Strawberries, Music, Community Theater, and more

Saturday is the first day of June, and weather should be great for a day in the park.

The annual Strawberry Festival at New Goshenhoppen Park (3rd Street, East Greenville, PA) runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, June 1st. There is no admission fee to the event. There will be crafts and refreshments for sale, and multiple children’s activities (including Moon Bounce and supersized soap bubbles!) Harmony Corner Music and New Goshenhoppen Children’s Choir will take the stage at the bandstand at 11 a.m. and Juli Kells Dance Center will be showcasing their performers from 1 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. The day closes with a concert by the Red Hill Band, from 4 p.m. – 6 p.m. And, of course, there will be all sorts of strawberry desserts!


The Red Hill Band will be performing another free concert on Sunday evening, June 2, 2024 at the Green Lane Park Amphitheater (2298 Green Lane Road, Green Lane, PA) from 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. Audience members are advised to bring their own lawn chairs or blankets, and picnicking is encouraged!


DCP Theater’s latest production – The Wisdom of Eve – opens tonight and runs through June 9th. Tickets may be bought online or at the door.

Adapted from the story by Mary Orr on which the film All About Eve and the musical Applause were based, The Wisdom of Eve is an engrossing and revealing ‘inside’ story of life in New York’s theatre world, told in terms of an unscrupulous ingenue’s rise to Broadway stardom. When we first meet Eve Harrington, she is standing in the rain by the stage door of the theatre in which the renowned Margo Crane is starring in her latest long-run hit. As Eve begins to move ahead in earnest, her true character emerges as she lies, cheats, and blackmails her way to Broadway stardom-and then a Hollywood career-leaving the wreckage of her friends’ trust behind her.


Beginning on Tuesday, June 4th, the 2023 winners of the “Tribes” quilt contest, sponsored by the European Patchwork Meeting go on exhibit through August 4th, 2024. These award winning quilts made by fabric artists from around the world will be on exhibit and open to the public at the Schwenkfelder Library and Heritage Center (105 Seminary Street, Pennsburg, PA). The exhibit is free, as is entrance to the museum.

Thirty quilts made by international fiber artists interpret common elements a social group might share. The exhibit (is) open to the general public June 4 through August 4. Let us know your favorite, and we’ll have a special prize at the end of the show for our Pennsylvania People’s Choice. This exhibit was such a hit last year that we wanted to bring it back, and thanks to the generosity of our sponsors—Byers’ Choice, the Keystone Quilters, and Kay Bachkai—you’ll get to see a brand new show of stunning art quilts!

Last year, quilts ranged from showing scenes from favorite fairy tales and books, Star Wars and dragons, as well as a very personal tale of life in Ukraine. This year’s collection will doubtless be equally amazing and enthralling.


Looking ahead, next weekend is the Hendershot and Krieg Summer Open Studio. Free and open to the public, folks are invited to stop by between 10 a.m and 6 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, June 8th and 9th, and meet the artists Bradley Hendershot and Katharine Krieg , see where they work, and have a look at some of their latest original artwork and prints available for sale. Hoppenville House, 5455 Hoppenville Road, Green Lane, PA 18054. (Did we mention the light refreshments and beautiful landscaped grounds?)


It’s not too early to begin making your plans for Friday, June 21st, the 12th Annual Make Music Upper Perk – with 21 venues hosting musicians, happening in 5 towns, inside and outside, from 9 a.m. – 10 p.m. – all free and open to the public – difficult choices will have to be made! Check out the schedule and the map online, and consider picking up a copy at one of the venues, or picking up a Town and Country the week before, if you’d like a paper copy.

And if you’d like to be a part of Make Music Upper Perk, sign up here to volunteer!

Spring has sprung, and May is just around the corner….

There are two great local music events to choose from tomorrow night, First Friday is back in Upper Perk next Friday – May 3rd, a local art show is opening a week from Saturday, and the annual UPSD Arts Fest showcasing student artists and musicians in Upper Perk School District starts on Tuesday, May 7th, 2024! All this to look forward to and more, along with a reminder that plans are underway for an awesome first day of summer celebrating music throughout the Valley on Friday, June 21st at Make Music Upper Perk.


Friday night, April 26th, Terry Kane is leading and hosting an Irish Session (live music!) at Perkiomen Valley Brewery (101 Walnut Street, Green Lane, PA) the first in a series of 4th Fridays music nights. The music starts at 6 p.m. and runs until 9 p.m.

