Chester CountyPRESS
www.chestercounty.com
Covering Avon Grove, Chadds Ford, Kennett Square, Oxford, & Unionville Areas
Volume 151, No. 36
60 Cents
Wednesday, September 6, 2017
A gathering of grief and support
INSIDE
International Overdose Awareness Day is marked in Kennett Square By John Chambless Staff Writer
Unionville Fair special section
They came in groups of two or three or four, wearing T-shirts with photos of departed family members. There were hugs of recognition and welcome, and a steady drone of conversation as the pews filled at the First Baptist Church in Kennett Square. By the time the program started on the evening of Aug. 31, there were just under 200 people who had a loved one fighting drug addiction, or a loved one
who had lost the battle. There were far too many people. To mark International Overdose Awareness Day, the grassroots addiction support group Kacie’s Cause held a meeting and vigil at the church. Similar meetings were held in Delaware County, Oxford and Exton, and at well over 300 other places in the nation. It was a chance to connect, to share grief and support information, and to shine a light on an epidemic that has touched nearly everyone.
Andy Rumford, whose daughter, Kacie, died of a heroin overdose four and a half years ago, opened the evening by reading a poem he reads daily for solace. Pastor Daniel Nicewonger, who opened the First Baptist Church for the meeting, spoke about endurance in the face of turmoil. Luis Tovar, who has joined Rumford in operating Kacie’s Cause and its outreach programs, told the audience, “I hope you find some solace in being with
Photo by John Chambless
The First Baptist Church in Kennett Square was nearly filled on Aug. 31 for International Overdose Awareness Day.
INDEX Opinion........................7A
Few things are more quintessentially American than a car show in a small town on Labor Day Weekend. The Oxford Car Show, which has shifted into a higher gear each year since it debuted in September of 2014, delighted a large crowd on Sept. 1 with a showcase of some of the finest automobiles to ever roll off a Detroit assembly line―everything from gleaming Cadillacs to vintage Ford Model A’s to Chevrolet Bel-Airs to Ford Fairlanes.
According to Oxford Mainstreet, Inc. officials, there were more than 300 registered cars, bikes, and trucks for the car show this year. The crowd was slightly larger than last year, estimated to be around 5,000 visitors throughout the day. “That is a great-looking car” was a constant refrain heard throughout the event. Howard Roberts was one of many car owners making a return visit to the Oxford Car Show. The Lancaster, Pa. resident was displaying his 1934 Ford. He said that he rebuilt the Continued on Page 4A
By John Chambless Staff Writer
By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer
Lawn by lawn, neighby suburban neighborhood, there is a Classifieds..................6B pattern of landscaping happening in southern Chester County. It’s the search for the perfect lawn, and while hordes of homeowners spend thousands of dollars every year to ensure that every blade of grass is in perfect harmony with every other blade of grass, the quest to duplicate the playing surface of Citizens Bank Park is, in fact, turning the water that keeps it pristine into polluted runoff. Stormwater isn’t just washing off of lawns; Obituaries..................3B borhood
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By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer
New program Unionville High School teaching reaches out to Texas school homeowners to damaged by Hurricane Harvey ‘Catch the Rain’
Calendar of Events......2B
© 2007 The Chester County Press
Oxford Car Show revs up large crowd
Continued on Page 2A
Two last-minute victories in two games for the Oxford Hornets...8A
Chadds Ford Days turns back the clock...1B
Photo by Steven Hoffman
The 2017 Oxford Car Show featured more than 300 cars, trucks, and motorcycles.
it’s also falling from roofs, driveways, roads, parking lots and patios, and it’s become the largest source of pollution to the White Clay Creek Watershed. Now, lawn by lawn, two conservation groups are helping to reverse that trend. The White Clay Wild and Scenic River Program, in partnership with the Brandywine Conservancy, has developed the White Clay Creek Catch the Rain Rebate Program for homeowners who live in the 104 square miles of the White Clay Creek Watershed -which includes homes in the eastern part of Franklin Township, London Grove Continued on Page 3A
Unionville High School’s Friday night football game will be more than just another competition. It will be a benefit for a school that was hit hard by the flooding in Texas last week. On Sept. 1, Unionville principal Jim Conley sent an email to the school community to outline the relief effort. “As you may already know, Unionville High School has partnered with the HardinJefferson School District in Sour Lake, Texas,” Conley wrote. “The Sour Lake Community was hit extremely hard by Hurricane Harvey. We will have a series of fundraising opportunities for our community, throughout the school year, in order to
Courtesy photo
Water was knee-deep at the middle school in the Hardin-Jefferson School District last week.
provide our extended family in Sour Lake with whatever support that they will need. The upcoming months will be difficult for the Sour Lake community, but I know that the kindness and generosity of our UCFSD families
will be felt by the HardinJefferson families. “Our UHS family is thrilled to kick off our fundraising efforts on Sept. 8, as our football team hosts Avon Grove High School at 7 p.m. We Continued on Page 5A
The 32nd Annual Mushroom Festival: Mushrooms galore and a whole lot more! By Carla Lucas Correspondent “Mushroom Galore and a Whole Lot More!” is the theme of the 32nd Annual Mushroom Festival. As such, here’s a Top 10 list for mushroom festival ideas, plus a Top 10 list of the other highlights at Kennett Square’s fungi celebration on Sept. 9 and 10. Top 10 – Mushrooms Galore 1. Eat your way along the Street Fair. There’s so much to sample – mushroom fries, portabella cheesesteaks, mushroom soup, mushroom mac and cheese, mushroom pierogies, and mushroom spring rolls, mushroom popsicles, and mushroom ice cream, just to name a few. 2. Talk to area growers about the mushroom growing process, from raw materials and composting to
harvesting. Plus, see how all the exotic varieties of mushrooms are grown, including shiitake, maitake, royal trumpet, oyster, and beech in the Grower’s Exhibit (Broad Street on Saturday and Sunday). 3. Get great tips and recipes for cooking with mushrooms in the Culinary Tent when you attend one of the many demonstrations on the Giorgi Kitchen Stage. (Broad Street on Saturday and Sunday). Three regional chefs, winners of the 2016 James Beard Foundation Blended Burger Project, will share their winning blended burgers in the Culinary Tent on Saturday from 1 to 3 p.m. 4. Buy the freshest mushrooms around! Visit one of the Mushroom Sales booths, place your order, and we’ll keep them cool and fresh in a refrigerated mushroom truck until you are ready to leave.
5. Devour Buona Foods’ breaded fried mushrooms as a contestant in the National Fried Mushroom Eating Championship, or cheer on the competitors in the Special Events Tent (State and Willow streets, Saturday, 3 p.m.). 6. Sample mushroom soups from local restaurants and wines from regional wineries at the Soup and Wine Event. The festival will crown 2017’s “Best Mushroom Soup in the Brandywine Valley” and “People’s Choice Best Wine” at the Mushroom Festival based on visitor votes. (Special Events Tent at State and Willow streets, Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.). 7. Shop ‘til you drop. The Street Fair is about one mile long and filled with hundreds of vendors – most have something mushroomthemed – from jewelry and The 32nd Annual Mushroom Festival will take place Continued on Page 3A
Sept. 9-10 in Kennett Square.