Newark Life Spring 2015

Spring/Summer 2015

Newark Life

Magazine

Inside :

www.newarklifemagazine.com

• GrassRoots celebrates 40 years • Chapel Chapel Street Junction keeps traditional music alive • A new beginning for the Stone Balloon

A Chester County Press Publication

www.newarklifemagazine.com | Spring/Summer 2015 | Newark Life

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Newark Life • Spring /Summer 2015

6 Profile of professor Ben Yagoda p. 52

14 Getting together to remember the Newark that used to be 20 GrassRoots celebrates 40 years in Newark

p. 80

28 Delaware’s first McDonald’s still thrives on Main Street 36 The Stone Balloon Ale House: The Playful re-imagination of Newark history

52 Q & A with Philip DiFebo p. 76

56 Traditional music with a hard-rock attitude 60 Enjoy all that downtown Newark has to offer p. 68

68 Photo essay: Where in Newark?

76 Newark Chess Club 80 ‘The dogs amaze us every day’

p. 36

SPOTLIGHTING NEWARK LIFE A commitment to community Newark Life• Spring/Summer 2015 Letter from the Editor: As the writers and photographers of Newark Life were putting this issue together, we met many interesting people with a deep commitment to and an appreciation of the City of Newark.

Consider, for example, Marilyn Dickey, who first opened her Newark store, GrassRoots, 40 years ago.

Her daughters, Joanna Staib and Kristin Short, are taking the business in many new directions, but the family remains committed to Newark and its vibrant business district.

Writer John Chambless explores how a Facebook page called Memories of Newark grew into an event, Nostalgia Fest, that celebrated the Newark that used to be.

Writer Richard Gaw profiles University of Delaware English Professor Ben Yagoda, whose latest book, “The B-Side: The

Death of Tin Pan Alley and the Rebirth of the Great American Song” offers a panoramic view of how the Great American Songbook evolved over the last century.

We meet Les Dukart, whose family brought the first McDonald’s in Delaware to Newark in 1960. The restaurant has been a mainstay on Main Street ever since, and we talk to Dukart about the unique history that McDonald’s has on Main Street.

The subject of the Q & A is Philip DiFebo, the general manager of the Stone Balloon Ale House, which features a superb menu and a new look that relishes in the legacy of the Stone Balloon, a famed music venue.

This issue also features a story about the Chapel Street Junction, a local band which performs a high-octane brand of traditional bluegrass, Irish

music, and Americana.

Writer Carla Lucas profiles the Newark Chess Club, which gives local residents a chance to practice and learn a game that they love while also competing for national rankings.

In the photo essay, readers are asked to identify “Where in Newark” the photo essay’s images can be found.

We hope that you enjoy the stories in this issue of Newark Life and we welcome your comments and suggestions for future stories. We’re already looking forward to bringing you another collection of stories in our fall 2015 issue that will arrive in early October.

Sincerely, Randy Lieberman, Publisher (randyl@chestercounty. com, 610-869-5553) Steve Hoffman, Editor (editor@chestercounty.com, 610-869-5553, ext. 13)

Photo by Richard L. Gaw

University of Delaware professor Ben Yagoda’s latest book is a panoramic sweep of the era of the Great American Songbook, and its impact on popular culture.

University of Delaware Professor Ben Yagoda’s latest book is a panoramic view of how the Great American Songbook evolved over the last century – one that began on Tin Pan Alley and ended with the birth of the Beatles

When Sinatra bad-mouthed Elvis

By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer

His kind of music is deplorable, a rancid smelling aphrodisiac.

These were the words Frank Sinatra used in 1956 when describing Elvis Presley. The criticism was harsh, but consider the circumstances: after a near three-year disappearance that saw him not only lose his wife but also his voice, Sinatra was now back on his game, and all of a sudden here emerged this shimmy-shaking punk out of Tennessee who was climbing up the charts and stealing the teenage girl hullabaloo that Sinatra had all to himself ten years before. One year later, in an article he wrote for a small French magazine that found its way to newspapers in the United States, Sinatra -- a former club boxer -- went absolutely pugilistic against an even larger foe. Rock and roll.

“It fosters almost totally negative and destructive reactions in young people,” he wrote. “It smells phony and false. It is sung, played and written for the most part by cretinous goons and by means of its almost imbecilic reiterations and sly, lewd -- in plain fact, dirty -- lyrics, and as I said before, it manages to be the martial music of every side-burned delinquent on the face of the earth...”

Such vitriolic diatribe between music makers was not new.

Although the war of words between the generations of musicians may have reached its zenith in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when rock and pop music took over the airwaves, the tit-for-tat grumblings of one musical camp yielding to another go back much further.

In his latest book, “The B-Side: The Death of Tin Pan Alley and the Rebirth of the Great American Song,” (Riverhead Books), University of Delaware English Professor Ben Yagoda brings readers into both the creativity and the mud, tracing Courtesy art the evolution of the popular music industry from the sophis“The B-Side: The Death of Tin Pan Alley and the tication of George Gershwin and Oscar Hammerstein to the Rebirth of the Great American Song,” is published Continued on Page 8

by Riverhead Books.

Ben Yagoda..

Continued from Page 7

melodic goop that perpetuated the American culture in the 1950s.

Yagoda goes wide, providing a panoramic perspective of the popular music scene, set against the transformative backdrop of a changing America -- one that survived the Great Depression, World War II, and was embarking on journeys that would take them from large cities to small towns and simpler ways of life. Tethered in story lines from decade to decade, Yagoda’s book reads like a novel of plots and subplots, heroes and villains -- all told in the context of an historical narrative.

The style is Yagoda’s proven formula. Similar to two of his earlier books, “About Town: The New Yorkerand the World it Made” (2000) and “Memoir: A History” (2009), “The B-Side” is a page-turning weave of biography, history and analysis.

“That’s a sweet spot for me,” Yagoda said. “I felt book was about answering the question, ‘Why did this Great American Songbook moment stop?’ It’s also about the human story, in understanding how people dealt with those changes.”

CONNOL LY GAL L AGHE R

Courtesy photo

Frank Sinatra figures prominently in Yagoda's book

They’re all here, pounding pavements, gracing stages, recording in smoke-filled studios, and yelling back and forth: Gershwin, Cole Porter, Billie Holliday, Jerome Kern, Harold Arlen, Sinatra and Mitch Miller.

“We know now what happened when Elvis and the Beatles arrived, but at the time, no one knew what was going to happen,” Yagoda said. “Up to that point, [the general landscape of popular music] was centered on Broadway and the movies, with nothing in between. There was a limited view of music, but slowly, people like Hank

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Williams and Patti Page were seeping in. In some ways, this period was exciting.”

In other ways, as Yagoda tells in the book, it was downright ugly. After World War II, there became a sea change in the listening tastes of Americans, who were tiring of hearing music that for them, represented the two time warp bubbles of New York City and Hollywood. The country was expanding, and yet the songwriters who ushered in The Great American Songbook were criticized for what many felt was an ignorance of music that was happening elsewhere.

Membership in ASCAP -- the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers -- virtually became an Old Boys Network that excluded any other type of musical genre that was creeping onto the scene. Meanwhile, America got a whole lot wider; the suburbs grew, and radio stations by the hundreds began to pop up in the “flyover” states.

“People began to favor ‘easy listening’ music, comfort food in musical terms,” Yagoda said. “They began to accept ‘How Much is that Doggie in the Window?’ while generally rejecting songs by Jerome Kern and Cole Porter.”

Although Yagoda shies away from pointing to any one particular culprit in explaining this shift, the cream that

George and Ira Gershwin.

Courtesy photo

rises to the top is in the influence of Mitch Miller, who served as the head of popular music for Columbia Records during the formative transition in music in the 1950s.

Miller was a self-professed “hit maker,” responsible for such works as “Mule Train,” which featured a cracking whip. He delighted in convincing singers beholden to the Great American Songbook to sneak on over to the other side of the table; to, in essence, slum.

At the time, Sinatra’s career was in the tanker. The bobby-soxer girls who worshipped him ten years before Continued on Page 10

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Ben Yagoda..

over 30 songwriters from ASCAP against BMI -- Broadcast Music, Inc. -- which claimed that they were being conContinued from Page 9 spired against, and that BMI was placing American music at The Paramount had all grown up; his marriage to the in a straightjacket. actress Eva Gardner was ending; and perhaps most frightAs a child of the Fifties, Yagoda formed that small slice ening of all, one night on stage he opened of the Baby Boom Generation who, while his mouth to sing and to his horror, nothing being introduced to Tin Pan Alley and the came out.

