at 245 E. High Street. Tri-PAC will be putting on The Crucible that night, and I encourage you to purchase your ticket to the show in advance, then come out to the Happy Hour for a good time before the show. My BUY LOCAL pitch includes supporting the local arts scene! I’ll get the invite out on Monday, but anyone can rsvp for the next Happy Hour by sending an email to positivelypottstown@gmail.com. Hope to see you downtown!





Marketing Pottstown as a Trail Town: We need you!

On February 9, I first blogged about the Heritage Action Planning process getting underway in Pottstown with a grant from the Schuylkill River Heritage Area. As a consultant working with Pottstown resident Tom Carroll on implementing the grant for the Borough, I also sent out emails & a questionnaire to a list of potential “Partners” in the process.

The overall intent of creating a Heritage Action Plan (HAP) is to improve the connections between the Trail and downtown Pottstown and to identify and leverage existing arts, cultural, historical and recreational resources to spur economic activity.

Based on a few recent conversations, I’d like to give a pared down explanation of what this process is all about and why it needs strong participation from arts & cultural organizations, educational institutions, government, businesses and restaurants – all of whom are known as “Partners.”

1. When we finish the Heritage Acton Plan or HAP by the end of April, we’re going to immediately turn around and apply for $25,000 from the SRHA to enact the plan by May 2012. This isn’t going to be just another planning study that sits on a shelf; we’re going to get something done.

2. The HAP will include marketing strategies, branding, and physical enhancements to make people aware of what’s downtown.

3. We want to create a Trail Town identity for Pottstown. More and more it’s looking like High Street will become a permanent leg on the Schuylkill River Trail. As the Trail connections are completed between Philly and Pottsville, more and more people are going to be coming through Pottstown. We want them to know that they can stop in Pottstown and find something to do and something to eat. (Pottstown needs to simultaneously look at its zoning and create a package of economic development incentives for new & existing businesses downtown, too, but that’s not part of the HAP process.)

4. Visitors coming off the Trail might not be in a position to go to a nice restaurant or the Tri-PAC that day. But once we get them downtown, we want them to know EVERYTHING that’s available so they want to come back again to experience something else.

5. One of the main outcomes of this plan will likely be VISIBLE & ATTRACTIVE KIOSKS at the Riverfront Park Trailhead, at a possible new trailhead in Pollock Park in south Pottstown, and in the downtown. The trailhead kiosks will make it clear how to get to High Street. All of them will have maps and show what’s available downtown by categories like: The Arts, Historical Attractions, Casual Dining, Fine Dining, Recreation.

6. These kiosks will essentially be “telling a story” that informs and entices EVERYONE to walk around, enjoy local history & architecture, see an art show or the performing arts, and stop in at a restaurant. The marketing of Pottstown as a Trail Town is meant to touch a wider audience of visitors, not just Trail users.

7. The Schuylkill River Heritage Area wants to help the towns along the river use the Trail as an economic engine. This Heritage Action Planning process is the first step.

Anyone interested in being a Partner is invited to meet other Partners and participate in a workshop with the Schuylkill River Heritage Area’s consultants, Peter Johnston & Associates, on Friday, March 4 from 1:30-5 p.m. at the Tri-County Area Chamber of Commerce, 152 E. High Street, Pottstown, PA 19464. Please RSVP to Sue Repko at PtownHAP@gmail.com or 609-658-9043.

Next Happy Hour at Farmers’ Market, Feb. 25

Come out and meet the new owners of The Farmers’ Market

– Ben Moscia & Elise LeBoutillier –
and hear their plans for reinvigorating this crucial corner of High Street!

Friday, Feb. 25 from 5-7 pm
300 E. High Street
Pottstown, PA 19464

Your $5 cover gets you food by Grumpy’s
and complimentary beverages!
RSVP to positivelypottstown@gmail.com
Would your business or organization like to host a
Positively!Pottstown Happy Hour?
We want to promote Pottstown businesses and organizations
and get people into your space.
Email Sue Repko at positivelypottstown@gmail.com.

Heritage destination location: Pottstown

The Borough of Pottstown recently received a $2,000 Trail Towns and Tours Grant from the Schuylkill River Heritage Area (SRHA). Pottstown resident and biking and greenway advocate, Tom Carroll, and I have been retained by the Borough to implement this grant, and this blog post is meant to kick off that process and give some details about how it will work. Along the way, we’ll keep the community informed via this blog. For a good summary of the purpose of the grants, see Evan Brandt’s article from January 29th here.

