July 4th Parade Postulations in Pottstown

Just when you thought the Fourth of July Parade was canceled for the year, some people are trying a last-ditch effort to stage it.

Borough Council Vice President Sheryl Miller said she was called by Jon Corson and told he wanted to try to raise the money for the parade.

The bottom line is, no matter how wonderful their intentions, even if they could raise the $14,000 to $15,000 required, too many deadlines have passed to make it happen.

Maybe I'm wrong, but the evidence seems pretty incontrovertible. Better perhaps, to put that effort and moxy into making sure there are both a parade AND fireworks next year.

But that's just me. Godspeed.

In other news, Councilman Dennis Arms successfully tabled the scheduled vote on privitazing Pottstown's crossing guards to give them more time to provide input.

Also, council approved the final plans for Hanover Square, the former Mrs. Smith's  Pies site at Hanover and Industrial Highway.

Council also approved applying for a state grant to make improvements to Memorial Park, including replacing the play equipment near the splash park.

Also, solicitor Charles D. Garner Jr. was authorized to begin work on drafting amendments to the borough's fire ordinance which will give the paid police chief 24/7 control over all four volunteer fire companies and no longer require that the chief be a borough firefighter.

The hike in PART bus fares was approved and the audit of the borough's finances delivered with no major issues reported.

But I know you just want to zip down and see the video about the July 4th parade, so don't let me hold you up.

Enjoy.

July 4th Events Canceled and Other Business

What much of the Pottstown area feared came to pass Wednesday night; official word that there will be no parade, no fireworks and no Independence Day festivities in Pottstown this year.

Marcia Levengood, co-chair of Independence Day Ltd., the non-profit organization which has struggled to field events for the last three years, said almost no contributions were received as a result of fundraising efforts.

Borough Council President Dan Weand reiterated that the borough never has, and has no intention to start now, of funding the event with taxpayer dollars.

And council member Dennis Arms wondered why council is complacent enough to allow Borough Manager Mark Flanders to spend $2,500 to hire a consultant to find a replacement for the departing Assistant Borough Manager Eric Batdorf, when the borough "has an HR department charged with hiring and recruiting," but won't spend money on a July 4th parade.

And so it went. You can read and watch more about that in the Tweets below.

On to the "other business."

First of all, Vice President Sheryl Miller sketched out a way that the Pottstown Human Relations Commission could be put back up and running. Significant among the changes sought are appointment of commissioners by borough council and not the mayor, as happens now.

The PART bus system, whose $2.3 million budget will likely be approved at Monday's meeting, will have a fare increase starting July 1 after a public hearing at which no one spoke.

The LERTA tax break, or as the Digital Notebook staff calls it -- "The Never-Ending Story" -- may finally be adopted at the joint council school board meeting on June 21

And what we all hope will be the final version of plans for the land on the former Mrs. Smith's Pies site at south Hanover and Industrial Drive -- now called Hanover Square -- will be voted on Monday.

That should be enough to keep me on my toes for a couple days.

Here are the Tweets 'N More:

A Very Pottstown Fourth

Surprisingly good photo by Evan Brandt

The Mercury/#StoptheViolence/MercuryMile/BikePottstown crew celebrate the completion of the Fourth of July Parade.

Folks from The Mercury were awfully busy for a holiday on Thursday, not only covering Pottstown's signature Fourth of July Parade, but participating in it!

Here are some Tweets, Touts, videos and links from the day.

(As always, click the blue "Read Next Page" bar at the bottom to make sure you don't miss anything!)

Star-Spangled Sunny Brook

Photo Courtesy of Lee Schultz

The Boyertown Alumni Band and Color Guard kicked off the Independence Day holiday week with a concert Sunday at SunnyBrook Ballroom.

Blogger's Note: The following information and photos were provided by the SunnyBrook Foundation and the Boyertown Alumni Band.