Great American Songbook, were also witSensing that the down-on-his-luck star nessing a firestorm of singers, songwriters was in need of a hit, Miller paired Sinatra and groups who shook the music world with “Good Night, Irene” and then folto its knees and ushered in the Sound of lowed up by getting Sinatra to record the Sixties. At the conclusion to “B-Sides,” “Mama Will Bark,” which actually featured Yagoda illustrates that by the end of the barking imitations. Although in celebrity 1950s, the accusatory word slinging and terms, Sinatra’s fall from grace was shortlawsuits were slowly giving way to an lived -- his Oscar-winning performance entire new generation of songwriters, like as Maggio in “From Here to Eternity” Carole King, Gerry Goffin, John Lennon was quickly followed by his contract at and Paul McCartney, and Bob Dylan.

Capitol Records -- his disdain for Miller “The final page had been turned on one was palpable. songbook. Another was just starting to be It seemed that everyone, Yagoda writes, Courtesy photo written,” Yagoda wrote. wanted a piece of the American ear. There Yagoda’s book looks over the careers “It’s too bad that people tend to fall into of some of the great American were antitrust lawsuits as well, none more popular composers of the last camps based on their age, who hate this prominent than the one filed in 1953 by century. and love that,” he said. “There are people

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like me who like a lot of things, who are a little more liberal in their tastes. My prejudice is that I’m very xenophobic, musically. I love American music, and that includes not only rock music but Broadway musicals as well.”

When it comes to writing a book about popular American music of the last century, Yagoda is the perfect person for the job. He was born in 1954 in New Rochelle, N.Y., into a household where songs like “Rhapsody in Blue” and “Some Enchanted Evening” were played on the family victrola. His hometown was a short, 30-minute train ride from Grand Central Station, and as a child, he delighted in being taken by his parents to the big Broadway musicals of the day. “Funny Girl.” “Hello, Dolly.” “Fiddler on the Roof,” and revivals of “Music Man” and “South Pacific.” In 1966, Yagoda saw a production of “Guys and Dolls” at New York’s City Center that starred Alan King and Jerry Orbach.

“I still think that was the greatest dramatic creation I’ve ever witnessed,” he said. “It was so clever, witty in every way. It nailed these incredibly clever lyrics. The street scenes, the costumes, the ballads. It was perfect.”

While Broadway music played in the Yagoda home, the New Yorker was mailed to the house every week. So was Esquire, so when he wasn’t reading the novels of P.G. Wodehouse and other fiction of the day, Yagoda dove

into the writing that was being seen on a regular basis in the magazines his family was receiving. Movie reviews by Pauline Kael. Long-form reporting by John McPhee. The New Journalism of Tom Wolf, Truman Capote, Norman Mailer and Richard Ben Cramer, who were dismantling the Old Guard of reporting and giving journalism a bold, new voice.

At Yale, he developed his own writing style while working on a campus magazine, which led to a near 30-year career as a freelance journalist, where his byline was seen in Rolling Stone, American Stage, In Health, Connoisseurand countless other publications.

“I began to experiment with a new voice, which melded with analytical viewpoints and narrative,” he said. “When I started working for magazines, I thought, ‘Wow. This voice thing is kind of cool.”

Freelancing became and remained a very steady gig for Yagoda, even after he began teaching at the University in 1992. His assignments allowed him to hang out with the likes of Susan Sarandon, director Barry Levinson, and actress Uma Thurman, with whom he ate blinis and caviar at the Russian Tea Room. Eventually, some of the magazines he wrote for folded; they didn’t have the budgets Continued on Page 12

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Ben Yagoda..

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anymore that once allowed writers the freedom, expense and time to carve long-form beauty out of facts and narrative in 5,000 words.

In a 2005 Slate.com entitled, “My Life as a Hack,” Yagoda announced that he was tossing in the towel on a career as a contributing writer. “Freelancing, with all its scrambling and uncertainty, is like rock climbing or whitewater kayaking: one of those things that comes fairly easily in your 20s and 30s but requires some mulling over as your enter your 50s,” he wrote.

Not only does he see the economic market for writing changing the way journalism is being defined, but the way its being perceived, procured, read and subsequently, taught.

“Writing on Twitter is great, but if you’re only reading Twitter, that’s the problem,” Yagoda said. “Reading prose, essays, books, magazines, is the absolute criteria for being a good writer, and I just don’t see that happening as often as I did years ago. A lot of students study journalism fully knowing that they will not ultimately go into journalism as a career. They wisely have the idea that some of these

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skills they’ll develop -- researching and figuring out what is important -- will help in what they will do in law, teaching, business, and public relations.”

Every writer, if he or she beats the odds and enters the autumn age of their career, is allowed the freedom to reflect on the impact of the words he or she has published -- where its been read and the degree to which the words have elicited thought, adequate commentary, and if its really good, the degree to which it has nudged. Yagoda’s career in writing -- several books, and countless essays, reviews and articles -- certainly gives him that right to rest on his laurels, but he’s not ready to put the pen down, however. He still contributes book reviews to The New York Times Book Review, as well as opinion and editorial to the Wall Street Journal and other publications.

“I feel and believe that being promiscuously curious is something that’s in my DNA,” he said. “I never hope to not have that. I wonder about it and then say I’m going to write about it. It’s one of the great pleasures of writing.

“It helps you figure out things.”

To learn more about Ben Yagoda, visit www.benyagoda.com.

To contact Staff Writer Richard L. Gaw, e-mail rgaw@ chestercounty.com.

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Linda Whiteside brought a 1950s copy of the Newark Post that had a story about her father, John Pollard, who once worked at Rhodes Pharmacy and later opened his own pharmacy in Newark.

Photos (3) by John Chambless

A guest signs a petition to block construction on the site of the Cavaliers Country Club Golf Course.

Dave ‘Bobby’ Dean (right) looks at a Newark High School yearbook.

Getting together to remember the Newark that used to be

Nostalgia Fest at the Deer Park grew out of Facebook group

By John Chambless Staff Writer In late March, 30 people -- many of them strangers -gathered at the Deer Park on Main Street to remember the Newark of the past. As members of a Facebook page called Memories of Newark, they were meeting face to face to share stories, enjoy some snacks, and find out how connected they all really were.

Suzanne Herel, who grew up in Newark, organized the event after she moved back to the area in 2012, joined the Facebook group and reconnected with people who shared her affection for the town’s history. “When I came back, I wanted to get involved in Newark again and make some friends, so I joined the group and asked if anybody ever got together. They hadn’t, so I organized this. I feel kind of like a carpetbagger,” Herel said, laughing, as she welcomed people to the party and gave out nametags.

Thirty people showed up for the Nostalgia Fest, held at the Deer Park in March.

Photos (3) by John Chambless

Herel grew up in the Binns neighborhood off of Elkton Road, went to Holy Angels School, Padua Academy and the University of Delaware, but has lived away from Newark for 20 years. “I started missing home, and it’s changed so much here over the years. It’s fun to say, ‘Do you remember this?’

“I’m 47, so I was a kid in the ‘70s and ‘80s. Main Street is mostly what I remember. My girlfriends and I would bike up to Main Street and buy Smurf figurines at the Nook, and go to Friendly’s,” she said, laughing.

“Rhodes Pharmacy, of course, and Happy Harry’s. I worked at Happy Harry’s for a very short time during college.”

Herel also recalled the high-school ritual of cruising down Main Street in somebody’s car. “There was a police rule that you couldn’t go down twice within an hour,” she said. “Oh, I wrote a letter to the editor about that when I was in high school. But you just had to wait up at the Newark Shopping Center for the time to go by,” she added, laughing.

As people mingled and found common ground in nostalgia, Herel noted that, “Dated, mated or related -that’s the way it is for everybody in Delaware.”

Herel’s sister Kathie was at Nostalgia Fest and was passing around a petition to block the construction of homes and stores on the site of the Cavaliers Country Club Golf Course near the Christiana Mall. “I live in that area, and for me there’s a direct impact, but if you Continued on Page 16

Suzanne Herel (right), with her sister Kathie, met people they had previously only known through Facebook.

Nostalgia Fest was streamed live on the internet for far-flung Newarkers to enjoy.

Nostalgia Fest...

Continued from Page 15

go to the hospital, go to the mall, go to Del Tech -- any place in that area, you’ll run into more congestion, more traffic, more noise,” she said. “It’s a quality of life issue.”

She got plenty of petition signatures from people at the event, all of whom recalled places that aren’t around anymore.

The list of altered or disappeared businesses in Newark is a long one, and it was easier to list the few places that remain from the 1960s and 1970s, including Wonderland Records, Abbott’s Shoe Repair, Bing’s Bakery, Minster’s Jewelers, and the National 5 and 10 store.