The Trail Towns and Tours Grant is to be used to create a 30-page Heritage Action Plan (HAP) by the end of April 2011. It’s a deliberately short time frame in order to get results and for the SRHA to meet the William Penn Foundation’s time limits for spending the funds.

The overall intent of creating the HAP and going through a planning and consensus-building process (however quick) is to identify and leverage existing cultural resources, market Pottstown as a heritage destination, and get Schuylkill River Trail users (and other visitors) into the downtown to spur economic activity. Just as important will be the chance to develop and formalize solid working partnerships among individuals, organizations and businesses committed to promoting downtown Pottstown. This is what we’ve all been talking about for quite a while, and this grant gives the community a chance to try it out – working together and presenting a new image to potential visitors, outside governmental agencies and funders, as well as residents themselves.

It should be noted that heritage tourism IS economic development, but that it should be considered just one prong of a multi-pronged economic development strategy for Pottstown. There is still plenty of room to develop and promote Pottstown as an arts community, or one that values and hosts sustainable technology companies, or whatever other approach comes out of other visioning/planning efforts.

So, what is a heritage or cultural resource? I’ll just give a few examples: the River and its trail; historical architecture, markers & walking tours in the downtown; arts organizations; restaurants, including “heritage eateries,” such as The Very Best and the diner; the Historical Society; The Hill School; Pottsgrove Manor; Riverfront & Memorial Parks; a completed Carousel & mini-golf, etc. Visitors want an authentic experience when they decide on a destination and how to spend their money. Pottstown has loads to offer and the point of this grant is to identify and package it all in a way that will appeal to these visitors.

Another key part of this planning process will be looking at what needs to be done to make it very easy for people biking or hiking on the Trail to know what’s available in town and then actually direct them off the trail and safely to High Street. This whole approach is based on the idea of making the Pottstown Business Loop – a stretch of High Street – an official part of the River Trail, since it’s unlikely a right-of-way along the river will be available from Norfolk Southern anytime soon.

We’ll be helped along in this process by using what’s known as the Heritage Towns and Tours Toolkit, provided by the SRHA and created by their consultants, Peter Johnston & Associates of Easton, MD. From a planning perspective, this Toolkit is just amazing, allowing communities (& consultants, I might add) to dive in where they might otherwise be totally intimidated. The Toolkit lays out a step-by-step process to create a HAP with the rationale, forms and examples that make it seem do-able. Even better is that the SRHA grant comes with $5,000 worth of consulting services from Peter Johnston & Associates. They will be in Pottstown at least once for a 3-4 hour workshop to help us work our way through the Toolkit. We’ll also have support from the SRHA staff, who are right around the corner at 140 College Drive.

Basically, we will go through the following 5 steps:

1. Organize & Plan – What do we want for our community as a heritage destination? Form Useful Partnerships; Create a Vision & Goals, and Define Partner Expectations.

2. Identify & Assess – What do we have to offer as a heritage destination? Identify Heritage Resources; Assess Heritage Resources; and Bring People and Ideas Together.

3. Market & Improve – What do we need to market our community and what has already been done? Create an Image; Market Your Community; Improve Effectiveness.

4. Protect & Manage – How do we get there? Build Public Support, Look at Ordinances & Other Regulations, Make Any Recommendations That Will Help Protect Resources.

5. Prepare & Implement – How to complete the Heritage Action Plan?
Define Projects and Activities, Assign Costs, Manage Resources Over Long-Term

By the end of this process, Pottstown will have:
• A List of Partners and Stakeholders
• A Vision, Goals, and Objectives
• A Summary of Stakeholders and Assigned Jobs, Tasks, and Other Duties for Partners
• An Inventory of Heritage Resources, which have been Evaluated and Assessed for the Heritage Program
• A Marketing Plan Summary including an Image/Brand
• A Listing of Current Government Protections for Heritage Preservation and Tourism
• A Summary of Needed Policy and Regulatory Protections for Heritage Resources
• A Project List, Description of Projects, and Budgets
• A Final List of Recommendations or Strategic Actions including projects; and
• An Organizational Structure for the Long-Term Management and Oversight of the Heritage Program

The HAP will then be used to make another application to the SRHA for $25,000 in implementation funding to carry out the top priorities in the Plan. Those activities must be completed by May 2012.

The next step for Tom and me is to get in touch with folks from an initial list of local “Partners,” inviting them to participate in the process and start filling out a Partnership Form from the Toolkit. Please give me a day or so to get that email out. We invite others who want to participate to get in touch with us at PtownHAP@gmail.com.