Photo Courtesy of the SunnyBrook Foundation

More than 250 people attended Sunday's patriotic concert.

An enthusiastic flag-waving crowd of more than 250 kicked of Pottstown’s 4th of July celebration at the Star-Spangled SunnyBrook Patriotic Concert on Sunday with the Boyertown Alumni Marching Unit. 

The music began with The National Game March by John Philip Sousa. The marches and songs
included pieces by Travis J. Weller, S.E Hummel, Richard Rodgers, and Irving Berlin among others.

Along with the John Philip Sousa marches the band performed some SunnyBrook favorites such as Glenn Miller Medleys and St. Louis Blue March.

The music rocked the historic ballroom as the marching unit’s Baton Twirlers, Color Guard, and Rifle Carriers, all dressed in red, white, and blue engaged the audience, by passing out American Flags to each audience member and then leading the crowd in singing patriotic song and waving their own Star-Spangled Banner. 

Photo Courtesy of Lee Schultz of Boyertown

Pottstown Mayor Sharon Thomas welcomes the crowd.

Pottstown Mayor Sharon Thomas welcomed guests and the Boyertown Alumni Marching Unit on behalf of Pottstown and expressed appreciation to the Marching Unit and the SunnyBrook Foundation for holding the event that kicked off the celebration of the birthday of the United States in the tri-county area.

During the United Services Medley, arranged by Arlen R Saylor, a friend of SunnyBrook, soldiers, sailors, airmen, coast guardsmen, and Marines were asked to stand and be appreciated by the audience as the march of each branch of service was played.

Also during The United Services Salute, the bandfront presented the five flags honoring each branch
of the military.

The concert ended with the Alumni Unit's signature song Saints in Concert.

The event, which began with picnic food served in SunnyBrook’s Pavilion, drew a number of classic and vintage cars ended as the band front brought the colors “American Flag” and other ornamental flags off the ballroom floor to Bill Moffit’s Saint in Concert.

Photo Courtesy of Lee Schultz

The flags of the five branches of the armed services were presented 

during the Arlen Saylor arrangement of the U.S. Services Medley.

“When I come to something like this, where the community is together, I am glad that I am to be a member of the SunnyBrook’s Board and support the community this way,” said Dave Brown of Boyertown, a member of the SunnyBrook Foundation Board of Directors.

J. Wilmer Hallman, president of the SunnyBrook Foundation said, “we hope this can be a tradition for our community. That we can begin our 4th of July celebration an event like this here at SunnyBrook and complete with a celebration at Memorial Park.” Hallman indicated that plans for next year are already underway.

Flag-Waving Fun at Star-Spangled Sunnybrook

Blogger's Note: The following was provided by the Sunnybrook Ballroom.

Kick-off your July 4th week family celebration at the historic SunnyBrook Ballroom.

Use the courts to play some basketball and volleyball. 

Play a game of horseshoes. 

Have an All-American hotdog or hamburger from the outside grill. 

(Bring and display your classic or vintage car and receive a free sandwich.) 

The fun starts at noon. Then, at 2 p.m. join the crowd in the ballroom for a rousing flag-waving (flag provided) concert of patriotic music with an area favorite the Boyertown Alumni Marching Unit. 

Tickets for the concert are $10; children 6-12 $5; children under 6 are free. 

 Tickets can be purchased on our website at www.thesunnybrookballroom.net.

The Boyertown Alumni Marching Unit formed in 1976 as an all-volunteer, family oriented marching unit. From its first performance in the nation’s Bicentennial Celebration to its latest concert the band has been active throughout the northeast.

More about the band: http://bamu.webs.com

Formed in 2004 to save the historic 20,000 square foot ballroom from the wrecking ball, the SunnyBrook Foundation operates the venue as a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation. 

Reopened in 2008 as an entertainment venue through the work of scores of community volunteers, the facility’s fine dining restaurant and Chummy’s Lounge reopened in 2011. 