Dave “Bobby” Dean, a 1968 Newark High School graduate, was philosophical about the changes. “Oh, everything changes,” he said. “I don’t have a problem with change. I cherish the old stuff, the memories, and that’s why this group is so good. You can see the old pictures and remember the way things used to be. You can’t live in the past.”

As a teen, Dean worked at Bob Walstrom’s Atlantic gas station on Kirkwood Highway, which is still a gas station, Dean said. “I grew up in Roseville Park, along Kirkwood

Photos (3) by John Chambless

Members of the Facebook page Memories of Newark swapped stories during the event.

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Newark Life | Spring/Summer 2015 | www.newarklifemagazine.com

Highway, close to Red Mill Road. I remember playing on Polly Drummond Road when it was two lanes.

When it snowed, they didn’t plow. Everybody rode on top of the snow and packed it down, or put chains on their tires. But after it was packed down, we could sled from the top of Polly Drummond all the way to the highway.”

Anne Groo is a 1965 Newark High School graduate, and said she’s “a born and bred Newarker, about 62 years. I grew up on Orchard Road for the bulk of my life. I still live in Newark, on Apple Road.”

Groo recalled shopping at Bing’s Bakery and Abbott’s Shoe Repair, but also being dazzled by the high-tech pneumatic tubes that used to whisk receipts and money between the floors of the Newark Department Store.

“I was sad to see the State Theater go,” she said.

“And I don’t like the idea of people coming into town and building apartments everywhere. We don’t need more apartments.”

In the glow of nostalgia, even places that were rather ordinary -- such as the Acme market at the Park & Shop shopping center on Elkton Road -- become magical memories. Several people at Nostalgia Fest recalled shopping there with their parents. The Paint Pot, a hybrid pet store and hardware store, used to be part of the Park & Shop center as well. Pilnick’s sold shoes to generations of kids. Newark Farm and Home had everything from hardware and paint to huge lots of surplus items that changed every week. And many people recalled the Rhodes drug store on Main Street, which offered kid-favorite ice cream treats.

Ted Caddell, who now lives in Chapel Hill, N.C., took a train to Newark to see his second grandchild, and came to the Nostalgia Fest to see some old friends.

“I took a cab from the train station and came up Main Street. I didn’t recognize much,” Caddell said. “I’ve been here once in a decade, I guess. I see Bing’s Bakery is still there. My mother worked at Bing’s.”

Caddell worked as a reporter at the Newark bureau of the News Journal, where his desk was next to the wall separating the office from the Newark Cinema.

“I’d hear the same movies playing over and over and over and over,” he said, laughing. “’Grease’ was one of them. I can sing along to it now.”

In a room full of people with common roots in what was once a very small town, trivia is bound to come out. Someone mentioned the Burchards, who owned the barbershop that used to be in the building where

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Nostalgia Fest...

Continued from Page 17

Klondike Kate’s is now. Their names were Thelma and Ed, in case you were wondering.

The Nostalgia Fest was streamed live on the internet for far-flung ex-Newarkers who couldn’t attend. There was some good-natured joking between people who knew each other before the Memories of Newark group -- one man greeted a new arrival by saying, “I didn’t recognize you from that Facebook picture you took 20 years ago” -- but the mood was one of warm remembrances and new acquaintances with people who normally would only interact on Facebook.

As the event was unfolding, the Memories of Newark group logged its 3,000th member, and the number increases every week. While the page’s originator, Patty Feeney, couldn’t attend Nostalgia Fest, she offered her thanks to everyone who did show up. There are plans to do another get-together soon, because, after all, there are more stories to be told.

For more information, visit Facebook and search for “Memories of Newark, Delaware.”

To contact Staff Writer John Chambless, e-mail jchambless@chestercounty.com.

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Photo by John Chambless

Suzanne Herel greets arrivals at Nostalgia Fest on March 24.

Five Signs Your Child Needs Tutoring It’s easy to tell that a child needs tutoring when he or she continues to receive one poor report card after the next, but there are a number of other less obvious signs that parents shouldn’t ignore. Eileen Huntington of Huntington Learning Center says that parents can look for clues in a number of places. “Stressful study sessions and bad grades are the tangible evidence of a child’s school struggles, but there are several other indicators to watch for,” says Huntington. “The sooner you recognize school problems, the faster you can help your child overcome any issues and boost his or her confidence.”

Huntington shares these five warning signs that your child may need tutoring help—and questions to answer about your child’s behavior: Difficulty getting started: Does your child seem unexcited and unmotivated about anything to do with school—especially working on assignments? Does he or she put off homework time every night and frequently spin his or her wheels when working?

Sloppy homework and overall disorganization: Is your child disorganized in most areas of his or her life? Does your child consistently hand in unfinished or messy homework? Does it seem that your child used to care about doing quality work and does not anymore?

Personality change: Have you noticed a dramatic change in your child’s disposition in recent months? Is your child more angry or volatile than ever before?

Does he or she seem unhappy—about school and other areas of his or her life such as friends?

Diminished self-esteem: Does your child get down on him or herself easily during homework? Is your child pessimistic about school, his or her abilities, and more? On a day to day basis, does your child appear frustrated with him or herself?

Lack of interest in learning: Is your child totally apathetic about school and anything associated with school? Was your child interested in learning previously and now is not? Does that indifference translate to other areas, such as socializing or being involved in extracurricular activities?

“School can be a bumpy road for students who are struggling, so it is important to take action if you notice your child showing any of these signs,” Huntington says. “Experience has showed us that early tutoring intervention is key to getting students back to where they need to be as quickly as possible.”

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GrassRoots got its start in Newark 40 years ago this year.

40 YEARS

Marilyn Dickey with daughters Joanna Staib and Kristin Short, the owners of GrassRoots.

Photo by Steven Hoffman

GrassRoots celebrates 40 years in Newark

By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer arilyn Dickey met Vonna Taylor when they were both doing volunteer work for Unicef. The year was 1975.

A few months into the friendship, Taylor told Dickey that she was thinking about opening a shop so that she could provide sewing services to customers.

M

GrassRoots...

Continued from Page 21

“I told her that I didn’t think sewing would be enough,” Dickey explained. “I said that we could do that and sell handmade things.”

With that comment, the seeds were planted for GrassRoots.

In April of 1975, Dickey and Taylor rented some space in the same building as Peggy Cronin’s dress shop and started selling clothing and gifts. The dress shop fronted Main Street, while customers entered GrassRoots from a small doorway off Horseshoe Lane alleyway. The space was small—little more than 100 square feet— but it was a start.

GrassRoots is still going strong—and celebrating its 40th anniversary in Newark this year. Taylor retired after the first 19 years. Dickey eventually partnered with her daughters, Kristin Short and Joanna Staib. In January of this year, the second generation officially took over the family business, which is one of the mainstays on Main Street. GrassRoots can be counted among a handful of long-enduring Newark stores— Minsters Jewelers, Abbot’s Shoe Repair, Wooden

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Wheels, and Days of Knights among them.

GrassRoots has long filled a niche in Newark by offering a wide assortment of jewelry, clothing, gifts, pottery and home decor “We’re kind of unique because we’re a blend of a boutique and a gift store,” explained Short.

It was Dickey who first saw that this kind of store would be perfect for Newark’s business district.

Taylor initially favored Wilmington as a location for the first store, but Dickey thought the college town would be a better spot for the kind of boutique that she had in mind.

“When I moved here to Newark,” Dickey explained, “It occurred to me that there ought to be two or three shops like this.”

Dickey’s instincts were right. The shop was a success and a year after opening they moved to a larger location on Main Street.

They made good use of the extra retail space.

“We started carrying more jewelry, pottery, and clothing,” Dickey explained.

GrassRoots settled into another, larger location before making the permanent move to the 4,000-square-foot home at the intersection of Main

and Academy streets in 1997. By then, Taylor had retired and Staib and Short had both transitioned into the business from other professions. It would take all their collective efforts to grow the business.

“When we moved to this location,” Short explained, “we were a little nervous. We were moving to what was then the outer edges of the retail district. Now, this is really at the heart of the retail district.”

Dickey and Taylor opened other GrassRoots locations, including one in the Rehoboth Beach area that was open for 19 years. There were also stores in Kennett Square, North Wilmington, and Trolley Square at different times. They currently operate the Newark store and a pop-up shop in Wilmington.

The daughters both say that they learned a great deal about running a business by working alongside their mother, starting with an understanding of the trials and tribulations of being a small business owner.

“The thing that I’m impressed with,” said Short, “is that she has a really good business sense. She didn’t go to business school. She went with her instincts on a lot of things, and we’ve picked up on that, too.”

