Pottstown Hometown Holiday Celebration 2011 Events

Here is a breakdown of this year’s Pottstown Hometown Holiday Celebration events:

Sunday, November 27th – Noon until 4pm

Crafters at the Farmer’s Market and face painting for the kiddies

Decorating downtown, starting at the Santa House at Smith Plaza

Free Trolley Rides throughout the day

December 2nd – 6:30pm until 9:30pm

Santa comes downtown at 6:30pm  (photos with Santa are $7)

Candy toss

Tree lighting

Carol sing with Barbershop Quartet

Storytime sponsored by the Pottstown Regional Public Library every half hour starting at 7:00pm – TANGO 139 High Street

Face painting at Memories N More

Coloring at Argento’s

December 10th – noon until 4pm

Santa House open

Crafters at the Farmer’s Market

Face painting at Memories N More

Coloring at Argento’s

Storytime at TANGO 139 High Street – every half hour

Free Trolley Rides

December 18th – noon until 4pm

Hometown Holiday Brunch – Farmer’s Market and Juan Carlo’s.  Reservations!  To buy tickets call (610) 323-5400 by December 12th!

Santa House open

Crafters at Farmer’s Market

Face painting at Memories N More

Coloring at Argento’s

Storytime at TANGO, 139 High Street – every half hour

The following shops will be open from noon until 4pm on 11/27, 12/10 and 12/18:

Grumpy’s, J&H Produce, Freeland Meat Market, Cole’s Tobacco, Tri-PAC, Rich Renieri, Argento’s Pizza, Laserworks, Weitzenkorn’s, High Street Music, Christian Science Reading Room, The Brick House, Flaming Franks, Bistro 137, Old World Barber and Company Cakes.

Pottstown’s Mosaic Community Land Trust Headquarters

While I was downtown today supporting Small Business Saturday, I was temporarily whisked away to the Mosaic Community Land Trust’s new digs at 10 South Hanover Street by Katy Jackson.  Katy is one of the founding members of the Land Trust and she was eager to show me the progress they have made fixing up their new space.

The first floor is a revolving art gallery and office space for now.  Future plans include renovating the second floor and using the art gallery space on the first floor for events in a coffee-house style setting.  There are even plans to serve food.  This is very exciting because having organized events will help draw people into the gallery and in turn support local artists and musicians.

Mosaic Community Land Trust supports the revitalization of Pottstown.  To that end the Land Trust will begin restoring properties in town and reselling them to people looking for affordable housing.  Mosaic’s plan also includes growing the arts community in Pottstown.  Revitalization via the arts has a proven track record across our country.  We have a fledgling arts community already and adding to their numbers will only hasten the rebirth of Pottstown.  Removing blight and increasing the home ownership percentage in Pottstown will stabilize neighborhoods, reduce crime, increase property values and help reduce the tax burden.

We urge you to stop in and check out the art, learn more about Mosaic and see what you can do to help move Pottstown forward.

 

  

Pottstown’s High Street Bridge Construction Moving Ahead!

From these pictures you can see how much progress has been made on replacing the High Street Bridge over the Manatawny Creek.  It would seem the project is nearing completion!  It will be nice to have one less detour in and around Pottstown soon!

Occupy Pottstown’s Small Business Saturday Event A Success!

Image via Wikipedia

Today’s Occupy Pottstown event was not the usual demonstration or rally.  Instead, Occupy Pottstown members shopped and dined downtown from 10am until 1pm.  The emphasis of today’s event was to support downtown merchants and let them know Occupy Pottstown members are committed to shopping locally first, when possible.  In other words, walk the talk.

Occupy Pottstown members distributed literature downtown ahead of today’s event and had the support of PDIDA and many merchants.  Occupy members wore identification tags so that local merchants could see the tangible impact organizing an event like this would have.  Occupy members were greeted with enthusiasm by local merchants.

There are actually more businesses downtown than I realized.  We had no trouble spending three hours shopping.  Some new businesses have sprung up including one new store selling fresh fruit, produce and baked goods at very reasonable prices.  The group I walked around with did not have time to visit every store downtown.  That just leaves more for the next trip  🙂

After today, several members have decided to do as much of their Christmas shopping downtown as possible.  Supporting Pottstown’s existing businesses will encourage other entrepreneurs to consider opening a new business in Pottstown.  I would say the four people in my group easily spent $250 downtown today.  Imagine if a few hundred people would regularly shop downtown on a Saturday!  Imagine if only 10% of Pottstown’s 22,377 residents shopped downtown regularly.

I can happily report my group was not bothered by any panhandlers while we shopped.  There were a few people “hanging around” but they kept to themselves or just said “hello”.  It was a very pleasant experience.

Tri-County Performing Arts Center Presents “A Christmas Story”, December 1st – 18th

A CHRISTMAS STORY (family comedy)
Dec 1 – 18, 2011

By Jean Shepherd, a comedy based on the Warner Bros. motion picture; adapted by Philip Grecian / Presented through special arrangement with Dramatic Publishing / Directed by Bill Kiesling
Appropriate for All Ages*
…
Don’t miss this classic holiday tale of the mischievous, be-speckled young boy, Ralphie, who dreams of getting a BB-gun for Christmas. In the weeks before the big holiday, Ralphie and his friends and family get into all kinds of sticky situations – including a bully with yellow eyes, a tongue stuck to a lamp post, a bar of soap in the mouth, a garish major award, and a Chinese Christmas dinner. Based on the humorist Jean Shepherd’s novel “In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash”, A CHRISTMAS STORY is the perfect holiday treat for the whole family!

A CHRISTMAS STORY (Dec 1 – 18)
Thursdays, Dec 1 (preview), Dec 8 & 15 @ 7:30 pm
Fridays, Dec 2, 9 & 16 @ 8:00 pm
Saturdays, Dec 3, 10 & 17 @ 8:00 pm AND Dec 17 @ 3:00 pm
Sundays, Dec 4, 11 & 18 @ 3:00 pm

Special Events
– Opening Night Reception: 12/2
– Talkbacks with Director/Cast: Sundays, 12/4 & 12/11

Tickets
ADULT: Thurs $18; Fri, Sat & Sun $21
STUDENT/SR (65+): Thurs $16; Fri, Sat & Sun $19
CHILD (12 & under): Thurs $13; Fri, Sat & Sun $15
$2 off per ticket for groups of 10 or more!

Log on to www.tripac.org for tickets.

 

Tri-PAC: Tri-County Performing Arts Center/Village Productions

245 E. High Street, Pottstown, PA 19464