Irish Session - Perkiomen Valley Brewery, 4th Fridays 6-9 p.m. April 26, May 24, June 28 - hosted by Terry Kane.

Tina Faigan will be playing a piano concert – Vignettes: Modern and Retro – at Church of the Holy Spirit in Harleysville, PA (2871 Barndt Road), beginning at 7 p.m. on Friday, April 26, 2024.

A recital featuring short works for the piano—from recent gems to beloved classics—including Claire de Lune, Rachmaninoff’s 18th Variation, Schubert, Chopin, Puccini and more.

Concert pianist, chamber musician, recording artist, teacher and published music-writer, Tina Faigen’s professional music endeavors also include engagements as an adjudicator, master class presenter, workshop presenter, orchestral pianist, instrumental & vocal accompanist, music editor, and even presently as an orchestral violinist serving as Principal 2nd. An active teacher from the age of 14, Faigen has maintained a private studio throughout her life and is a piano faculty member at both University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University Music Preparatory School.


Friends of Doyletown Library Arts and Crafts Fair - Saturday, April 27th, 2024 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.  Free Admission

Support the Doylestown Library while checking out wonderful crafts this Saturday, April 27, 2024 from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. at the Friends of the Doyletown Library Arts and Craft Fair. There is no admission charge for this event at the James-Lorah House Auditorium, 100 North Broad Street, Doylestown, PA.


First Fridays are back in East Greenville, starting on Friday, May 3rd! Part of Third Street and Bank Street (right off of Main Street) will be closed for crafts people and vendors. There will be live music and Main Street businesses in town (like the bakery and cafe!) will be open later than usual for this event.


The public is invited to the opening Reception of the Pottstown Area Artists Guild Fine Arts Show at our own local museum, the Schwenkfelder Library and Heritage Center (105 Seminary Ave, Pennsburg, PA) on Sunday, May 5th from 2 p.m. – 5 p.m. Free and open to everyone, held on the second floor (accessible by elevator as well as stairs) in the Putera Meeting Room, in addition to the art, there will be refreshments, and live music by harpist Betsy Chapman. The Fine Arts Show will be on display from Friday, May 3rd – Sunday, May 19, 2024. Admission to the Schwenkfelder Library and Heritage is free.


Celebrate all the artistic and musical talent at our public schools in the Upper Perkiomen Valley, at this year’s UPSD Arts Fest – May 7 – May 10, 2024. With concerts four night that week, and awesome displays of student artwork including paintings, sculptures, mixed media, and more, it’s worth finding some time on your calendar that week to stop by and check it out! Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday evening are the elementary and middle school concerts (Choruses on Tuesday and Bands, and UPHS Jazz Band!, on Wednesday, and Orchestras on Thursday) and the Elementary/UPMS Art Show – all in the Upper Perkiomen Middle School (901 Montgomery Avenue, Pennsburg, PA). Thursday and Friday night one can stop by the Upper Perkiomen High School (just down the street at 2 Walt Road, Pennsburg, PA) to see the High School Art Show and hear High School Recital and High School Jazz Band (Thursday), and the High School Orchestra and Band Concert (Friday).


The North Pennsmen Barbershop Chorus will be holding their Spring is Bursting Out All Over concert on Saturday, May 11th at 2 p.m, at the Souderton Mennonite Church. Tickets may be purchased online or at the door; adults $20, kids 12 and under are free.


The Pottstown Artists Guild is hosting their May Masters of Art Talk on Monday, May 20th, 2024 at 7:30 p.m. Free and open to everyone, Kevin Lynn will be talking about the art of photography – The art of seeing … Opening your mind’s eye to inspiration at the Hill School Center of the Arts, 760 Beech Street, Pottstown, PA.

As photographer, Kevin Lynn, will talk about his ability to see images everywhere. In any situation, any light and in any genre. Living in the moment… Composition that tells a story.

Working in multiple disciplines. Routines and best practices to develop those skills. His photos show a unique ability to see image possibilities that are not always just what the eye sees.


And don’t forget to mark your calendar for the first day of summer – Friday, June 21st – the twelfth annual Make Music Upper Perk! With live music inside and outside at over 20 locations throughout the Upper Perkiomen Valley, starting at 9 a.m. until 10 p.m., this all free, all volunteer, and all open to the public event brings the community together to celebrate music of all types by musicians of all ages!