“Going to shows, watching her buy, seeing her Continued on Page 24

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handle the day-to-day things—that’s how I learned,” Staib explained.

The business has continued to focus on many of the same things—clothing, shoes, jewelry, accessories, pottery, home decor, and gifts—but the owners have always made a point to keep up with the changing trends.

“I think one of the reasons that the business has been successful is that we have been able to change,” Dickey explained.

“Every year, we have to look at what’s selling and not selling,” Staib explained. “We always

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GrassRoots has been located at four different spots in downtown Newark during its 40 years.

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have to change and change quick enough so that it doesn’t hurt us.”

Another factor in the success of the store has been its presence in Newark’s vibrant commercial district. The business district has grown significantly over the years.

“The number of restaurants in town is great,” Dickey explained. “That brings in a lot of people.”

The loyalty of customers is another factor.

“We’ve had customers from the beginning who still come in,” Dickey explained.

Each April, GrassRoots holds a ten-day sale that longtime customers look forward to.

Bringing in new products Continued on Page 26

The first location of GrassRoots.

Courtesy photo

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is one of the challenges that Staib and Short welcome. They are now importing Fair Trade products and lines—a line of onyx goods from Pakistan is one example—that have a social impact. They are also carrying Tom’s Shoes, which is well known as a product that looks to make a social impact.

Short explained that they have been working on enhancing the GrassRoots website.

Last year, they also introduced a mobile boutique, a truck that they use to take inventory directly to potential customers at various community events and festivals.

The first time that they used the mobile boutique was at the Wilmington Flower Market, followed by the Firefly Music Festival last summer. The response was so good that Staib and Short decided to schedule to several other festivals, including Bonnaroo, for 2015.

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“We tend to take clothes and jewelry and novelty gifts, but we can put anything on that truck,” Short explained, adding that it’s a good way to reach new customers. “We’re always looking for unique, out-ofthe-box things that we can do.”

“They are really taking the business in new directions,” Dickey said proudly. “It’s great. I can’t imagine a stranger taking over. This is something that was created, it has been nurtured. It’s like a third child.”

As GrassRoots reaches the 40-year milestone, another generation of the family is coming on board. Several of Dickey’s grandchildren are starting to help out at the store, just as Staib and Short once did. Perhaps, one day, the business will pass to a third generation.

“Most kids in this family start working here at the age of 13 or 14,” Short said. “Our children all know that it’s an option for them.”

To contact Staff Writer Steven Hoffman, email editor@chestercounty.com.

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Delaware’s first McDonald’s still thrives on Main Street Five years after Ray Kroc started franchising McDonald’s restaurants, the Dukart family opened one in Newark, Delaware. More than 55 years later, the Main Street McDonald’s is still a part of the community

The McDonald’s crew in the early days.

Courtesy photo

By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer here are more than 36,000 McDonald’s restaurants in over 100 countries around the world, but few of those locations have the kind of history with a place that the McDonald’s at 374 East Main Street has with the City of Newark.

“This McDonald’s opened up on March 15, 1960,” explained Les Dukart, whose family has owned and operated the restaurant since it opened.

Dukart explained how his Illinois family came to open the first first McDonald’s in Delaware. His father, Leonard, worked in the men’s clothing business in Chicago with his father, Harry. Leonard graduated from

T

Courtesy photo

Delaware residents were introduced to the golden arches of McDonald’s when the Dukart family opened a restaurant on Main Street in Newark.

CHANGE IS TASTY NOW FEATURING AN ALL NEW MENU! Flatbreads + Butcher Block Main Plates + Craft Beers + many new items! + + Discover your new dish today! +

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The McDonald’s on Main Street in April of 2015, following the most recent renovations.

college with a business degree and served in World War II. Leonard worked with his father in the clothing manufacturing business, but eventually wanted to pursue another career path.

“He looked into other businesses—he looked at restaurants and bowling alleys and moving companies,” Dukart explained.

Then, one night, when one of the children was feeling sick, Leonard’s wife, Dora, sent him out to get a quick Continued on Page 30

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dinner. They decided to try a McDonald’s, and Leonard was impressed not only by the quality of the food and service, but by the business concept. He explored the possibility of opening his own McDonald’s, meeting with company executives Ray Kroc and Fred Turner, who grew the business into one of the most iconic brands in the world. For over a year, Leonard worked in a clothing store during the day and trained with McDonald’s at night. After the training was complete, he was offered franchise locations in eastern Milwaukee, Iowa, and Michigan, and he turned down each one.

McDonald’s then offered him the Newark, Delaware location, with the warning that this might be the final offer. Leonard and Dora got on a plane, traveled to Delaware, and scouted out the area.

Les Dukart recalls that his father saw just twelve motorists drive by the restaurant each hour, on average, during the afternoon that he was monitoring the traffic in the area. But he had a good feeling about it anyway, and the family moved to Delaware to open the restaurant.

At the very least, the new restaurant would have a good

Photo by Steven Hoffman

Les Dukart’s family brought the first McDonald’s in Delaware to Newark in March of 1960.

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The McDonald’s on Main Street.

university nearby.

The Main Street McDonald’s quickly became a popular spot for Newark residents. Within three years of opening, it was one of the top 100 McDonald’s in the entire country.

Les Dukart started helping out around his father’s restaurant at the age of 13. Newark High School was close by and it would be very busy after school and after big events like football games.

“It was really the place to go,” Dukart explained. “It was a hangout.”

The younger Dukart enjoyed the fast pace of the restaurant business and he also liked working with the people.

But when it came time to choose a career path, his father advised his son not to go into the fast-food business.

“He cautioned me not to get in this business,” Les Dukart explained. “He said that it was too hard.”

Les taught for a few years, but the desire to run a business was in his genes. He started working with his father in July of 1973 and never looked back.

Les was instrumental in the acquisition of a McDonald’s on Concord Pike, and Dukart Management grew to eventually operate as many as 13 McDonald’s at one time.

Les’s brother, Alan, also joined the family business after graduation from Ithaca College. Alan became an operational expert and worked extensively at the Concord Pike restaurant, and Les said that not only is he a wonderful brother, he’s a wonderful business partner, too. Alan’s son, Curtis, may also join the family business someday.

Through the years, the Newark location weathered many changes and challenges, including the transformation of Main Street into a one-way street and the arrival of many new competitors.

An unfortunate piece of Newark history took place at Continued on Page 32 www.newarklifemagazine.com | Spring/Summer 2015 | Newark Life

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the McDonald’s on Dec. 1, 1976, when an accidental gas leak led to an explosion that rocked the building, injuring 23 people. The restaurant was rebuilt and reopened in 1977 as just the third McDonald’s on the East Coast with a drive-thru window.

The city of Newark has been constantly changing and growing.

“It’s a very diverse community,” Dukart explained. “It has a good mix of people. It has grown so much.”

The Dukart family earned numerous company awards, and continually kept up with changes and innovations in the industry. The company has often used Dukart-owned restaurants to test new products and concepts.

In 2014, the Main Street McDonald’s was completely rebuilt with a more efficient and modern design. The kitchen is especially large. There is also a pull-forward window so that employees can safely and efficiently give customers their meals. The parking lot was redesigned and the drive-thru was increased from one lane to two lanes. The interior of the building was reduced from 6,900 square feet to approximately 4,600 square feet.

Courtesy photo

The McDonald’s as it looked in the early days.

Even though the restaurant was closed for several months during the most recent renovation, loyal customers were waiting for its reopening—not surprising since McDonald’s has been a part of the community for 55 years.

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Work during the first remodel of the McDonald’s on Main Street in Newark.

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“We really emphasize friendliness here,” Dukart explained. “We’re fortunate that we have a lot of fine people who work here.”

Les’s sons, Mike and Joel, both decided to join the family business after studying at the Cornell School of Hotel Administration and gaining valuable business experience in other industries. That means that a third generation of the Dukart family is now involved with the Newark McDonald's, one of only a few businesses in the area that have been owned by one family for so long.

For the 50th anniversary celebration, Dukart invited all the former employees back to mark the milestone.

He is proud of the employees who have helped make the McDonald’s a success. Notable former employees include Frank Mayer, who founded Spicer-Mullikin Funeral Homes, and Vance Funk, an attorney and the longtime former mayor of Newark. Nancy Weldin was the first woman who worked at the Newark McDonald’s, changing forever what had previously been an all-male staff.

Dukart Management now owns 11 McDonald’s in Delaware and Pennsylvania, but the McDonald’s on Main Street will always be special to the Dukart family.

“It’s historic,” Dukart explained. “This is my father’s baby, so to speak. People bring their grandchildren here because they ate here and have memories here. Newark is a wonderful city.”

