Smith Plaza – Page 2 – Positively Pottstown blog

This Saturday, September 11th, Pottstown will commemorate the tragic events of that day, nine years ago.

After opening ceremonies and remembrances at Smith Family Plaza at 11 am, the School District, businesses, arts and community groups, The Hill School, Genesis Housing, Pottsgrove Manor and more are publicly opening their doors for the rest of the day to encourage people to spend time together, get further acquainted with their downtown, and to strengthen community bonds. The School District initiated the event, which has come to be known as “Open Doors.” It’s got a contagious, positive vibe that’s almost magical, judging from today’s Mercury.

The Mercury is running articles all week. For news stories and a schedule, check out the District’s website here, and the Pottstown Arts & Cultural Alliance blog here.

In general, downtown locations will have special events going on from 11-3.

From 3-6 pm, the High School will hold an open house – with a gazillion activities! – followed by a home football game at 7 pm vs. Upper Moreland.

Building community, one piece at a time…
From 11-2:30, Positively!Pottstown is offering puzzle-building at tables at The Gallery on High and the Pottstown Regional Public Library. Puzzles of various Pottstown buildings will be available for anyone to piece together at these locations. They can then be broken up and started all over again. Fun for adults and kids!

At 3 pm, the puzzle-building will continue over at the High School. There, students can also put their name into a free drawing for a book; there will be books for all grade levels. Buildings… books… what else do you expect from a planner and writer? 🙂

Big shout-outs!
Much thanks to Mr. Armato at the High School, Mike Packard at the Library, and Erika Hornburg-Cooper of The Gallery School for providing space for the puzzles.

This past weekend, another First Saturday (brought to you by the Pottstown Arts & Cultural Alliance) brought the downtown to life with music, community-building and classic cars.

This was the first time I set up a table, and I sure was grateful to get an iced mocha from Churchill and to get a spot under a canopy from Erica Hornburg-Cooper from The Gallery School. When kids stopped by to do art projects, they usually grabbed a bottle of bubbles and a Positively!Pottstown re-usable bag from my table.

It seemed like lots of people were getting great book bargains from the Pottstown Public Library sale. As they kept making their way to my table, it became obvious that I should just turn my bags over to the folks at the library so people could put their books directly into them there! Since the 4th of July, 250 Positively!Pottstown bags have infiltrated the community, bringing day-glo orange cheeriness to shopping carts throughout the region. Can a world dominated by positivity be far behind??

Another cool thing about hanging out at Smith Family Plaza on First Saturday is that the world comes to you, bringing ideas for future blog posts. I met Louis Rieger of High Street Music. And Ross Landy of WPAZ Preservation Association. And when lunchtime rolled around, my mom brought a delicious and filling sandwich from Grumpy’s, who will be featured in an article later this week.

Rounding out the music for the day was “Maggie Spike,” the duo of Eric and Peggy Gernerd. These Berks County natives play a very enjoyable, foot-tapping mix of acoustic folk, rock, jazz and reggae that has you humming along in no time.

Maggie Spike and Mike Holliday (courtesy of Maggie Spike)

And, finally, since I really had to get home, I could only glimpse the beginning of the Pottstown Classics Car Club Nostalgia Night and make plans to spend some more time there next month. The next First Saturday, which will be the final one for 2010, will take place on September 4th – hope to see you then!