If you’d like to be a part of this event, sign up to volunteer today and/or come to the first MMUP Volunteer Meeting of 2024 on Saturday afternoon, May 11th at 1 p.m. at New Goshenhoppen Park (618 Third Street, East Greenville, PA), by the bandstand. Learn more about volunteering for this event – volunteers are needed before and after June 21st, as well as on the day of the event itself.


March has come in like a lion (but you can do more than fly a kite this month)

As of Friday night’s sold out performance of Matilda Jr at the Upper Perkiomen Middle School (901 Montgomery Avenue, Pennsburg, PA) there were still 30 tickets left for the final performance on Saturday, March 2nd, 2024. Tickets are on sale now

There are still two more performances to go of Act 1’s staging of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, Saturday, March 2nd and Sunday, March 3rd. Get tickets online for this show at DeSales University, Center Valley, PA


Next weekend the pop musical Emma! will be on stage at Upper Perkiomen High School (2 Walt Road, Pennsburg, PA) Thursday, March 7 – Sunday, March 10, 2024. Buy your ticket now, before they sell out!


Ain’t Misbehavin’ is on stage now until March 10, 2024, at the Civic Theater on 19th Street in Allentown, PA.


Part One of CWTAP’s broadcast of Make Music Upper Perk 2023, featuring eight different entertainers is now on YouTube to watch and share with your friends. This great footage, shot live by The Ritters on June 21st, 2023, includes performances by Gravel Pike, Peregrine and the Band of Brothers, Michael Oelschlager, Jeanne Hunsberger and her harp, Lehigh Valley Pops, and Expressions Sax Quartet.


The Celtic Heirs will be performing on Thursday, March 7th, 2024 at 6 p.m. at the Upper Perkiomen Valley Library (350 Main Street, Red Hill, PA). Registration is encouraged (but not required) for this free concert.


The Jameson Sisters, with special guest violinist Helene Zisook Speer, will be at the Church of the Holy Spirit in Harleysville, PA (2871 Barndt Road) on Friday, March 15, 2024 for the annual St Patrick’s Day Concert, which starts at 7 p.m. The concert is open to the public, with a suggested donation of $25.


Funky Frets in Boyertown (124 N Chestnut Street) will be celebrating the grand opening of their new Vinyl Store on Saturday, March 16, 2024 with a day and night of workshops and performances, free and open to the public. The Uke Workshop will be from 1 p.m. – 2 p.m., Uke Jam from 2:30 – 5:30, and Open Mic (all instruments welcome) from 6 p.m. – 8 p.m.

FunkyFretMar16

The Pottstown Area Artists Guild (PAAG) is starting their 2024 Spring Program with the March Masters of Art talk, on Thursday, March 21, 2024.  This event is free and open to the public.

In March, Gallery Owner, Caroline Kearney, will talk about “Some Common-Sense Ideas for Honing Your Art Career: A Gallerist’s Perspective”

This talk will be presented by Pottstown Area Artists Guild on Thursday, March 21, 2024 at 7pm. The talk will take place on the 2nd floor above the Gallery in the North Hall of the West Campus of the Montgomery County Community College at 16 E. High Street in Pottstown, PA.

Information about attending this talk and parking at the college is available at https://paag.info/meeting-times/.


The Pottstown Area Artists Guild has also put out a Call for Artists for their upcoming Spring Open Juried Fine Arts Show, which will be held this year at the Schwenkfelder Library and Heritage Center on May 3 – 19, 2024. The deadline to enter is Monday, March 25th for mail-in entries and Monday, April 1st for online entries.


Snow Blast and Virtual Storytelling Workshop

The 15th annual SnowBlast Winter Arts Festival is Saturday afternoon, March 5th, in the Emmaus Triangle, from noon to 4 p.m. There will be live music, art activities, ice sculptures, food trucks, and more.

Fourth through eighth graders are invited to sign up for a Virtual Storytelling Workshop , aka Creating Comics!, which starts on Monday, March 7th, 2022. Angie DeMuro, cartoonist, storyteller and arts educator, will lead this Zoom class in creating their own original comic strip. There is a $40 registration fee.

Storytelling Workshop

“Beauty and the Batik” Quilt Show, Pickfest, Fall Fest, and Book Fest!

Beauty and the Batik, at Finland Mennonite Church, 1750 Ziegler Road, Pennsburg, PA, showcases over 250 quilts (some for sale), demonstrations, vendor mall, and more, on Friday, October 11 and Saturday, October 12, 2019 from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Boyertown’s Pickfest is held over three days, Friday, October 11 through Sunday, October 13, 2019, with a total of 12 bands performing on 7 stages. Make Music Upper Perk’s own Steve Walker will be playing on Saturday afternoon. In addition to live music there will be art exhibits, blacksmithing demonstrations, children’s games, a chance to make your own blown glass pumpkin, scarecrow making, apple cider floats, a scavenger hunt, and more. Check out the map of downtown Boyertown, PA to see where everything is happening.