To contact Staff Writer Steven Hoffman, email editor@ chestercounty.com.

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The Stone Balloon Ale House: The playful re-imagination of Newark history

Above Photo: The restaurant offers a wide variety of beers on tap, including those from all six Delaware breweries.

Left Photo: This wall mural is a testament to the many musical icons who performed at the Stone Balloon.

Text and photos

by Richard L. Gaw After twice deflating recent Stone Balloon crowds by last-minute cancellations, recording artist Bruce Springsteen last Tuesday blew into the tavern’s time-tired crowd and by the show’s end left many gasping for breath.”

So began Jeff Crossan’s Weekly Post review of Bruce Springsteen’s two-hour, electrifying performance at the Stone Balloon in August of 1974. The young rocker was only 24 years old at the time, and despite the fact the he had only two albums in his repertoire, he and the E Street Band were already proving themselves to be worthy of the vast critical praise that was written and said about them.

The Stone Balloon Ale House is a tastefully done homage to the musical history of the famed venue that existed on Main Street for decades.

The Stone Balloon...

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When he first opened the Stone Balloon in 1971, original owner Bill Stevenson had no idea what would eventually come out of the relatively small music venue, but over the course of the next few decades, the Stone Balloon became a proving ground and a landing spot for some of the greatest names in musical history. Ray Charles. Jimmy Cliff. Hall and Oates. Annie Lennox.

Dave Matthews. Metallica. Bonnie Raitt. Warren Zevon.

After it was razed in 2006, the site of the original venue was eventually transformed into the Stone Balloon Winehouse, and then the 16 Mile Taproom.

Continued on Page 40 38

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Design touches throughout the restaurant lend themselves to a cozy and welcome dining experience.

The Stone Balloon...

Continued from Page 38

After purchasing the business last August, High Five Hospitality went about the hard work of resurrecting the memory of what thousands who attended shows at the

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Jump...

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The restaurant’s menu, made with cloth and wood, lists a full array of food and drink offerings.

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Stone Balloon recall: being in the glorious center of live music so close to the soul that it was almost touchable.

Over the course of the following pages, Newark Life brings you inside the beautiful Stone Balloon Ale House, which was opened this year. We unveil the way it honors its iconic past and celebrates its presence, as one of the most talked-about new restaurants in Delaware.

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The original Stone Balloon stood on Main Street in Newark from 1971 to 2006.

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The eclectic interior of the restaurant is filled with personal touches.

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The incredible history of the Stone Balloon – which included a 1974 concert there by Bruce Springsteen – is included on a wall mural inside the restaurant.

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—————|Newark Q&A|—————

Q Philip DiFebo General Manager, A the Stone Balloon Ale House +

Photo by Richard L. Gaw Stone Balloon Ale House General Manager Philip DiFebo, right, along with Bartender Aaron Smith, at the restaurant’s extensive bar area.

Since it took over the former 16 Mile Taphouse last December and re-opened the restaurant as the Stone Balloon Ale House, High Five Hospitality has become a group of historians. While the two previous restaurants on the site seemed to depart from the legacy of the famed music venue, the Stone Balloon Ale House is a comfortable, kick-back-and-relax salute to Newark lore. With a superb menu and a new look, the restaurant has become one of the most talked-about establishments on the Delaware culinary and social scene. Newark Life recently received a tour of the place with General Manager Philip DiFebo.

Q

There is an entire contingent of people who are a part of your demographic. These are people who graduated from the University of Delaware prior to 2005, when the original Stone Balloon was razed.

When they come back to their alma mater, they want to have some reminders of what their college years were like attending shows here, and this restaurant takes them back.

A

It takes them back, yes, but we’re not the same Balloon that was here in 2005, nor are we the same Balloon that was here in 1976. You’re here to talk about it, not re-live it. You re-live it in your head, so to come here with a group of ten, maybe there’s a scenario where you’re here with your father, who graduated from the University in the 1970s, and you graduated from here in 2000. The Stone Balloon Ale House gives you the opportunity to have the same conversation in the same exact place you both drank beer and saw bands years before. That’s what this space is meant to be – a gathering place for those memories, sprinkled in with a great craft beer selection, an affordable menu and a sense of fun.

Q

Provide a time line that led to the Stone Balloon Ale House opening earlier this year.

A

We, High Five Hospitality, bought this space last August and operated it as 16 Mile Taphouse until Dec. 1, and then we changed the name and the concept. There was some confusion, however, because many people believe that there’s only been one owner who just re-did the restaurant again and again. That’s certainly not been the case. The original Stone Balloon was as iconic as it comes. It was a part of Newark and Delaware lore. People came here from all over, because it was an event destination. We’re here to honor its past and also give the name and the brand an outstanding future.

Q

The decor of the Stone Balloon Ale House is a tastefully designed homage of what came here before it. Included in the decor are a group of guitars on the stairway leading to the second floor of the restaurant. Listed on them are the names Metallica, Bruce Springsteen, Rush, Meatloaf and Dave Matthews, and the dates they played at the Stone Balloon. Talk about their significance.

A

We could have put anyone we wanted to on these walls. We chose these performers because they will always be around. Their music is as Continued on Page 54

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timeless as it gets. Everyone always uses the “sticky floor” mantra when they describe the old Stone Balloon, but people who remember the core of the Balloon when it was a rock venue, this is a visual reminder. This isn’t about building a restaurant. It’s about building a home.

Q A

What do you mean by the word, “Home?”

College is a very important part of people’s lives. It’s there that we discover who we are. It forms your core values. It turns us into adults.

People remember that the Stone Ballon was once a home for them when they were in college, so to have a place now where they can come as a family and talk about that experience, is pretty remarkable.

Q A

Talk about the unique menus that you’ve created here. They’re cloth-bound and made with wood.

Everybody can have a paper menu, but our menus take you on a journey. The Stone Balloon was around for a very long period of time, and our menu tells that story. It also lists our great menu, from appetizers to sandwiches to entrees, from Short Rib Stroganoff to Southern Shrimp. It’s “comfort food playfully re-imagined,” as our tag line says. We have all natural sodas, and not out of soda guns, but fresh out of bottles. We carry the beers of all six Delaware breweries at all times: Twin Lakes, Dogfish, Third Wave, 16 Mile, Fordham Dominion and Mispillion River Brewing.

Q

For those people in Newark who may have heard about the change but not visited yet, what do you want them to know about what awaits them at the Stone Balloon Ale House?

A

I would like them to know that it’s a place to come where you can be yourself. We’re kind of like your living room, but just a little fancier.

-- Richard L. Gaw

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Kids can create at Camp Imagine this summer

T

he Newark Arts Alliance is holding Camp Imagine, its annual children’s camp, for the 17th year in August.

The full-day arts camp for children ages 7 to 11 is composed of two week-long sessions. Week One is Aug. 3 to 7 (Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4:15 p.m.).

Week Two is Aug. 10 to 14 (Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4:15 p.m). The maximum number of children who can register for each week is 36.

Camp Imagine offers a full day of arts instruction, with three hours of visual arts in the morning and three hours of performing arts in the afternoon. The performing arts curriculum includes theater, singing, and dance. Instruction is different each week.

Children bring their own lunches and morning snacks. Afternoon snack is provided.

Pre-care and after-care are available for additional fees.

Camp Imagine is held at the Newark Center for Creative Learning (401 Phillips Ave., Newark). To apply, parents or guardians must fill out the Camp Imagine Form, which is available for download at www.newarkartsalliance.org, or by visiting the Newark Arts Alliance during regular hours.

The Newark Arts Alliance presents several exhibitions each year to showcase art by local artists. The organization also offers a variety of art classes for students of all ages and skill levels, and events dedicated to the visual, literary, and performing arts. Art is displayed and sold in the exhibition gallery and the gallery shop.

The Arts Alliance is in Market East Plaza (276 E. Main St., Suite 102, Newark).

Hours are Tuesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., with extended hours on Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Admission is free. For more information, call 302266-7266, e-mail info@newarkartsalliance.org, or visit www.newarkartsalliance.org.

—————|Newark Arts|—————

Traditional music with a hard-rock attitude Chapel Street Junction blends bluegrass, Irish standards and Americana

By John Chambless Staff Writer When the six members of Chapel Street Junction lock together in a foot-stomper like “Rocky Top” in front of an audience, the headlong rush of guitars, banjo, washboard and stand-up bass is irresistible.

It’s been that way since 2005, when Paul Sedacca and Scott Perlot decided to form the first incarnation of the band and perform a high-octane brand of traditional bluegrass, Irish music and Americana. With a broad and deep repertoire, the band can adapt to just about every audience, and in a post-Mumford and Sons world, they’ve found themselves being hip and trendy without altering their set list.

