West Chester and Chadds Ford Life Fall/Winter 2018

Fall/Winter 2018

West Chester & Chadds Ford

LIFE

Magazine

Cruising down the Brandywine - Page 52

Inside • The electric journey of a young violinist • The Chadds Ford Tavern reopens with a new owner • Tonicity Fit: Where exercise is rooted in science

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Fall/Winter 2018

West Chester & Chadds Ford

Life

Table of Contents 8

Tonicity Fit

18

Hoop dreams

26

The taste of success

34

Profile of Julia Johnson

40

The Chadds Ford Tavern, only better

44

Greater West Chester Chamber of Commerce

52

Traversing the Brandywine Creek, in photographs

26

40

18

34 Cover design by Tricia Hoadley Cover photograph by Jie Deng

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West Chester & Chadds Ford Life | Fall/Winter 2018 | www.chestercounty.com

Meeting a few of the people who enrich the community

8

52

Letter from the Editor: Welcome to the fall/winter issue of West Chester & Chadds Ford Life.

It’s always a treat, as we’re preparing the stories for our family of magazines, to meet the people who help enrich the communities that they live and work in. In this issue of West Chester & Chadds Ford Life, the collection of stories will introduce you to a few of the people who help to make the West Chester and Chadds Ford communities special.

We talk to Philip Ferro, the chef and owner of the Chadds Ford Tavern about his efforts to add his own high-quality dishes to a place that has long been a popular neighborhood restaurant.

Writer John Chambless talks to Edie O’Neill about her shop, Edie’s Sweet and Savory Pastries, which is a bakery that does things the old-fashioned way.

We also introduce our readers to Sarah Ostroski, the owner of West Chester’s newest fitness studio, Tonicity Fit. Ostroski talks about the science behind the fitness that she shares with Tonicity Fit’s clients.

This issue also includes a profile of seventeen-year-old Julia Johnson, who began playing the acoustic violin when she was 8 years old. Now a senior at Downingtown West High School, Johnson has spent most of her life dedicated to pursuing her dream of becoming a widely-known violinist, traveling the country and the world and performing her own compositions.

This issue also features a story about James Pinto’s hoop dreams—and they have nothing to do with being able to ball like LeBron James. At 16, Pinto has already started his own successful business. He came up with a way to turn driveways into basketball courts.

In this issue, we also introduce readers to Mark Yoder, the CEO of the Greater West Chester Chamber of Commerce. The chamber assists its 700 members in a variety of ways, including marketing, networking, professional development, and more. The chamber also plays a critical role in planning and hosting major community events like the enormously popular Christmas Parade that annually attracts 40,000 visitors to town.

For the photo essay, which is titled “The Smooth and Dimpling Stream of the Brandywine,” photographer Jim Coarse takes readers on a journey down the Brandywine Creek.

We hope you enjoy the people that you meet in the pages of this issue and, as always, we welcome your comments and suggestions for future stories. We look forward to bringing you the next issue of West Chester and Chadds Ford Life in the spring of 2019.

Sincerely, Randy Lieberman, Publisher randyl@chestercounty.com, 610-869-5553 Steve Hoffman, Editor editor@chestercounty.com, 610-869-5553, ext. 13 Cover design by: Tricia Hoadley Cover photo: Jim Coarse www.chestercounty.com | Fall/Winter 2018 | West Chester & Chadds Ford Life

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|West Chester fitness|

Tonicity Fit: Exercise th rooted in science and designed for life

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West Chester & Chadds Ford Life | Fall/Winter 2018 | www.chestercounty.com

that’s nd

Photo by Steven Hoffman

Ostroski sets goals for the exercise sessions, and she writes them on a board so that everyone knows what they are working toward that day.

By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer “I’ve been planning this studio for the last 10 to 12 years,” said Sarah Ostroski, the owner and lead trainer of Tonicity Fit, as she looked out at her fitness studio that opened in August on Gay Street in West Chester.

It’s a Tuesday morning in September and Ostroski is in what she calls the assessment lab, a small room off to one side of the studio. This is where she meets with new clients to discuss their medical histories and to analyze their overall health and fitness levels.

