A new farmer’s market is opening in Pennsbury Township come
Friday June 18. The market will be at the edge of the township park, next to the
township building and will be open from 2-6 p.m. every Friday through Sept. 24.
Township Manager Kathy Howley said the idea evolved from
talks among members of the Park’s Committee. They see it as a way of bringing more
awareness to the park.
“We were trying to think of events in our park that we can
bring notice to the public that we do have a park back here. We want more
people coming here to use our park,” Howley said.
The market operation will start small with only about five
vendors at first. They’ll be selling fresh vegetables and produce, cut flowers
and plants. Howley added they hope to have fresh breads, cheeses, jellies and
jams.
“That’s what we’re concentrating on to begin with,” she
said. “We’ll see how the first year goes and maybe add things if we continue
next year. We want to start small…but we want it to be attractive enough for
people to come in and see this as attractive and want to come back.”
One of the farmers not selling at the market will be
Pennsbury’s own H.G. Haskell. Howley said the committee asked Haskell, but he
reportedly said he didn’t have the manpower to cover another market. She said some
of these farmers, such as Haskell, were already committed to other farmers’
markets and don’t have enough people to man another booth in an extra location.
She said they hope be able to get Haskell next year.
Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.
It was “one hellacious year” filled with “tumultuous
events.”
Those were the words of Linda Kaat, president of the Friends
of the Brandywine Battlefield as she described the last 12 months for the
Brandywine Battlefield Park.
Kaat made the comments while addressing members of the
Chadds Ford Business Association during their June lunch meeting.
She said ownership of the park and responsibility for park
operations remain unsettled.
It was June of last year when the Pennsylvania Historical
and Museum Commission voted to withdraw state operation of the 52-acre park on
Route 1 in Chadds Ford Township. In August the state closed the park for two
weeks before an agreement was reached through the office of State Sen. Dominic
Pileggi that allowed the Friends group to operate the park on a limited basis.
The state is still the property owner and landlord but, Kaat
said, “The state keeps us on a short lease.”
She said there can be no activities involving the use of
gunpowder, candles or food.
Kaat said state officials have told her that they believe
the economy will turn around and that the state will resume operations, but
she’s doubtful about that happening. Another possibility, though years away she
said, is having the park taken over by the National Park Service and run jointly with Valley Forge.
Kaat mentioned some positives that are going on, however.
She said the Friends now has 177 members, up 100 from a year ago, and that the
Summer History Camp is going strong. She said the weeklong camping sessions
have a 60 percent return rate.
Attendance at the park has been good, she added, and that
it’s encouraging to her seeing visitors come with history books.
She also said the park has been “blessed with donations.”
One area of attendance that is down, according to Kaat is
the number of school tours. To help offset that, she said, the Friends are
planning to go to schools.
While the status of the park’s ownership and operation are
unsettled, interest in the park continues. The Chadds Ford Civic Association
will hold the third of four benefit events for the park on Sunday, June 13.
Association members will be canoeing down the Brandywine Creek to raise money.
The Civic Association held a benefit lunch in April, a golf outing in May and
will host a trip to a Wilmington Blue Rocks game in August.
This past Saturday, June 5, the park held a free lecture
series featuring Loic Barnieu
speaking as the Marquis De Lafayette and author Alan Hoffman who translated the
book “Lafayette in America 1824-1825” by Auguste Levasseur who toured America
with Lafayette during his farewell tour.
Barnieu,
speaking in the first person as Lafayette, talked about the marquis dedication
to the concepts of freedom and liberty, and how he volunteered at 19 years old
to come to the American colonies to fight as a volunteer with Gen. George
Washington.
He
spoke on how Lafayette was wounded at Sandy Hollow while trying to organize
retreating colonial soldiers during the Battle of Brandywine, his eventual
return to France, the difficulties he had during the French Revolution and how
his relationship with Washington was so close that he named his son George
Washington Lafayette.
Hoffman
covered the latter part of Lafayette’s life from his farewell tour, his
reuniting with Gideon Gilpin in Chadds Ford when Gilpin was on his deathbed.
Hoffman
said he disputes the story of Lafayette using Gilpin’s house as a headquarters,
but thinks the young general probably did dine at the house the night before
the battle.
“A
friendly farmer could have provided some meals,” Hoffman said.
The
lectures were free, but there were donation boxes in the lecture area and in
the gift shop at the visitors’ center.
Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.
Katie is a 5-year-old spayed female boxer that is available for adoption through the
Chester County SPCA. She was brought to the shelter because her
owners were unable to care for her. Katie is a very sweet and easygoing dog who
may be a little shy at first but will warm up quickly if you give her a chance.