In the Newark area home they use as a rehearsal studio and home base, the basement walls are papered with flyers, photos, album covers, memorabilia and an evolving “Places we’ve played” list that

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Courtesy photo

Chapel Street Junction’s full lineup features a stage full of musicians.

is hand-written in marker. It’s the same kind of lowtech approach that Sedacca and Perlot embrace in their music.

Photo by John Chambless

Paul Sedacca (left) and Scott Perlot in the basement studio used by Chapel Street Junction.

They met at a Chapel Street row home in 1992, when they were students at the University of Delaware, Sedacca said. That illustrious address, “number 189 South Chapel Street, if you want to be exact,” he said, smiling, “has since been torn down.” That meeting was the starting point for a musical collaboration that found the two friends achieving widespread success with a band called Delaware Rag that formed in 2001.

“Scott and I were in Delaware Rag, and we were very, very successful – almost to the point of being too successful,” Sedacca said. “One summer we did a tour down the East Coast, to Florida and back. It was a fun time, but it was enough for Scott and I to realize that this playing music thing is fun, but we wanted to keep our day jobs.”

Sedacca, who teaches fourth grade in the Christina School District, and Perlot, who is a Verizon tech during the day, were finding themselves stretched to the limit.

“The rest of the guys in Delaware Rag wanted to go full-time,” he continued. “At that point, we were playing sometimes 10 shows a month. It was too much, what with working full time. Scott and I decided to leave. It was a big decision to step away.”

Attending a 1999 concert by legendary musician Doc Watson at the Grand Opera House in Wilmington was a turning point, Sedacca said.

“What impressed me is that he walked out on stage, Continued on Page 58 www.newarklifemagazine.com | Spring/Summer 2015 | Newark Life

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and within the first 15 seconds, it was ‘Holy cow.’

I was impressed by the speed and accuracy of his playing. I wasn’t familiar with blugrass at the time, but it had this awesome energy. It was like country music on steroids.” Sedacca bought a banjo as a result, and started the Delaware Rag with Perlot.

For Perlot, seeing Watson was also monumental.

“It’s the way he was able to channel his playing,” Perlot said. “He was blind since birth, but it seemed like the musical energy just flowed through him.”

“I grew up in New York, listening to the Beatles, Billy Joel, Alice Cooper, Twisted Sister – I was really into hard rock, and so was Scott,” Sedacca said.

“But I feel that growing up listening to that music is what gives Chapel Street Junction a very energetic and driving sound. We like to keep it a little aggressive.”

In their live shows, Chapel Street Junction can segue from a bluegrass version of “Ticket to Ride” by the Beatles into a bit of Beethoven’s Ninth without missing a step. Over the St. Patrick’s Day weekend

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Courtesy photo

Chapel Street Junction on stage at the Kennett Flash.

last spring, there were hours of Irish music played before rowdy crowds – Friday in Dover, Saturday at the Logan House in Wilmington, and Sunday at Mispillion River Brewing in downstate Delaware.

“We’ve played everything from a liquor store to a Jewish wedding,” Perlot said with a smile.

“Including a bluegrass ‘Hava Nagila.’”

With a nod toward the popular resurgence of traditional music after the 2000 film “O Brother, Where Continued on Page 74

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Enjoy all that downtown Newark has to offer Newark is proud to be a regional hub for dining, shopping and recreation.

Downtown Newark offers nearly two miles of shopping and dining destinations along East and South Main Street, all near the beautiful setting of the University of Delaware’s main campus.

Meet up with your family, rejoin old friends or meet new ones, come for a romantic date or just to take a nice stroll – Newark’s downtown

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is the perfect destination to eat, shop and enjoy yourself at over 80 boutiques and nearly 70 award-winning restaurants.

Whether you’re shopping for something that is fashionable or funky, handmade or fair trade, metaphysical or medieval; and whether you’re looking for university gear or nostalgic books and music, downtown Newark has a unique shop that carries it.

Nestled between these shops are dining establishments with cuisine to suit every

palate and price range with an outside patio or a seat indoors. The town’s restaurants and pubs attract visitors and locals alike for a quick stop to a local coffee or cupcake shop; to break- fasts of bagels, hot cakes, and omelets; lunches of sushi, sandwiches and salads;and dinners of pasta, steak and seafood, ranging from Mediterranean to Mexican, Vietnamese to vegan, Italian, Spanish or American.

Evening entertainment is never in short supply, with live performances in a number of restaurants, a movie theater, playhouse and ballet company all downtown.

Every season offers a different experience in Downtown Newark – spring brings the patios and decks to life with Wine & Dine, summer brings New Night Downtown and the popular Food & Brew Fest, fall sees the popular Taste of Newark event and the return of the University of Delaware student body, and winter brings holiday decorating, sales and the much-anticipated Restaurant Week.

Recreational opportunities are never in short supply; in fact, the two most utilized multi-use trails in the state are Newark’s James F. Hall and Pomeroy trails, which connect many parks offering skate parks, tennis courts, baseball fields and playgrounds. Just north of Newark, world-class mountain biking trails are scattered through White Clay Creek state park, come work up an appetite and then satisfy it at one of our many restaurants.

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—————|Downtown Newark|————— Continued from Page 61

Honoring Our History This spring saw the dedication of a historical marker by the Delaware State Archives at the old Newark Train Station, near South College Avenue.

The building has, since its retirement, been acquired and restored by the City, and the first floor houses the Bob Thomas Museum of Newark History, operated by the Newark Historical Society.

Numerous rotating exhibits cover Newark’s history from prior to the Revolutionary War to the present day.

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—————|Downtown Newark|————— Parking Parking in downtown Newark became easier this year with the installation of “smart” parking meters that accept credit card payments, so there’s no more need to carry around a roll of quarters – although coins are certainly more than welcome in the meters as well. Planning a longer stay of dining, shopping and strolling with friends? We offer three large off-street lots for longer term parking. The best part? Look for the “Newark’s Great We Validate” stickers in the windows of most downtown merchants, and be sure to ask for parking validations, and your parking can be absolutely FREE! Continued on Page 64

PRINTING COMPANY •

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302.368.8888

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—————|Downtown Newark|————— Continued from Page 63

Gift Cards There’s always that person on your list, whether for graduation, a birthday, holiday, or just to show you care, that you’re not sure what to get for them. Downtown Newark’s Gift Card offers the perfect solution. Convenient to buy and use, gift cards may be purchased in the Newark Municipal Building (220 South Main Street) or Newark Parking Office (second floor of the Galleria Building, 45 East Main Street) and out on Main Street during downtown events, in any amount from $10 to $500. Over 70 retailers and restaurants downtown

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—————|Downtown Newark|————— accept the gift card – the ultimate flexibility – so they’ll be able to get something they really like. For the most up to date list of participating businesses, please visit www. enjoydowntownnewark.com.

Use it once for the full amount at once, or use it over time at multiple locations. Gift cards can even be used to pay for parking in the city’s municipal parking lots.

Out of town and want to buy a gift card for someone here?

No problem! Purchases are welcomed over the telephone by calling 302-366-7000. Each card purchased is accompanied by a list of participating stores and comes with a decorative card holder and envelope.

Continued on Page 66

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302-636-0700 • www.tranquilitycounselinginc.com 282 E Main St., Newark DE 19711 • 2nd location: West Grove, PA • tranquilityhelps@gmail.com www.newarklifemagazine.com | Spring/Summer 2015 | Newark Life

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—————|Downtown Newark|————— Continued from Page 65

UPCOMING EVENTS For any of our events that may be subject to rain delays or cancellation, if the weather is questionable, please call our Leisure Time Hotline at (302) 366-7147.

HAPPY HOUR AVAILABLE • Mon–Fri 3p–7p

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Other happenings in Newark Spring Concert Series Every Thursday, 7-8pm | Academy Building Lawn

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Wednesdays, 5-7:30pm in June | Academy Bldg Lawn

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New Night Downtown Newark Saturday, June 13

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Food and Brew Fest Check out our website or facebook page for upcoming events

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Saturday, July 25 • 2-9pm

Taste of Newark Sunday, September 27

Main Street Mile Saturday, October 3

—————|Downtown Newark|————— Newark’s Got Talent Open Mic Nights All the best youth talent in the Newark area will be featured Wednesday evenings this June.

Do you know any talented youth between the ages of 6 and 17? Singers, songwriters, instrumentalists, dancers, poets, as well as any other talented youth, are welcome to take the stage between 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. to build stage experience and take a step toward getting discovered.