Quakertown’s 2019 Fall Festival and Trick or Trunk  is at the Park at 4th from 3 p.m. – 7 p.m. on Saturday, October 12th. Crafts and live music, scarecrows and pumpkin painting, food and fun, can be found in Memorial Park, 501 W. Mill Street, Quakertown, PA

The 2019 Fall Festival will consist of your favorites: Hayrides, scarecrow decorating contest, moon bounces, games, activities, sensory tent, costume contest, and many more of your favorites!

New in 2019: Apple dumplings and cider, donut eating contest, rock decorating, raffle baskets, and new games/activities/crafts!

Doylestown hosts the Bucks County Book Festival this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, October 12-13, 2019. Tickets may be bought online for Saturday’s Writers’ Workshop and  Illustrator’s Workshop, and Saturday evening’s Keynote Address by Pulitzer Prize-winning and former New York Times columnist Anna Quindlen. 50 professional authors and illustrators will be appearing at various locations; authors for the Kids Fest will be at Doylestown Fire Company, 68 Shewell Avenue from 9:30 – 2 p.m. on Saturday, while YA, mystery, SF/Fantasy, and general fiction free author panels will be divided between 3 tents in the Hamilton Street Parking Lot, Doyletown, PA from noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday.  Book Fest opens at 11:30 a.m. with live music, bookstore, and a vendor marketplace. Authors are scheduled to make an appearance at Books ‘N Brew on Saturday evening between 5 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.

Bucks Book Fest is partnering with three restaurant/bars in Doylestown to bring authors, who write in a wide range of genres, to entertain you while you eat/drink. We’re calling this new event, Books ‘N Brew. Other cities have dubbed similar happenings as “Lit Crawls,” “Seriously Entertaining,” or “After Dark.” Whatever it’s called we are seriously hoping you’ll crawl out at (almost) dark to support our authors and their books while getting some food and a brew. 

The Wonder-filled Wunderbarn

The Wonder-filled Wunderbarn  by guest blogger Jenny Hill

Wunderbarn

 

Welcome to The Wunderbarn!  We’re new to the Upper Perk neighborhood (just moved in March), and are excited to become a part of the arts community.

The Wunderbarn is true to its name—it’s a barn filled with wonder. It is the dreamspace of Jenny Hill, a circus performer, poet, and PA Council on the Arts rostered teaching artist. When Jenny and her husband, Dan Waber, sought out property in the area, they knew they wanted enough acreage to grow organic vegetables, and a barn to turn into a theatre and arts space. They found their perfect spot in East Greenville. Jenny set to work immediately turning one of the stalls in the barn into a stage, and as soon as the ground was ready, Dan began gardening.

What’s happening in The Wunderbarn? Each Third Friday, the doors open in the theatre for the Only An Hour Variety Hour Open Mic at 6:30 p.m. Participants share poetry, music, dance, comedy, flash fictions, memoir, and performance art. When the weather is nice, we sprawl out on the lawn (as pictured), and open the doors wide. If it’s rainy or chilly, we’ll keep the doors closed and the space transforms into an  intimate, barn black box theatre. This event is free and open to the public. We only ask that you RSVP so we can set up a parking plan-o-gram. Parking is limited.

Each Second Sunday, we run Yoga Refresh, with yoga instructor Natalie Bedouin. The yoga and meditation session is followed by a delicious plant-based lunch, which features some of the organic vegetables Dan is growing in the greenhouses and gardens. This event is by donation. RSVP to save your spot. Class is limited to six.

The full schedule for the month can be found here (actsofjennius.com/events), and features October classes in hoop fitness, yoga, creative writing, and mask making. Future plans include performances, a summer camp for 2020, and after school programming.

All events at The Wunderbarn are Pay What You Like donation. What’s Pay What You Like? Well, it’s just that. Take the class, and pay what you like once it’s over. You decide the value based on your experience. Pay What You Like donation provides an equal opportunity for people of any financial background to participate.  Donations made after class go right back into making future classes, workshops, and events possible.

Do you have a talent you’d like to share in The Wunderbarn and with the community? Reach out to Jenny at jenniferdunnhill@gmail.com and we’ll talk. We look forward to seeing you soon at a Wunderbarn event!

