PSMA Puts Pottstown Closer to New Stadium Lights

Photo by Evan Brandt

Pottstown Marching Band officers, form left, Manager Casey Mest, President Connor Benfield and Vice President Chloe Francis get ready to present a $1,500 donation to the Save the Lights Campaign at Pottstown High School.

Perhaps the most newsworthy thing that happened at the school board meeting Thursday night took shape while the school board was not even in the room.

Closeted in a meeting from which the public was excluded while the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit made a presentation on why they should be hired to find Pottstown a new superintendent in what was quite possibly a violation of the Open Meetings Law, students and officials from the Pottstown music program cooled their heels outside.

And they were there to give the school district money.

The money, $1,500, was a donation from the volunteer non-profit Pottstown Schools Music Association, to the Save the Lights campaign.

(Full disclosure, this blogger is a member of that august organization.)

Here is some video of the presentation:





Board member Polly Weand, who is in charge of the fund-raising effort, said she had some "secret news" she was not quite ready to share but that new lights for Grigg Memorial Field might be ready as soon as next year.

Superintendent Jeff Sparagana, also gave a sobering presentation on the high school's recent less-than-stellar School Performance Profile Score, and the board accepted the retirement notices of several high-level administration personnel.

You can read all about it in the Tweets below ....

Spaghetti, Meatballs and Jazz, all for $10

So you like spaghetti right?

You like live music right?

You like live music performed by talented students, all for one low price right?

Then you know what you're doing next Saturday.

You are heading down to the Goodwill fire station on High Street, slapping down a mere $10 and then enjoying an all-you-can-eat spaghetti dinner while you listen to Pottstown students jazz up the evening.

The meal offers homemade meatballs on that spaghetti; bread; beverage and dessert, as well as the satisfaction of knowing that your enjoyment helped to fund music education in Pottstown.

Can't beat that with a stick.

Here's a taste of how much fun you'll have (sorry, I have no video of the middle school jazz band. Hope to get some thins year):



Below is a performance of last year's high school jazz band at the spaghetti dinner where they debuted a new number.

If we're lucky, they'll do that this year too!

Music and a Meal for $8? What Magic is This?

Photo by Evan Brandt

The sign...

Imagine this: It's a lovely spring evening and you want to take your significant other (or better yet, your whole family) out for a tasty dinner and perhaps some music.

Problem is, you've only got a few bucks in your pocket.

Maybe most of your entertainment budget went into your home's often-empty oil tank this year, or a malevolent pothole threw your alignment from here to the moon -- and back.

Quite the dilemma you face oh-seeker-of-mealtime-entertainment.

If only there was some place you could go, a place of "Good Will," where wholesome and delicately boiled carbohydrates, hand-rolled meatballs and the best jarred red sauce could be had for a song ... and with a song even....

Photo by Evan Brandt

The food...

Heed our words, oh seeker of music, mirth and meatballs, for your answer lies within reach.

It is none other than the return of that most marvelous and most melodious of meals; that mellifluous melange of melody and meal time, that provision of pasta perfection; that juggernaut of justifiably jammin' Jazz; that ....

... too much?

OK, sorry.

Ahem, let's start again.

The Pottstown Schools Music Association will present the second annual night of Jazz and Spaghetti on Saturday, March 29, at the Goodwill Fire Company, 714 East High St. in Pottstown.

Photo by Evan Brandt

The musicians....

Pottstown's high school, middle school and elementary school jazz bands will provide the music entertainment while the parents of the Pottstown Schools Music Association provide the pasta.

Tickets are $8 for adults, $5 for children younger than 10 and children under 5 eat for free.

It starts at 4 p.m. and lasts through 7 p.m.

It will be three solid hours of auditory and culinary enjoyment; an one-a-year experience made possible by a small band of fearless volunteers and the equally fearless children of this community; children who have stepped forward, students who will to rise up, instruments in hand, straining mightily against the bonds of beat and baton which bind them to this earth; students who will issue musical notes which soar to the ceiling notes which.....

Photo by Evan Brandt

The well-fed audience....

...what's that? Too much again?

Right.

So advanced tickets can be purchased.

You can get them by calling Debi Schiery at 610-505-3077. Or, you can buy them at the door.

So there is your choice, leave your loved ones at home, wallowing in spaghetti-less, Jazz-less misery, wondering if its even worth breathing in another day's air...

....OR.....

Photo by Evan Brandt

The chefs....

You can fire up the family wagon (or the family bicycle as the case may be), heck, call up grandma and grandpa and crazy Uncle Fester, gather them all together and toddle on down to the Goodwill Fire Company, open up your wallet, enjoy some good food and some good music with your neighbors and help music education in Pottstown.

Just think what a big spender everyone will think you are.

Don't worry, we won't tell them what a bargain it really is....

And, if you still haven't figured out how much fun this is, below is a video I made of last year's event.

If this doesn't convince you to come, perhaps you should consider seeking professional help....

All You Can Eat Pancakes is Music to Their Ears

So do you like pancakes?

I mean really, REALLY like pancakes.

Then you need to get yourself, family, friends and neighbors down to the Goodwill Fire Company on Saturday morning when an ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT Pancake Breakfast will be held from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m.

The breakfast includes all you can eat pancakes, plus bacon, sausage, coffee, tea, water and OJ.

Tickets are $7 in advance and tomorrow is the last day to buy advance tickets.

Children 3 and younger can enter free and those 4 to 10 years old cost $5 for advance tickets. And, every 10 tickets bought in advance earns one free adult ticket.

Make checks payable to PSMA and get them to a Pottstown band or choir teacher by today to ensure you seat and discount.

(Sorry about the short notice. The folks at the Pottstown Schools Music Association got this info to me in plenty of time, but I didn't want to post it too soon, lest you forget, and then a whole bunch of last minute stuff showed up....anyhoo)

The breakfast benefits the Pottstown Schools Music Association, funding their activities and raising money for equipment and trips.

You may remember them as the folks who brought you the very popular Jazz Spaghetti Dinner last April, also at the Goodwill Firehouse.

Remember how good that was? Here's a video to remind you.

Well the pancake breakfast will be just as good -- except there's no music. But hey, we mentioned bacon right?

Tickets on Saturday are $8 at the door; $6 for those 4 to 10. But kids under 3 still eat for free.

In case you don't already know, Goodwill Fire Company is located at 714 E. High St.

For more information and tickets, contact Debi Schiery @610-505-3077 or debi328@msn.com