For more information, visit w w w. c i t y o f n e w a r k d e . u s / parksrecreation.

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|Photo essay|

Where in Newark?

Photos by Carla Lucas

This is test. It is a test of how well you know Newark. Do you know where these images were taken?

Get all 17 right and you are a Newark Genius. Get 14-16 correct and you are a Newark Fanatic. Get 10-13 correct and you are a Newark Expert. Get 6-9 correct and you are a Newark Novice. Get anything less than 6 correct and you should get out and experience Newark more!

2

1a: Looking up

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1b: Looking down 68

1c: Looking right

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5

4a: Looking down

4b: Looking up

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8

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12a: Looking up and right

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The Answers!

5: Charles Parks’ statue, “Grow Old with Me. The Best is Yet to Be!,” lobby of Newark Senior Center

1: Old College, U of D Main Campus

7: Entrance to Newark Center for Creative Learning, Phillips Road 2: Gates near Mechanics Hall, U of D Main Campus

8: Academic Building, College of Agriculture, U of D South College Ave. 3:Deerpark Tavern, Main Street

4: St. Thomas’s Parrish Cemetery, off Delaware Avenue

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9: Newark Train/Amtrak Station, under South College Ave. railroad overpass.

6: Kingwood United Methodist Church, Marrows Road

10: Newark History Museum, under South College Ave. railroad overpass, town side of tracks

12: Aetna Fire House Communications Tower, parking lot off Academy Street

15: Clock Tower, near corner of Main and Academy streets

14: Klondike Kate’s, Main Street

11: Aetna Fire House, Academy Street

16: Nutter’s Sandwich Shoppe, Nottingham Road

13: Bing’s Bakery, Main Street

17: Entrance to Covered Bridge Farms, off Wedgewood Road

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Chapel Street Junction...

Continued from Page 58

Art Thou?” Chapel Street Junction includes “I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow” and “In the Jailhouse Now” in their repertoire, and the latest resurgence of the genre put “Ho Hey” by the Lumineers into the mix.

The stylistic similarities of bluegrass and Irish standards is often a matter of adjusting the inflection or adding another instrument. “It’s about half a beat,” Sedacca said. “It’s very close.” The European roots of Americana are never buried very deeply, so they fit together seamlessly during a concert.

“We’ll do some classic rock in a bluegrass style,” Sedacca said. “We do some Stones, some Steve Miller Band, Billy Joel, Dropkick Murphys, and we have two or three originals we can do on any given night.”

“We stick to upbeat, high-energy stuff,” said Perlot, who plays guitar and sings in Chapel Street Junction. “We put a lot of energy in our shows, and people really enjoy it. And we love it. There’s a few people who are in roots and bluegrass music who

Photo by John Chambless

A set list from a St. Patrick’s Day weekend gig shows how many Irish songs are in the band’s repertoire.

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do well. Everybody else, it’s more for the love of the music than it is for the money. But how many musicians have said that?”

Chapel Street Junction books one or two shows a month, and gets together to practice once or twice a month. They find audiences in places people go to party – breweries, a bourbon festival – as well as shows in state parks. They will be at White Clay Creek in Newark on July 22.

A recent show at the Kennett Flash was recorded and is being mixed for release as a CD this summer, and it captures the band at their best – in front of a large, enthusiastic crowd. “Our jobs and families may come before the music, but we’re still in this for the long term,” Perlot said.

Chapel Street Junction will be performing on June 3 at Bourbon and Branch in Philadelphia, on June 13 at the Great Bourbon Showcase in Dover, on June 14 at the Brewgrass Festival in Milford, and on July 22 at White Clay Creek State Park. For updates and more information, visit www.facebook.com/chapelstreetjunction, or e-mail chapelstreetjunction@yahoo.com.

To contact Staff Writer John Chambless, e-mail jchambless@chestercounty.com.

Photo by John Chambless

A hand-written list of gigs is taped to the wall.

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—|Around Newark|—

The Newark Chess Club has battles for all

By Carla Lucas Correspondent They come with a common purpose.

Astrophysicists, business managers, college students, teachers, musicians, retired seniors, engineers, salespeople and others arrive with equipment in hand, eager to battle their opponent. It’s time for the Newark Chess Club’s weekly matches.

“Many people don’t realize chess is a competitive sport,” said John Anderson, vice president of the Delaware State Chess Association and former president of the Newark Chess Club. “It is competition at its best. There is no game like it.”

The Newark Chess Club is a forum that brings local chess players together to practice, learn and compete for national rankings. It is the only club to offer weekly rated games in the state. It’s a chapter of the U.S. Chess Federation.

The Thursday night games are great competitions, said Anderson, and feature some of the best players around.

“Chess is a mental battle, not a physical battle,” said Brad Thomas, president of the Newark Chess Club.

Thomas plays about 100 tournament-level games a year.

He’s a highly rated player and is on his way to winning his third Delaware grand master title this year. His other wins were in 2005 and 2009.

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Anyone can learn the game of chess, as the rules are fairly simple. It takes a lifetime to master it. The game does not discriminate because of age, gender or physical abilities.

“At 65, chess keeps my mind going,” Anderson said.

“For kids, it helps them to focus and learn to tune out other things.”

The great thing about playing with a chess club is that players are matched by their ratings and skill levels.

There’s a place for anyone to learn the game and compete with their peers.

“The game is about great visualization,” Thomas said.

“Chess develops mental toughness.”

Anderson and Thomas said chess is about strategy, tactics, and controlling the center of the board. It’s a battle to prevent your opponent from gaining position. If your attack is blocked, you retreat and must quickly think of something else.

“Through training, you build the mental energy needed to help you win,” Anderson said. “A good chess player looks many moves ahead, You look at the whole board, and at patterns, to calculate moves.”

The Newark Chess Club uses the Swiss system of Continued on Page 78

Photo by Carla Lucas

Newark Chess Club’s president, Brad Thomas, looks on as John Anderson (left) and Dr. Yanni (right) warm up with a friendly match before the ratings matches on a Thursday evening.

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Photo by Carla Lucas

Jack Smith watches a lesson between Greg Kopay (left) and Chris Moritz (right).

Newark Chess Club...

Continued from Page 78

competition to determine ratings. At the end of the fiveweek tournament, the results are calculated by a formula and the results are filed with the U.S. Chess Federation.

Players move up and down in ratings depending on how well they played during the tournament.

Winning competitions takes practice. It takes being challenged on a regular basis to refine your skills and improve your game. That’s one of the things Thursday evenings are about for the members of the Newark Chess Club. Once the match is complete, the players can analyze the battle, determine what they did correctly and where things went wrong.

Many club members also participate in chess tournaments throughout the region. Both Anderson and Thomas have played tournaments up and down the East Coast.

Monthly tournaments in Maryland offer players three games of chess in one day, with cash prizes for the top finishers.

“Chess is a lot like life, because in life, if you make a wrong decision you will have a bad day,” Anderson said.

“In a chess game, if you make one bad move, you will probably lose the game.”

The Newark Chess Club meets at 7:30 p.m. on Thursdays at Union United Methodist Church (345 School Bell Rd., Bear, Del.). For more information, visit newarkchessclubofdelaware.com. More information about the Delaware State Chess Association can be found at delawarechess.org.

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David Owocki Memorial Chess Tournament At the end of 2014, members of the Newark Chess Club and Delaware’s chess community were stunned with the news of the tragic death of David Owocki, 25, the Newark Chess Club’s best player and its champion for the last two years.

To honor his memory, his family is sponsoring the David Owocki Memorial Chess Tournament on May 23.

“Being chess players, we would treat him like royalty,” said John Anderson, vice president of the Delaware State Chess Association. “He was very special to everyone here. David would stay after finishing his game with his opponent, and they would review and analyze the game thoroughly. Many times they would stay analyzing the game until late at night.”

The tournament will be held at Union United Methodist Church (345 School Bell Rd., Bear, Del.). It will be a quad tournament, where four people of similar ratings will play each other in three separate games of the course of the day. The person in the group of four with the highest aggregate score will win a cash prize. The tournament will be open to all UC Chess Federation members (you can register online prior to the tournament), from novices to rated players. Details are available on the Newark Chess Club’s web page.

Courtesy photo

David Owocki playing his favorite game, chess.

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Abigail and Wisdom are a home companion team.

