National Night Out in Pottstown was a lot of fun! I had a great time dribbling with the youngsters, catching up with Judy Memberg, Executive Director of Genesis Housing and Katy Jackson of CPR, and meeting Pastor Reggie of Victory Christian Life Center. Thanks to all the organizers and volunteers! For more coverage, check out The Mercury’s story here.
National Night Out
I’ll be at the Chestnut Street Park today from about 5-6:15 to have some fun and observe National Night Out before going to a local bloggers’ meeting. Although I tweaked my back at the gym yesterday, I’ll be bringing some basketballs — I think I’ll still be able to run a few dribbling games with the kids 🙂
National Night Out is in its 27th year. Their website describes the event as “an effective, inexpensive and enjoyable program to promote neighborhood spirit and police-community partnerships in our fight for a safer nation.” Locally, the event is being organized and sponsored by Genesis Housing Corp., Victory Christian Life Center and Citizens for Pottstown’s Revitalization. The park is at the corner of Chestnut and Washington Streets. See you there!
Beaufort’s Run: Wooded sanctuary close to home
Positively!Pottstown is proud to publish our first guest post and photos by Pottstown resident and freelance writer Rosemary Keane. Welcome, Rosemary!
On a recent weekend in June, a good friend and I left husbands and kids at home to go on the Pottstown Area Garden Club’s annual garden tour. We were both looking for some inspiration for our own home gardens and we found plenty.
All of the homes on the tour offered picturesque gardens, each with their own individual style and aesthetic. From the beautifully landscaped pool at the first home, to the Zen Japanese garden tucked away at a home in Trappe, we were amazed at the creativity and hard work that had gone into each one.
What we hadn’t expected to find was a 10-acre nature preserve – Beaufort’s Run – in Upper Pottsgrove Township. Tucked away on Detweiler Road, Beaufort’s Run is a privately-owned sanctuary that is open to the public and has been named a Certified Wildlife Habitat by the National Wildlife Federation.
It was a hot and sticky Saturday morning, but as we made our way onto the wood chip path, we felt the temperature drop significantly under the shade of the trees. We followed the path all the way through the garden, which is dotted with little statues and signs and has several benches if you want to sit and just enjoy the beauty of the woods. Before we even finished walking the trail, we were talking about returning to Beaufort’s Run, but next time, we decided, we would bring our kids.
There is also a geocache stashed away in the preserve, for which you will need your handheld GPS and the secret location to find it. If you’ve never heard of geocaching, it’s basically a 21st century, high-tech scavenger hunt which begins at www.geocaching.com and sends you on the hunt for hidden treasures.
You can find more information about Beaufort’s Run and their mission to create a public resource with healing gardens, memorial gardens and a place for everyone to enjoy nature at their website: http://www.beaufortsrun.com.
The Pottstown Garden Club, which consists of about 70 gardening enthusiasts, sponsors the annual garden tour. They meet the second Friday of each month at Emmanuel Lutheran Church on Hanover Street in Pottstown. During the summer months, they meet at members’ homes. For more information, you can contact club president, Jo Ann Waddell at 610-948-6415. 
Preservation Pottstown’s July 4th Activities
Preservation Pottstown is a non-profit group that undertakes a host of activities to support and celebrate what’s awesome about Pottstown.
One of their premier events is the Patriotic 5K Run, which will take place this year on Saturday, July 3rd. Parking is at The Hill School‘s Center for the Arts at Beech & Sheridan Streets, Pottstown, PA 19464.
Registration begins at 7 a.m. at The Hill School, and the gun goes off at 8 a.m. See the 5K Race page at the July 4th website or download an entry form here. For more information, call 610-970-6607/6608 or 610-970-6618.
Preservation Pottstown is also a sponsor of Bike Pottstown, the free bike program run by Tri-County Bicycles at 256 High Street. They are rallying a contingent of bikers for the July 4th Homecoming Parade. Tri-County Cycles has 3o bikes in their fleet, available to the first 30 riders who show up. Kids and adults are encouraged to bike into town or bring their bikes, if you’re from out of town, and meet up at the bike shop around 9:45. From there, all bikers will go together to High and Keim Streets to wait for their turn to join the parade, which starts at 10:15.
Bikers will get to see everyone in front of them and, then, when they reach the end of the parade route, they will get to see everyone behind them. Bikers will not miss a thing! So, tape a few streamers to your handlebars, put on your red, white & blue and bike over – I will see you there!
Park planting brings neighbors together
Thanks to Tom Carroll of Preservation Pottstown for these photos from today’s gardening activities at the park at the corner of Washington and Chestnut!
Katy Jackson, one of the organizers from Citizens for Pottstown’s Revitalization, says via email, “We just arrived home from the park planting and it was superb!! The children in the neighborhood were as excited as they could be. They did a great job and each child has their own tomato plant, named, and several squash plants. It was a huge success…”
Kudos to all who helped bring the neighborhood together outdoors for this beautification and healthy living activity, and a big THANK YOU to Eric Schmidt of Colonial Gardens for the donation of materials!
Happy Mother’s Day!
To all the moms – and all the women acting as moms and caregivers in their many different forms – hope you’re having a great day and feeling the love!
Here are photos of the paintings by local artist Fay Talley that I bought at the YWCA Art Show held at The Gallery last week. I have mostly framed photographs around my home – in addition to my kids’ artwork, of course! – so I’m thrilled to have some original paintings (which were very reasonably priced.) 🙂
I can’t seem to get the “caption” or “title” function to work today. You should be able to match these titles with the images below: “Justa Pear,” “Reds,” and “Reaching for the Sun.”
Positively Pottstown blog 