She gets a long with other dogs and cats. Katie loves to play with her tennis
balls and is now looking for a responsible
caregiver who will give her the love and attention she deserves. If you are
able to provide that home, visit the Chester County SPCA at 1212 Phoenixville
Pike in West Goshen or call 610-692-6113. Katie’s registration number is
96799509. To look at some of the other animals available for adoption, visit
the shelter or log onto http://www.ccspca.org/
Striking Poses: Portraits from the Museum’s
Collections, the latest exhibition at the Brandywine
River Museum,offers visitors the opportunity to examine many unique
synergies between portrait sitters and artists. This exhibition of
approximately 40 works includes a wide range of examples of unusual and vibrant
portraits by artists such as Peter Hurd, Norman Rockwell, Benjamin West, George
A. Weymouth, Andrew Wyeth,
Jamie Wyeth, and N.C. Wyeth.
Historically, portraits often included symbols that
emphasize a subject’s role in society or pay tribute to personal
accomplishments. Today, portrait subjects are often shown in more casual
poses and informal settings. When a subject strikes a particular stance
or offers a particular demeanor, artists respond by using composition and tone
to convey the subject’s unique expression. This approach, whether planned
or spontaneous, results in a collaborative creation.
For example, Jamie Wyeth’s Draft Age
depicts former Chadds Ford resident Jimmy Lynch. At the time of the
Vietnam War, when this work was painted, both the artist and sitter were
candidates for the draft. Clad in a leather motorcycle jacket instead of
a uniform, Lynch conveys a detached, rakish air. Wyeth placed the figure
in a shallow, shadowed space, and the strong light from the side heightens the
figure’s defiant pose.
In George Weymouth’s portrait, Mrs. Battle,
the artist uses dramatic lighting to illuminate the subject’s face and
expressive, gesturing hands. It also highlights the gold filigree trim of
her jacket to emphasize elegance, poise, and directness.
Artists also make striking images of themselves. N.C.
Wyeth’s Self Portrait with a Palette was painted after his
student days with Howard Pyle, but still very early in his career. Wyeth’s
strong composition, limited coloration, and bravura brush strokes reveal his
growing confidence and artistic ability. Norman Rockwell’s Self
Portrait (1947), gives the artist’s comic view of his own thin,
be-spectacled person. The precise drawing and exaggerated expression are
reminiscent of the early work of Maxfield Parrish, an artist Rockwell greatly
admired.
Some portraits are partially fictionalized renderings of a
person created from the artist’s memory. Andrew Wyeth notably created
many such works, including Spring (1978), a portrait of
Chadds Ford farmer Karl Kuerner. Based on drawings the artist made during
Kuerner’s final illness, the painting evokes the stoicism of the German
immigrant. It suggests Kuerner as a timeless figure in a metaphorical
relationship with the landscape.
Striking Poses: Portraits from the Museum’s
Collections includes works from the museum’s permanent and extended
loan collection.
The Brandywine
River Museum is open daily (except Christmas Day) from 9:30 a.m. to
4:30 p.m. Admission is $10 for adults; $6 for seniors ages 65 and over,
students, and children ages 6-12; free for children under six and Brandywine Conservancy
members.
Through July 11, museum admission also includes <I>Eye
to Eye: Portrait Miniatures from the Collection of Phyllis and Jamie
Wyeth<I>, as well as <I>John Haberle: American Master of
Illusion.<I> For an additional fee of $5 for each tour, visitors
can see the N.C. Wyeth House & Studio (Tuesday through Sunday) and the
Kuerner Farm, a major source of inspiration for Andrew Wyeth (Thursday through
Sunday). Tours depart from the museum at scheduled intervals.
The Brandywine River Museum is located on Route 1 in Chadds
Ford, Pennsylvania. For more information, call 610-388-2700 or visit www.brandywinemuseum.org.
Most everyone agrees that health care in the United States
has major problems, the biggest problems relating to skyrocketing costs. No one
doubts the system is in need of reform. However, too many in Washington see
tighter government controls as the solution. In fact, the problems are rooted
in past government controls that created more problems than they solved.
Ironically, laws and policies in the 1970’s promoting Health
Maintenance Organizations resulted from desperate attempts to control spiraling
costs. However, instead of promoting an efficient health care system, HMOs took
far too much control away from patients and physicians and gave it to the
insurers. This excessive reliance on third-party payers instead removed
incentives for insured patients to economize on health care costs, and allowed
the problem to snowball. Furthermore, the third-party payer system created a
two-tier health care system where people whose employers could afford to offer
“Cadillac” plans have access to top quality health care, while others face
financial obstacles in obtaining quality health care.
For these and other reasons, I introduced the Private Option
Health Care Act. This bill places individuals back in control of health care by
replacing the recently passed tax-spend-and-regulate health care law with
reforms designed to restore a free market health care system.