Newark residents are helped by specially trained service dogs from Canine Partners for Life

Courtesy photo

By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer Newark, Del. resident Sarah Vible was diagnosed with epilepsy during her sophomore year at the University of Delaware. Her family reached out to Canine Partners for Life and she was paired with Rosebud, a friendly fourlegged companion that alerts her when she is about to have a seizure. Mike Stracka, also a Newark resident, relies on his dog, Annabelle, for many tasks that he can’t do on his own. In Georgia, a service dog named Rollo helps Danielle, a high school senior, walk on her own

Courtesy photo

Some of the CPL dogs at a training trip at the Exton Mall.

further than she has in years, and warns her of impending cataplexy episodes. Derrick, who lives in Illinois, relies on Patrick to alert him when he is about to suffer from a seizure. Hannah, who has Muscular Dystophy, relies on Saffron to help her get around the West Chester

University campus as she works to complete her degree.

For people like Sarah and Mike and Danielle and Derrick and Hannah, the dogs are more than constant companions. They are heroes. Sometimes, they save Continued on Page 82

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Canine Partners for Life...

Continued from Page 81

lives. They always make lives better.

Vible was caught in a vicious cycle after she was diagnosed with epilepsy last year. One of the triggers for seizures is stress. The more seizures she had, the more stress she felt. The more stress she felt, the more seizures she had.

“I tried to take medicine to control the seizures,” Vible explained. “The medicine helps, but it doesn’t do everything.”

Her family learned about Canine Partners for Life and how the Cochranville, Pa. organization trains dogs to alert people who are about to suffer a seizure.

At first, Vible wasn’t sure that she wanted to have an alert dog with her all the time.

“It makes my invisible disability very visible,” Vible explained. “I wasn’t sure about that.”

Any doubts vanished when she met Rosebud for the first time. The dog was able to begin alerting Sarah when she was about to have a seizure. Sarah also quickly bonded with her canine companion.

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Sarah Vible with Rosebud.

Courtesy photo

Stories like Sarah’s are common at Canine Partners for Life.

2015 marks the organization’s 25th anniversary, and during that time the CPL staff has trained more than 600 canines to partner with people from around the United States who suffer from a wide range of physical, neurological, and cognitive disabilities, including muscular dystrophy, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, cerebral palsy, Lou Gehrig’s Disease, spinal cord injuries, strokes, seizure disorders, arthritis, spina bifida, Parkinson’s Disease and more. Canine Partners for Life is a leader in the assistance dog industry, and has placed dogs in homes in 46 states.

Darlene Sullivan, the founder of Canine Partners for Life, remembers getting a call from a woman with multiple sclerosis who had benefited from the help of an assistance dog. She wanted to know if a canine could also help her daughter, who suffered epileptic seizures.

Sullivan didn’t know at that time whether Canine Partners for Life could train a dog to provide alerts for seizures, but after some training the organization paired a dog, Misty, with the woman. Once they were together, Misty detected the third seizure and never missed another one, signaling their arrival by crawling on the

Photo by Steven Hoffman

Mike Stracka with Annabelle, who has been specially trained to help him with a variety of tasks.

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Canine Partners for Life...

Continued from Page 83

woman’s lap and refusing to leave.

“We were then flooded with applications for alert dogs,” Sullivan explained.

Dogs have proven themselves capable of detecting a variety of ailments, offering new hope to thousands of families.

Canine Partners for Life started with Sullivan and one dog, Solla, from the Delaware SPCA. Soon, they were joined by a volunteer and the first two donors. Sullivan would meet with each potential recipient herself. Now, there is a team of trainers and staff members, but back then she was handling a lot of the training by herself.

Training the dogs has always been a cornerstone of the mission and, according to Sullivan, they need to have certain qualities to succeed—confidence, creativity, and flexibility are at the top of the list.

The dogs are trained how to handle a variety of chores, from simple things like picking up dropped objects to more advanced tasks like opening doors, operating lights and elevator buttons. They can take purchases Continued on Page 92

chestercounty.com ONLINE ALL THE TIME NEWS • SCHOOLS ENTERTAINMENT BUSINESS • SPORTS HOME & GARDEN 84

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The recipients and the canines form strong bonds.

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Welcome!

Hidden Treasure of the Chesapeake

Chesapeake City AN HISTORIC TOWN ON THE C&D CANAL chesapeakecity.com • seececil.org

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photo by Kevin Quinlan

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Dates to Remember

27 June

Annual Chesapeake City Canal 5K Run/Walk

3 July

Independence Day Fireworks Extravaganza & Celebration • 5 PM

On the new C & D Canal Trail. Starts at Schaefers in N Chesapeake City. Registration starts at 6 AM. Race begins at 8 AM. 410-885-2161 www.facebook.com/chesapeake.city.races

Food, Music, Games and Fireworks. Antique cars, Clydesdale horses. Parade at 7 PM. Fireworks over the Canal at 9 PM.

5 -30 July Aug

Summer Sunday Concerts in the Park

29 August

Lions Club Vintage Car Show

Live music. Bring your lawn chair and blanket.

• 9 AM – 11:45 PM Over 500 vintage cars! Prizes at 2 p.m. Registration for cars available at www.chesapeakecity.com.

Newark Life | Spring/Summer 2015 | www.newarklifemagazine.com

photo by Kevin Quinlan

WALKING TOUR

photos (2) by Dick Legates

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CHESAPEAKE CITY’S Quick Facts for Boaters

photo by Dick Legates

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Canine Partners for Life...

Continued from Page 84

and wallets to a cashier in a store. The dogs can learn how to assist a person with dressing and undressing.

They can retrieve a wheelchair or provide balance or momentum to their person. They can provide stability on stairs or rough terrain. They can even assist beddependent individuals to move around, preventing bedsores.

Once a dog is immersed in the training program, the next step is to find the perfect placement.

There is an application process for people who want the assistance of a CPL dog. After working with the dogs for two years, the trainers know the dogs well.

The other half of the equation is getting to know the applicants. CPL officials meet with each one. What kind of person is he? What is her lifestyle? Over the course of 25 years, CPL officials have become proficient at matching up a person with the right dog. It starts with making sure that the dog matches the person’s physical needs. A person who stands six-feet-four and needs a service dog that can provide support for balance will need a larger dog.

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Beyond the physical match, there must be a personality match as well.

“Each dog has an individual personality, just like each person has an individual personality,” Sullivan explained. “When you partner with a dog, it’s a commitment. They are with you wherever you go.”

Vible said that she and Rosebud are a perfect match because they are both smaller and have big personalities with lots of energy.

“Canine Partners for Life did a great job of matching me with the perfect dog,” she said. “I have a really good match with her. They take the time to put the right dog with the right person.”

The relationship between a recipient and a dog must be a lasting one, too. Most of the dogs will serve between eight to ten years.

Stracka suffered a serious injury after a bad fall in 1988, and has been in a wheelchair ever since. It was about eight years after his fall that he was paired with Harmony, his first CPL dog, and it made a big difference in his life as the canine was able to assist him with various chores, including reaching for things that he can’t reach.

Annabelle, a yellow Labrador, is his second CPL dog.

“She is an awesome dog,” Stracka said. “You can get this dog to do anything. You can just see the character in her. She’s a funny little character.”

Stracka can communicate with Annabelle through verbal commands or hand signals. When he holds his fist to his chest, for example, that means she should sit. At other times, all he needs to do is give Anabelle a look and she will instinctively know how to respond.

“A lot of times, she just knows what I want,” he explained. “I’ve trained her to meet my needs.”

Annabelle is Stracka’s constant companion. When he finishes with a shower, he might tell Annabelle to go let someone else in the house know that he needs some assistance. At other times, he might write someone a note, put it in a bottle, and tell the canine who to take the note to.

Stracka and Annabelle do demonstrations in schools and community events. He likes the idea of informing others about the importance of what the CPL dogs can do.

The dogs, are nothing less than heroic in their dedication and service to their partners.

Stracka goes everywhere with Annabelle by his side.

“She’s really a good companion,” he said. “The emoAll our s tem Menu I for le b a il a Av UT! O TAKE

tional part of this is that I never go anywhere alone.”

Vible is now a junior at the University of Delaware and is experiencing fewer seizures. She loves traveling around the campus with Rosebud.

“She’s just great,” Vible said. “We’re always together and I love having her around. My friends all think she’s the best. She’s smart and very sweet.”

At this point, Sullivan is never surprised when alert dogs prove themselves capable of helping with some new ailment. The service dog industry has moved far beyond simply training dogs to help people with restricted mobility. Today, dogs are even being scenttrained to provide alerts for diabetes sufferers. New discoveries so often start with a telephone call for help, and there’s no telling what other ways dogs might be able to provide assistance for in the future. More than 50 million Americans over the age of five have some form of chronic physical disability, and that number is growing as the population ages.

“The dogs amaze us every day, but I think we’ve just started finding out what they are capable of,” Sullivan said.

To contact Staff Writer Steven Hoffman, email editor@ chestercounty.com.

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