During the heyday of big band music, the historic ballroom was a regular stop on the tours of all of the era’s big bands. Benny Goodman, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, Frank Sinatra are just a few of the names of nationally known performers who filled the room with the music of the era.

The venue continues to host community meetings, political rallies, weddings, wedding receptions, class and family reunions, high school proms, and other events.

Telling the Storify of Pottstown's Fourth of July Parade

Even though I wasn't supposed to be working, I could not resist Tweeting, Touting and Texting video, photos and witty remarks from the sideline during yesterday's Fourth of July parade down High Street. Here, if I have been successful, is a "Storified" collection of some of those.

Marcia Levengood: TV Star

Now, since it would appear that the links to the "tout" videos are not live here in a storify format (sometimes, I think we don't even speak English anymore) I will post a link to my Tout channel here, so you can watch those videos too. Some of them are quite cute, if I do say so myself.

Finally, as the dying battery on my iPhone, which I foolishly forgot to charge the night before, gave up the ghost, I quickly grabbed the phone of a perfect stranger (to whom I happen to be married) to get this photo of Fourth of July Committee Co-Chairperson Marcia Levengood being interviewed in Smith Family Plaza by the film crew from the "Brew Dogs" TV show.

If, like faithful Mercury subscriber Levi Wolf, you just happened to have missed the wonderful story I wrote for Sunday's Mercury explaining what exactly the Brew Dogs float and TV show were all about, shame on you.

Here's a link to the story explaining it all.

Here is a link to one video I sent out through Twitter, for which the Storify links may not work. Be warned, the hill these marchers had to climb was very steep (almost 90 degrees, and that ain't farenheit!).

(Keep your eyes peeled for a guest appearance by frequent Digital Notebook contributor John Armato!)

To all those who joined me along High Street, here's hoping you enjoyed the parade as much as I did.

To all those who weren't there, you missed a good parade.

Happy Day-After-Independence-Day everyone.

It's Time to Pony Up for Fireworks

Holiday time is a time when we, above all, celebrate tradition.

There's Christmas Tree traditions, the Pottstown by Candlelight Holiday House Tour, Menorah lightings, Santa arriving downtown and at the Coventry Mall.

But there is one Pottstown tradition which is one the ropes this year, and its not one we usually think about in November.

It's the fireworks that cap our days-long Fourth of July celebrations here in town.

Yes there's a parade, which is wonderful, car rally, events galore in Memorial Park, amusement rides, balloons and fly-overs. but the one everyone looks forward to is the fireworks on the final night.

What you might not know is that the fireworks are also the most expensive, and that the bulk of that expense has to be paid months in advance.

In previous years, the money raised prior to and during the events has provided enough money for the all-volunteer Fourth of July Committee to pay that fireworks deposit out of pocket.

This year, thanks to a combination of factors -- at the base of which is likely a slowly recovering economy -- that is not the case.

"We barely squeaked through to the end of the celebration this summer," committee member Terri Swavely. "There was very little left over."

The Fourth of July Celebration is more than just fireworks.

Part of the problem, Swavely said, is several large pledge commitments to the event were not honored.

No checks were ever received for as many as five major pledges, the receipt of which would net the committee as much as $5,000.

That money would definitely help the committee meet the $20,000 goal they need to reach by Jan. 1 in order to make the deposit for the fireworks.

But it won't be enough by itself, which is why the committee is asking people who appreciate that fireworks show to consider making their annual Fourth of July donation six months earlier this year.

All donations may be sent to:

Independence Day LTD.

c/o Maryann Peters

230 Beech Street

Pottstown, PA 19464


Or, donations can be dropped off in person at the Pottstown Parks and Recreation office on the second floor of Borough Hall, 100 E. High St.

This would be a great time for those who live outside the borough and who come in to town to enjoy the free fireworks and then head right back out, to give a little back and help a group of volunteers ensure they'll have something to watch come this July.