First, the bill would provide all Americans with a tax
credit for 100 percent of health care expenses. This tax credit is fully
refundable against both income and payroll taxes. It would also allow
individuals to roll over unused amounts in cafeteria plans and Flexible Savings
Accounts. Next, it would provide a tax credit for premiums for high-deductible
insurance policies connected with a Health Savings Account and allow seniors to
use funds in HSAs to pay for medigap policies. In addition, it would repeal the
7.5 percent threshold for the deduction of medical expenses, and thus would
make all medical expenses tax deductible.
This bill would also create a competitive market in health
insurance by exercising Congress’s constitutional authority under the commerce
clause to allow individuals to purchase health insurance across state lines. Ending
these state-imposed bans would create a competitive national marketplace in
health insurance.
The Private Option Health Care Act would also ensure that
people harmed during medical treatment receive fair compensation while
simultaneously reducing the burden of costly malpractice litigation on the
health care system. The bill achieves this by providing a tax credit for
negative outcomes insurance purchased before medical treatment. This type of
insurance would provide compensation for any negative outcomes without having
to go through lengthy litigation or giving huge sums to trial lawyers.
Finally, the Private Option Health Care Act would lower the
prices of prescription drugs by reducing barriers to the importation of Food
and Drug Administration-approved pharmaceuticals. Under my bill, anyone wishing
to import a drug simply submits an application to the FDA, which then must
approve it unless it is either not approved for use in the United States or is
adulterated or misbranded.
The Private Option Health Care Act allows Congress to
correct the mistake it made last month by replacing the new health care law
with health care measures that give control to individuals, instead of the
federal government and corporations. Our health is too vital to allow for the
typical results of government interference and “fixes.”
* Ron Paul is the Republican congressman from the 14th
Congressional District in Texas. He is an obstetrician and former U.S. Air Force flight surgeon. This essay appeared in his June 1 Texas
Straight Talk column. Texas Straight Talk can be found on line at http://www.house.gov/paul/index.shtml
• Birmingham Township Police Chief Thomas Nelling told
supervisors there was one burglary in the township in May, but that all the
items were recovered within eight hours and that suspects may already be in
custody. Nelling said the Birmingham burglary might have been committed by the
same two people arrested for a burglary in Chadds Ford last month. He said his
office was waiting for fingerprint results taken from the recovered property
before charges were filed.
• State Police Commissioner Frank
E. Pawlowski in May promoted Timothy J. McDonald of East Norriton Township,
Montgomery County, to captain and assigned him as commanding officer of Troop
K, Philadelphia. Troop K covers
Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties.
McDonald, 45, most recently
served as commander of the Staff Services Section at Troop K, Philadelphia.
A native of Philadelphia,
McDonald enlisted in the State Police in 1987. Following his training at the State Police Academy in
Hershey, he was assigned to Troop M, Fogelsville.
As he progressed through the
ranks, McDonald also served at stations in Trevose, Dublin, Philadelphia and
Skippack and with the Bureau of Training and Education, the Bureau of Emergency
and Special Operations, and the Bureau of Technology Services.
He was promoted to corporal in
1993, to sergeant in 1997 and to lieutenant in 2005.
McDonald is a 2000 graduate of
the Northwestern University School of Police Staff and Command. He is currently attending the FBI
National Academy in Quantico, Va.
McDonald is married to the former
Kiersten M. Sandora, a native of Spring City, Chester County. They have three children: T.J., 12; Jordyn, 10; and Andrew, 8.
Blogging Along the Brandywine: Goodbye to Chadds Ford
How many moving boxes can fit into a 2007 Toyota Corolla?
Seventeen. I know – I loaded them.
June 11 is moving day and the big van is loading my
furniture and traveling 10 miles north to our dream home, a beautiful 4-bedroom
Williamsburg Colonial in the woods.
(And yes the Radon problem was easily resolved—a poor French
drain design was the culprit.)
We know this home was truly meant to come into our lives,
after making the happy discovery that the man who built it in 1970 was the late
Emil Markow, my long-time voice professor at the School of Music at West Chester
University so many years ago.
An operatic bass, he had recorded an album with RCA with
Renata Tebaldi, Robert Merrill and Jussi Björling, later appearing on early
television with the Voice of Firestone Choir as well as Fred Waring and the
Pennsylvanians.
There’s something very cathartic about moving.
My sister, who has moved at good half dozen times, always
said moving is the greatest way to sort out the clutter, and it’s amazing how
much has ended up in the dumpster or in the charity boxes.
I really thought Chadds Ford would be my home forever.
I came here 31 years ago as a young teacher and was quickly
caught up in the Chadds Ford Historical Society, the Brandywine River Museum,
with eventual board presidencies at the Brandywine Battlefield Park Associates
and the Sanderson Museum.
