• It’s a Mother’s Day Special when the Chester County History Center presents a walking tour, Fierce: Women of West Chester, on Saturday and Sunday, May 9 and 10, from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Women make up half the population, yet their stories have often been neglected, excluded, or marginalized in public memory. West Chester, long the center of battles for equality and civil rights, was home to several trailblazing women who left an indelible mark on the history of law, abolition, suffrage, education, politics, and science. This 1.5-hour walking tour will visit the homes and businesses of the women who shaped West Chester from colonial times to the present. This special edition of the tour features a stop highlighting West Chester’s special connection to the Mother’s Day holiday. Tickets are $16 and are available here.
• Experience an exhilarating musical tribute to America’s artistic spirit as the Delaware County Symphony presents a program honoring the nation’s 250th anniversary on Sunday, May 3, at 3 p.m. The concert opens with Leonard Bernstein’s sparkling Overture to Candide. The spotlight then turns to the winner of the Youth Concerto Competition, Julie Chen, with a rare performance of the technically demanding Cello Concerto in A minor; Op 22 by Samuel Barber. The Celebrating America 250 Symphony Concert will be presented in Neumann University’s Meagher Theatre. Tickets for the concert may be purchased at dcsmusic.org/tickets
• Learn how to incorporate resilient native species into your garden. Discuss the merits of native plants and how they have adapted to their local habitats, including soil type, sun and shade patterns, moisture levels, and more. By planting the right plant in the right place, it should thrive with little extra care. This class includes a tour with instructor Nancy Bell through the Mt. Cuba gardens, noting sun and shade patterns and discussing insights and advice for selecting resilient native species to incorporate into your space. Class is rain or shine. This program takes place in-person at Mt. Cuba Center on Friday, May 1, from 10 a.m. to noon. The cost is $39 with tickets available here.
• Anybody up for some plant propagation? Get ready to dig into the fascinating world of plant propagation in this fun, hands‑on workshop designed just for youth (ages 9-14) at Longwood Gardens on Saturday, May 19, from noon to 1:30 p.m. Explore how to create brand‑new plants from ones that already exist and try out several techniques used by real gardeners and plant enthusiasts. Make your own seeded containers, take stem cuttings to grow in propagation tubes, and divide and pot plants you can take home and keep growing. By the end, you’ll not only understand the science behind how plants reproduce, but you’ll also have the skills and confidence to keep experimenting and growing your own collection. All materials included — just bring your curiosity and get ready to grow something amazing.
• Dig into the world of the tiny in Finding Nano on the May 9, Science Saturday at Hagley. There is a whole world of things we can’t see with our eyes at the nanoscale. Get a glimpse of this tiny world and its unique properties. Visitors of all ages are invited to discover solutions to science and engineering challenges. This is a drop-in activity; feel free to join the fun at any time. Activities are included in admission and are free for Hagley members.
• One of the exhibits at the Brandywine Museum of Art, John Sloan’s Street Theater, is coming to a close on May 17. In the early twentieth century, John Sloan emerged as a key figure of the Ashcan School, a group of artists focused on portraying the unvarnished realities of modern life in New York City. A painter and printmaker, Sloan worked in oil and etching to depict the urban environment around him, adopting both the loose brushwork of his fellow modernists in his paintings and a more intricate style to capture intimate studies of everyday life in his prints. Selected from a collection of over 500 prints donated to the Brandywine Museum of Art by the late Paul Preston Davis, the more than 50 works in John Sloan’s Street Theater survey the American artist’s output in this medium.
About Rich Schwartzman
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.
