North Hanover Street, Where Past and Future Meet

The Pottstown Downtown Improvement District Authority will hold its Visitor Center grand opening Friday, in conjunction with The Mercury's Community Media Lab grand opening across the street.

One of the first things they teach you in Journalism 101 (I refuse to use the "journo" abbreviation that Twitter has foisted upon us) is the "check the library."

Back in the day, this was how we looked up old newspaper stories.

In English, that means check the file of newspaper clips on any given subject to understand the context of whatever developing news you're about to write about.

For many years, this was a vital position in the newsroom and there was very little that escaped the attention of the sharp-eyed, ink-fingered person whose job was to preserve the day's news for future reference.

The rows and rows of specially  sized file cabinets once formed the very physical (as well as the philosophical) wall between editorial and advertising when both departments were on the third floor of our vintage building.

Look closely and you can see our new micro-film
machine being set up.

But it could be difficult for people coming in off the street to find old articles, particularly as they often wanted the whole page.

More often than not, we sent them to the Pottstown Regional Public Library where old copies of The Mercury could be accessed on micro-film.

Now, among the things they can do in our spiffy new Community Media Lab is to look at that micro-film right here at The Mercury.

In addition to the coffee and the micro-film, the lab will also be a place where, (Blatant Suck-Up Alert!) you can use "free Wi-Fi, Internet TV, coffee and cold drinks available, a lending library of books (with recommendations for reading from our editors and bloggers) and computers for public use."

At least that's how my boss, Nancy March, described it in her most recent post on her blog The Editor's Desk.

This is what will greet Community Media Lab visitors who come in
at the North Hanover Street entrance.

"The space can be used to blog, work on a resume, research. You can ask us for help starting a blog, you can schedule a meeting of your writers group, you can knit, you can read, or you can just stop in to say hi, pick up a map of the Schuylkill River Trail or post a help-wanted notice on the Community Share bulletin board," she wrote.

It will also feature, at least for now, a number of prints of front page photos published over the years in The Mercury.

It will include presidents, fires, features and famous people who have visited Pottstown -- some of whom, like Donald Trump, did not want to be photographed.

One of my favorite John Strickler photographs, which will be
on display in the Community Media Lab.

But our media lab will not be the only place where interesting Pottstown photographs can be found.

Across the street, at 17 N. Hanover St. the PDIDA office will also be opening their new welcome center.

While preparing for that event, Main Street Manager Sheila Dugan came across a stash of fascinating old photographs of Pottstown.

Some of them will be recognizable, others show what once was.

Do you know what this is? It once stood where the
New VIP Diner stands.

We have been running some of those photos on our Facebook and Pintrest pages recently and have been amazed and pleased at the response from so many of our readers who recognize, or try to recognize places that once made Pottstown special.

(Note: It's still special.)

I'm pleased that PDIDA is emphasizing Pottstown's rich history to first-time visitors.

This sign at PDIDA's new Welcome
Center reminds us of what we're
preserving when we focus on
our own local history.

As I wrote just Friday, local history and the things that make a place special are one of the most important tools available to those who want to revitalize old towns like Pottstown.

But to revitalize takes more than shticks, tricks and clever slogans. It takes money.

And more than just grant money and investment money, it takes the kind of money you spend on your average Saturday at Lowe's or Wal-Mart or Giant.

So that's why it's important to remember that in addition to announcing the opening of  two GREAT new community resources, the grand openings, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., are also the kick-off to a summer sidewalk sale the next day.

As I first wrote about in this June 3 post, it will be held Saturday, from  11 a.m. to 4 p.m., your local merchants will brave the heat to put their wares on display.

Come down and check it out...and bring your wallet.

Coming Soon to a Sidewalk Near You!

PDIDA wants these sidewalks teeming with tables and shoppers
on July 21 for the First Sidewalk Sale of 2012.

You might think it's a little early to announce a Sidewalk Sale on July 21.

But not if you're a craftsman (or woman), or part of a local business or organization.

That's because PDIDA, the Pottstown Downtown Improvement District Authority, is looking for people to populate their sidewalk sale.

So if you would like to set up a table on High Street for a day that will include music, children's activities, crafters, a window decorating competition, free raffle give aways every hour and great deals at downtown shops, you need to consider signing up.

You can do so by calling Shelia, Cindy or Joe at 610-323-5400.

Or, you can send an e-mail to sheiladugan@comcast.net.

We're already signed up.

The inside-The-Mercury-scuttlebutt is that we hope to have our "grand opening" of our newly refurbished Community Media Lab that day.

Renovations have already begun in our Community Media Lab

As my boss, Editor Nancy March, blogged about on May 4, the reburbished room will have computers the public can use as well as make it a working reference room for community with microfilm of our archives. 

Currently, only place to research back issues on microfilm is at public library. 


Last month, our Community Media Lab was selected as one of 10 newspapers throughout Digital First Media to get funding for a community room project.

You can read about our ideas on the application by clicking here.

St. Al's Joins the Food Drive

Blogger's Note: This post first ran as an article in The Mercury on March 7.

POTTSTOWN  -- When Mike Kilgore gathered the students of his St. Aloysius “prep program” together recently, he had a few seemingly simple questions for them before they began their lessons for their first Holy Communion or Confirmation.

“How many of you had something to eat before you came here?” he asked them, and was rewarded with a show of hands.

“How many of you are full? How many of you had clean clothes?” he asked.

St. Aloysius Church in Pottstown

“I wanted to get them thinking about things they probably take for granted, and then I told them that there are people for whom the answer to those questions is ‘no,’” Kilgore recalled. “I told them there could be people on their street who need that kind of help.”

All of which, Kilgore said, was to get the class in the right frame of mind to participate in our Fill the Media Lab food drive, being conducted during Lent.

“I’ve always thought that rather than do without on Lent, it’s better to do something positive, so this is a great time to do something like this” Kilgore said.

“I talked the entire class and they’re really excited,” Kilgore said. “We’re going to use the church as the drop off.”

St. Aloysius School

It’s not just Kilgore’s students who will be gathering food.

All students at St. Aloysius School will participate as well, confirmed Cathy Wieand, acting marketing director for the school.

Starting with an announcement Wednesday morning, the school’s Student Council will begin a food drive that will benefit the Cluster Outreach Center, Wieand said.

“It’s going to be the whole school, from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade,” she said.

It will be announced to the school’s families through the weekly mailing and to the school over the morning announcements.

Help us fill this space with food for the hungry

In fact, Wieand said, plans are for the students to prepare “some jingles to sing over the PA system to spur the classes on.”

The food drive is gathering steam, first with the bloggers at The Mercury’s Town Square blogging site, many of whom have taken up the call for filling our Community Media Lab with food for the need, identifying drop-off sites and food pantries that are running short of supplies during a time of greater demand and fewer donations.

Here is a map of places you can drop off food donations:



And now the children of St. Aloysius are stepping up to help. Donations can be made at the Gathering Center on the St. Aloysius campus on North Hanover St.

“Signs are going up in homerooms and letters and flyers will go home and we will remind the children each morning,” Wieand said.

In addition to providing food for Pottstown’s needy, the drive will also provide an important lesson, Wieand said.

“Community means taking care of each other and that’s what we teach our kids,” she said, “that when there is a need in the community, they need to step up and lend a hand.”