My life changed and grew because of the kindness and
generosity of the many wonderful people I met.
The Chadds Ford Historical Society supported and encouraged my
efforts as a folk singer and subsequent CD; the Battlefield got me into
re-enacting with the 43rd Regiment of Foot; while the Brandywine River Museum
raised my consciousness about art and land conservancy. And through the
Sanderson Museum I came to know founder Andrew Wyeth and ultimately my future
husband who inquired about doing research in our archives.
There are names that I will always associate with my 31 year
sojourn and for whom I will always say an extra prayer: Ed and Kathy Wandersee,
the late Susan Hauser, Fred Reiter, Kayta Gajdos, Beth Rorke, Sondra Eisenman,
Tommy Thompson, Cheryl and Mark Trozzi, my dear neighbors Ron and Madelon
Coates, Barbara Moore and of course Rich Schwartzman.
My wish for Chadds Ford is that the supervisors will continue
to keep it green and that the HARB will continue to keep our village looking
appropriate.
Yes, I know, fewer businesses mean fewer corporate tax
dollars to support our schools.
However the late actor, Claude Raines of “Casablanca” fame
once lived on a farm in Concordville saying it reminded him of the green fields
of his native England.
But now, every time I drive down Route 1 through
Concordville I cringe to see what a vast and arid expanse of asphalt it has
become.
So I’ll be on a sabbatical for a while until we can get
re-settled …or maybe one of you dear readers who likes to write….
In the mean time, as soon as the moving vans pull away on
Friday evening, I’m making a beeline back down to Chadds Ford for Rich
Schwartzman’s opening “Buzz” at the Chadds Ford Gallery!
Sally Denk Hoey, is a Gemini - one part music and one part history. She holds a masters degree cum laude from the School of Music at West Chester University. She taught 14 years in both public and private school. Her CD "Bard of the Brandywine" was critically received during her almost 30 years as a folk singer. She currently cantors masses at St Agnes Church in West Chester where she also performs with the select Motet Choir. A recognized historian, Sally serves as a judge-captain for the south-east Pennsylvania regionals of the National History Day Competition. She has served as president of the Brandywine Battlefield Park Associates as well as the Sanderson Museum in Chadds Ford where she now curates the violin collection. Sally re-enacted with the 43rd Regiment of Foot and the 2nd Pennsylvania Regiment for 19 years where she interpreted the role of a campfollower at encampments in Valley Forge, Williamsburg, Va., Monmouth, N.J. and Lexington and Concord, Mass. Sally is married to her college classmate, Thomas Hoey, otherwise known as "Mr. Sousa.”
• Birmingham Township supervisors voted 3-0 to approve
allowing Birmingham’s Emergency Management Coordinator Lloyd Roach to hold the
same position in Pennsbury Township. Pennsbury supervisors recommended Roach
during their May meeting. The governor must make the final approval for the appointment to be official.
• Birmingham supervisors also approved the operation of CJ
Tires following a second conditional use hearing. They originally approved the
operation after a 2008 hearing, but the ruling was remanded to the township
following an appeal.
• The Brandywine River Museum offers special
summer art programs for children, featuring thematic guided tours
followed by hands-on art projects. Children may participate in one or all of
these workshops. Museum Explorer Mornings are designed for children ages 3 to
10 accompanied by an adult. Advanced Explorer Workshops are for youth ages 10
to 14 beginning at 10 a.m. on three Tuesdays in July. For more information,
please call 610-388-2700 or visit the museum’s website at www.brandywinemuseum.org.
•The Chester
County Master Gardeners have started a Facebook page to provide information on
good horticultural practices, announce gardening events, and offer tips for a
successful garden. The group already staffs a hotline (610-696-3500 or
chestermg@psu.edu) that fields questions on pest problems, plant care, growing
vegetables, and virtually any other topic relating to home
gardening. Master Gardeners are volunteers who help educate the public
about good horticultural practices.
• Brandywine Ballet will hold an open-air performance
Friday, July 30, 7:30 p.m. at Rose Tree Park as part of Delaware County’s
Summer Festival 2010, a press release said. The Delaware County Summer Festival
runs June 11 to August 15. Rose Tree Park’s scenic hillside amphitheater
features four grass terraces and is conveniently located at 1671 N. Providence
Rd., Upper Providence, PA 19063. All Delaware County Summer Festival
performances are free to the public.
• Dr. Yvonne Lederer-Antonucci of Chadds Ford, associate
professor in the School of Business Administration at Widener University,
received the 2010 Award for Innovative Excellence in Teaching, Learning and
Technology at the 21st International Conference on College Teaching and
Learning. Antonucci recently traveled to the conference, held this year in
Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., to accept the award. She was chosen for her creative
contributions to teaching, learning and technology in higher education.
