PennDOT has announced the following road projects, which are weather-dependent and could affect residents in the greater Chadds Ford area during the week of March 8 through March 15. The department recommends that motorists allow extra time if they are traveling through one of the construction zones.
Motorists on Route 926 in both directions in Birmingham, Westtown, and Thornbury townships, between Brandywine Creek Road and Route 202, will continue to experience lane restrictions. Crews will be working from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on pothole patching from Monday, March 9, through Friday, March 13.
Traffic signal installation in Kennett Square Borough will continue to require lane closures on Cypress Street at State, Broad, Meredith and Union Streets and on State Street at Union Street. Crews are scheduled to work from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. through Friday, March 13.
The eastbound Route 30 (Exton Bypass) will be closed and detoured between Business Route 30 and Route 100 in East Whiteland and West Whiteland Townships on Saturday, March 7, from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. for emergency drainage pipe replacement. Local access will be maintained up to the construction zone.
Burnt Mill Road in Kennett Township is closed and detoured between Norway and Spring Mill Roads indefinitely while crews prepare for repairs to a bridge that collapsed on April 24.
One lane will remain closed on Interstate 95 North at the Commodore Barry Bridge for construction through July 14.
If you want to report potholes and other roadway maintenance concerns on state roads, call 1-800-FIX ROAD.
John Francis Forlino II, 65, of Oxford, died Tuesday, March 3, at Christiana Hospital in Newark. He was the husband of Nancy Galati Forlino, with whom he shared 41 years of marriage.
Born in Chester, he was a son of the late John F. and the late Mildred Irene (Goodchild) Forlino.
John was a 1971 graduate of West Chester University. He was an industrial designer working for Nuart Graphics in West Chester.
Survivors include in addition to his wife, one daughter, Erika Forlino of Downingtown; one brother, Jay M. Forlino and his wife Jacqueline of Landenberg, and several nieces and nephews.
You are invited to visit with John’s friends and family from 9:30-11 a.m. Saturday March 21, at the Kuzo & Grieco Funeral Home Inc. (610-444-4116) 250 W. State St. Kennett Square, PA 19348. A memorial service celebrating his life will follow. Interment will be held privately. Contributions in his memory may be made to the American Lung Association 527 Plymouth Road, Suite 415 Plymouth Meeting, PA 19462. To view his online tribute and to share a memory with his family, please visit www.griecocares.com
Cayman Naib, 13, was last seen on Wednesday, March 4, about 6:45 p.m.
The frantic parents of Cayman Naib, a 13-year-old eighth-grader from Newtown Square who has been missing since about 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 4, are pleading for his safe return.
Cayman Naib, 13, was last seen on Wednesday, March 4, about 6:45 p.m.
They have set up a Facebook page called “Find Cayman,” circulated his photos, and organized searches. The Shipley School teenager was last seen walking west on Church Road around 6:45 p.m. on a cold, rainy, and foggy night. He was wearing a gray down winter jacket, black ski pants, and hiking boots. Naib, who has brown hair and brown eyes, is 5-foot-7 and weighs 110 pounds.
In a Facebook posting, his father, Farid Naib, said his son left about 30 minutes after he received an email from school regarding overdue homework and probably did not do any pre-planning. “We are unsure if he has cash or not. He is a good kid, and has no substance abuse or other issues, this is the first time he has ever done anything like this,” the posting said.
In a message to his son, he wrote: “Cayman if you read this, everything is forgiven, you can exercise your ‘free pass.’ We love you and really want you to come home, you are not in trouble.”
Newtown Township Police are asking anyone with information on his whereabouts to call 610-356-0602 or e-mail Officer William Moor at moorw@newtowntownship.org.
The 2015 West Chester Souperbowl was held on Jan. 30, hosted by the Westtown Goshen Rotary Club (WEGO) and the Greater West Chester Sunrise Rotary Club at the Good Will Fire Company in West Chester.
Representatives of the Friends Association for the Care and Protection of Children and area Rotary Clubs display the $1,400 check that will be used for families that need emergency shelter.
To kick off the evening’s program, the West Chester Sunrise Rotary Club presented Friends Association for Care & Protection of Children with a check for $1,400. The grant will be used by Friends Association to install laundry facilities for the six families at the Friends Association’s Emergency Family Shelter. The project received an initial grant of $5,000 from the Elite Companies Charitable Foundation in Malvern.
This year over 240 guests attended the Souperbowl, which offered soups, breads and brews by local chefs and brew masters from around the Delaware Valley. Music was provided by Still Life, a local Chester County band. The event included a silent auction for specialty food and drinks as well as cash prizes. All proceeds benefitted funding for the Rotary’s projects tackling hunger, literacy and at-risk children.
Cast members of Unionville High's 'West Side Story' get the jump on one of their routines during a rehearsal.
A rumble will rock Unionville High from Thursday, March 12, until Saturday, March 14, but it’s no cause for concern.
Emboldened and inspired by the lyrics of Stephen Sondheim, a talented group of students will face off as Sharks and Jets in a production of “West Side Story.” Originally staged on Broadway in 1957, the award-winning musical focuses on the rivalry between the Jets and the Sharks, two teenage street gangs.