Festive First Fall Weekend!

The first fall weekend of 2019 promises to be filled with music, art, theater, and sunshine.

The  Bethlehem Celtic Classic – a free three-day festival featuring multiple stages with live music, indoor and outdoor, Irish crafts and food, dance, fiddle contests, caber throwing events, bagpipe bands, children’s events, theater, and more – begins Friday night, September 27 and continues through Sunday, September 29, 2019.

The Allentown Arts Fest, at Cedar Beach Park, reminds me a bit of the original May Arts Festival – an all free long weekend event (Friday, Sept 27, 4 pm – 11 pm; Saturday, Sept 28, noon to 11 pm; Sunday, Sept 29, 11 am – 8 pm), with three stages for over 60 musical performances, an art vendors area, graffiti murals, children’s activities, interactive electronic music, screening of indie and short movies, and more. And Upper Perk’s own Tom Cooney will be playing at Martin’s Guitar Songwriters’ Showcase on Saturday afternoon (4 p.m. – 7 p.m.), and as part of the Acoustic Blues Project on Sunday from noon to 1 p.m. – both Tom and the Acoustic Blues Project are popular musicians, known for drawing a crowd at our own Make Music Upper Perk, as well as playing all around the area throughout the year.

Several performers that we’ve been lucky enough to hear at Make Music Upper Perk (including Mark Hannig, Bill McConney, Ralph Pagano, and Acoustic Blues Project) will be making music in Easton, PA on Sunday, September 29th as part of the wonderfully walkable free second annual College Hill Porchfest.  Musicians play from 2 p.m. – 6 p.m. on 24 porches, followed by a Second Line Parade starting and ending at College Hill Presbyterian (with a pot-luck supper in the church yard).

 All musicians and groups (professionals, amateurs, and everything in between) volunteer to perform at designated times and locations. Attendees stroll from porch to porch with blankets or folding chairs in hand ready to enjoy their preferred musical groups.

The music will vary broadly from jazz to blue grass to classical to all kinds of rock with the number of musicians in any performance ranging from one to 40. The grand finale will be the band, Big Easy Easton Brass, leading a Second Line parade through the neighborhood bringing a New Orleans tradition to the streets of Easton. A Second Line parade is not one you just watch go by, it’s one you participate in: Walk along, Dance along, Sing along, Shake a tambourine, Fill the streets with bubbles or even learn to play an instrument and jump on in. This band wants to blur the line between spectator and participant.

An all women cast takes the stage with Oscar Wilde’s  classic comedy The Importance of Being Earnest at Muhlenberg College, Baker Theatre, Trexler Pavilion for Theatre & Dance, 2400 Chew Street, Allentown, PA, with performances scheduled for September 26-29, 2019.

Following the adventures of two stylish young bachelors leading double lives to win hearts (or maybe break them), the play rollicks from London to the English countryside, with secret identities, capacious handbags, a controversial supply of cucumber sandwiches, and a sparklingly posh but surprisingly deep search for the “vital importance of Being Earnest.”

Two plays are ongoing in Souderton and Skippack; The Outgoing Tide– September 12 – October 6, 2019 – at Montgomery Theater, 124 N. Main Street, Souderton, PA and See How They Run – September 19 – October 5, 2019 – at The Playcrafters, 2011 Store Road, Skippack, PA (one block off Main Street).

Free “Kindness Rocks” Painting Event

HP kindness rock

Perhaps you’ve seen brightly colored painted rocks laying on the ground while you were out walking, or in someone’s garden, (or in a Little Free Library), and wondered about them, and hopefully they served to bring a smile to your face and brighten your day for just a moment (or longer). Maybe it had a saying written on it, maybe it was just a colorful design, or maybe it was a familiar face, like the Harry Potter kindness rock that showed up in the Washington Street Free Library in East Greenville, the other day. These pocket size painted “kindness rocks ” have been showing up all over the country and local areas.

Now you can be a part of brightening someone’s day with a random piece of rock art, without having to go to the trouble of finding the rocks or buying any paint. Tomorrow, the Schwenkfelder Library and Heritage Center is hosting a free Kindness Rock painting event in the afternoon from noon to 2 p.m. (Saturday, September 23, 2017). According to the Town and Country newspaper, “The completed rocks will be collected and placed around town for people to found and keep.” Schwenkfelder Library, 105 Seminary Avenue, Pennsburg, PA. Free admission.