Obviously, I think there’s a lot of potential here to get some solid forward movement on the economic development front. I appreciate the Borough giving Tom and me the chance to work on the project and rally the community around common goals – an improved local economy, stronger partnerships and more positive exposure and marketing of all that Pottstown has to offer.

Happy Hour is on!

Hey, folks – the Happy Hour is on at 5 pm at The Gallery, 254 E. High Street. My sources tell me there are some parking spots across the street, in the lot at Charlotte/High and behind the New York Plaza building (Penn/High). Give yourself some extra time. No rush – we’ll be there until 7:30. See you then!

Positively!Pottstown Happy Hour this Friday

Hi, Folks —

It’s 2011 and time to re-connect, catch up, and throw ourselves anew into this crazy endeavor known as the revitalization of Pottstown. 🙂

The next Positively!Pottstown Happy Hour is this Friday, Jan. 28th at The Gallery on High at 254 E. High Street. The fun starts at 5:01 pm and goes until 7:30 pm. We’ve extended the event by a half-hour for those who are fighting Friday night traffic to attend. Thank you to Erika Hornburg-Cooper and Cathy Paretti for welcoming us into their space!

We’re about 50-strong at this point, and it’s not too late to send an email to positivelypottstown@gmail.com and say you plan on stopping by. Just bring yourself, a friend or two, a smile, and $5/person to cover food; any profits will go to The Gallery. We’ll be featuring cornbread muffins and wings from Martha’s Famous at 259 E. High Street.

This Friday night, warm up with cool art and cool people at The Gallery — see you then!

WPAZ –Community Radio for Pottstown

Before I tell you all about WPAZ and their really cool vision for what community radio is going to be in Pottstown, I have to make a confession:  I am a total radio geek. I love radio.  Don’t ever ask me who is on Dancing with the Stars or American Idol because I actually have no idea when or where to find those shows.  But, if you want to know what’s on NPR at 2pm weekdays or who the guests are this week on Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me, well, you’ve come to the right person.

Ross Landy, Station Manager of WPAZ

So, when I got the chance to visit the WPAZ studios last week and see what’s going on, I was pretty excited.  Actually, everyone in Pottstown should be pretty excited about what the new WPAZ radio (1370 on you AM radio dial) is doing here in town.

Station Manager, Ross Landy, who worked hard and long with General Manager, Rick Rodgers, to get WPAZ back on the air as a local station, is absolutely passionate about what radio can do for Pottstown.  “We are Pottstown people,” he says. And the station is going to be about local issues, organizations, businesses, musicians.  It has the power to raise awareness and cover topics with a local focus and be entertaining at the same time.

Station Manager Ross Landy and morning DJ Brian James

While I am not old enough to have sat around the radio at night instead of the television, I do have a real appreciation for radio shows.  I remember fondly listening to Rock and Roll Roots, an old WMMR show that was hosted by Earle Bailey.  It kept me company for many Saturday mornings when I had to be at work.

For me, good radio is conversation. It’s not about someone pushing the shuffle button on an enormous playlist and then jumping in every now and then with a commercial break.  It’s the idea that the person playing the music has something to share with the audience.  WPAZ gets it.

WPAZ is offering plenty of good radio and tons of conversation.  I took some time during this, their inaugural week, to listen to the station and you should, too.  It’s not like a regular broadcast station where you know exactly what you are in for when you choose country music or Top 40 or even Oldies.  Instead, you will be part of a conversation which might include music or talk or a little bit of both.

Here’s a look at some of what’s lined up at WPAZ so far:

6-9 AM           The morning show with Randi Ellis and Betsy Chapman

9-Noon            Brian James –an eclectic mix of music with a little extra

1-3 PM             Ken’s Koffee Shop-music and call in conversation

You can also tune in Wednesday nights for Notes from Home with Mike Holliday, a live music show featuring local musicians. And, look for much more in the future.  The Hip Places to be Scene in Pottstown girls, Janet Flack and Gina Stango will have a show soon.

Landy and his crew of radio aficionados have big plans to make WPAZ both a voice for the community and part of its ongoing revitalization. You can look forward to live appearances in the spring at events and a real presence on the local music scene.  The station is broadcasting 24/7 right now and will offer live internet streaming in the near future.

So, even if you aren’t a self-professed radio geek like me, it’s worth tuning in to see what’s happening over at WPAZ.

WPAZ Radio   1370 AM

www.wpazradio.com

find them on facebook:  www.facebook.com/wpazradio

Call the station at 610-326-4000

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