Karalyn Joseph and Abu Akki are starring in Unionville High’s production of ‘West Side Story.’ Photo by Greg Joseph
The story focuses on Tony – played by senior Abu Akki – a former member of the Jets, a Caucasian gang. As the best friend of the Jets’ leader, Riff (senior Samir Streatfield), Tony heads for trouble when he falls in love with Maria (sophomore Karalyn Joseph), the sister of Bernardo (senior Ryan Nilsen), the leader of the Sharks, a Puerto Rican group that’s taunted by the Jets.
Tony and Maria’s timeless struggle to survive in a world of prejudice, vengeance, and violence is underscored with riveting dance, drama and music. A 1961 film version of the musical won 10 of the 11 Academy Awards for which it was nominated.
Director Scott Litzenberg said the cast represents a superb mix of high school veterans as well as new talent, such as Joseph and Ashley Lennick, another sophomore who plays Anita, Bernardo’s girlfriend. Litzenberg said they are effectively complemented by a terrific stage crew, tech crew, dancers and musicians.
“I’m just floored by the talent and what these kids have been able to accomplish,” Litzenberg said. “They’ve just been tearing it up.”
Litzenberg said many high school productions of “West Side Story” omit some of the more difficult sequences. “We haven’t cut one measure of music,” he said. “This is truly one of the iconic musicals of Broadway, and I think people are going to be amazed to see ‘West Side Story’ being done at this high level.”
Proof that the cast has excelled? Litzenberg said the weather has not adversely impacted the show, even with some missed rehearsals. “We’re ahead of the game,” he said on Thursday, March 5, one of the snow days. “I’m not feeling stressed, and I don’t think the kids are, either.”
Another indication of the show’s quality is the fact that advance ticket sales are exceeding expectations, Litzenberg explained. He said more than half of the seats for Friday and Saturday have already been sold, and he urged people to make their purchases as soon as possible. “It’s going to be a tough ticket to get,” he predicted.
In addition to Streatfield and Akki, the Jets include Ethan Pan, Noah Gregory, Eli Sheppard, Cameron Cofrancesco, Justin Bowen, Justin Best and Marc Cobuzzi. Besides Nilsen, Joseph, and Lennick, the Sharks are Jordan Fortunato, Ashwin Akki, Troy Macie, Matt van Aken and Noah Friedman.
The Jets’ girls are Maddie Csernica, Lainey Duncan, Eva Sheppard, Alli Harris, Annie Klingenberg, Caroline Salisbury and Hillary Zhang. The Sharks’ entourage includes Carly Rechenberg, Emily Shiring, Jessica Oehler, Annie Ward, Abby Francis, Mahalet Tegenu, and Daphne Ho. Joe Siehl plays Doc and Charley Bloomfield is Schrank; Ben Greaves is Krupke and Charlie Bloomfield plays Glad Hand.
Advance tickets are available for $12 at www.showtix4u.com. They will also be sold the night of the show for $14, adults; and $12 for students and senior citizens. Curtain time is 7:30 p.m. in the Unionville High School Auditorium.
A 2007 Kennett High graduate will mark a serendipitous homecoming of sorts when an established downtown business celebrates a creative reincarnation on Friday, March 6.
STATE & UNION is hosting a celebration of its new collaboration with United By Blue.
STATE & UNION, whose name identifies its location, represents a collaboration among Mike Cangi, the Kennett grad; Brian Linton, a classmate at Temple’s Fox School of Business; and Doug Harris, a leader in Kennett Square’s renaissance and the former proprietor of the Eco Boutique.
Cangi and Linton are both past winners of Temple University’s Be Your Own Boss Bowl. Linton won in 2008 for an organic coffee house, and Cangi came out on top in 2011 for a company that would provide parts to hybrid electric and alternative fuel vehicles. In 2010, they combined their energies to launch United By Blue (UBB), an outdoor apparel retailer.
The entrepreneurs based UBB on the business model of “people, planet, profit,” not the “profit at all costs” model of their predecessors, according to a press release from Historic Kennett Square.
UBB’s name reinforces its commitment to people’s dependence on water, and for every product sold, UBB removes a pound of trash from the world’s oceans and waterways. Through organized volunteer cleanups all over the United States, over 200,000 pounds of trash have been picked up by hand, by over 4,000 volunteers, in 21 states, in just under five years, the release said.
Philadelphia serves as home base for UBB, with its flagship store in Old City – and its newest location on Walnut Street in University City. However, Kennett Square offered a unique opportunity since Harris was an early supporter of UBB.
When Harris rebranded his former retail operation as STATE & UNION – which opened in August – he did so with the idea that UBB would operate as a “store in store.” So the combined space will feature brands familiar to both Eco Boutique and UBB shoppers: those who make their products in the U.S. and maintain high standards for social and environmental responsibility.
“We felt that Kennett Square is the right place at the right time for our store concept,” Cangi said in the release. “And Doug Harris was an early adopter of UBB and a leader in the renaissance Kennett Square has been enjoying over the past 10 years. It is a great collaboration with our No. 1 advocate.”
Cangi said the Kennett Square space “looks and feels just like a UBB store; from the brick pillars, to the live edge wooden shelving for the displays.” In addition, all the merchandise at the other UBB stores or its website, such as Red Wing Shoes and Pendleton wool, will be available at STATE & UNION.
The celebratory launch of the “store in store” concept at STATE & UNION will occur Friday, March 6, from 5 to 10 p.m. at 103 W. State St. in Kennett Square. The festivities will include local gourmet food from Portabellas and the Country Butcher, craft beer by Victory Brewing Co., and boutique wines by Flickerwood Winery. The Sin City band will perform.