Continued on Page 10 Courtesy photo

Tonicity Fit opened on Gay Street in West Chester in August. www.chestercounty.com | Fall/Winter 2018 | West Chester & Chadds Ford Life

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Tonicity Fit Continued from Page 9

“This is where the science starts,” Ostroski explained.

“I like to say that, here, we’re rooted in science, and everything we do is designed for life. The assessment lab is where the client and I really get to know each other.

We need to be able to look out for any risks, so we go over the medical history and I will assess where they are on the pendulum of change.”

Assessment labs? Pendulums of change? Needless to say, Ostroski is not the typical personal trainer.

Ostroski is an American College of Sports Medicine nationally certified exercise physiologist. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Exercise Science from Eastern University as well as a Master of Science degree in Kinesiology: Integrative Exercise Physiology from Temple University. She is also an adjunct professor in

Photos by Steven Hoffman

Lauren Giannini works out at Tonicity Fit, while owner and trainer Sarah Ostroski offers encouragement.

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West Chester & Chadds Ford Life | Fall/Winter 2018 | www.chestercounty.com

the Kinesiology department at Eastern University, where she teaches courses such as strength training, concepts of fitness, and the physiology of exercise and aging.

She estimates that she has worked with more than 1,000 people on their training through the years, and while she was helping each one to improve, maintain, and enjoy a lifestyle of wellness, each person was also teaching Ostroski—she developed an understanding of how to train people with diverse strengths and weaknesses that need to be factored in.

At Tonicity Fit, everything is individualized, so Ostroski will talk to a new client in the assessment lab, reviewing the person’s medical history so that everyone understands what that person’s exercise needs are. She offers private and semi-private training, as well as some small

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group training sessions at the studio.

“I really like the small group training sessions because clients can be motivated by each other,” she explained. “And it’s still easy to modify the training to fit what an individual needs.”

She prides herself on being able to develop a safe, effective program that will allow a person to reach his or her individual fitness needs.

One illustration of this is a student that Ostroski was teaching who had Type 1 diabetes. He was an exercise science major, but really didn’t love exercise himself—he was afraid to really push himself because of concerns that arose as a result of his ailment.

“One day, I was asking the students in the class why they loved exercise, and I remember him saying that exercise was not his friend,” she explained.

“With diabetes, especially Type 1, it’s a slippery slope when it comes to exercise. He really felt like this metabolic disorder would control him.”

Ostroski met with the student, talked about his overall health and fitness, and started working with him to develop an exercise regimen that worked.

“I learned about his insulin pump, and we both made sure that we had sugar there,” she explained.

The student was able to feel a lot more comfortable when exercising, and his overall health improved.

“It really did change his life, and I feel really good about that,” Ostroski explained. “That’s what I do this for.”

Another illustration of a client that Ostroski is proud to have helped is a professor who, at first, didn’t necessarily like to exercise in the beginning.

But she was a very motivated person, and when she went to the gym she would suffer small injuries because she was pushing too hard.

Ostoski worked with the professor to develop a plan for her diet and for exercise regimen. The professor ended up competing in a triathlon, and more than ten years later, she is still one of Ostroski’s clients.

Ostroski is able to relate to her clients because, as a result of her own personal experiences and advanced training, she understands their hopes and their frustrations when it comes to maintaining a fitness regimen.

Continued on Page 12

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Tonicity Fit Continued from Page 11

Ostroski grew up as an athlete. She trained as a dancer for more than nine years. Her father was a bodybuilder, and when she was growing up, she would often pick up the bodybuilding magazines to read about the exercise programs that were working for the athletes.

“I loved learning about their routines,” she explained. “And I found that working out was a really good release for me.”

It was easy for Ostroski to grasp the importance of maintaining an active, healthy lifestyle.

“I found it for myself and my own journey, but I always liked helping others, too,” she explained.

That led her to work as a personal trainer for seven years before she decided to pursue a degree. It was during the process of obtaining her degrees that she learned more about the science of exercising, but it was very valuable to learn as she worked with individuals—she has helped clients in a number of areas including weight loss and maintenance, muscular strength training, understanding and implementation of life changes, nutritional and hormonal balance, injury prevention and recovery, sports Continued on Page 14

Courtesy photo

Ostroski said that she spent more than 10 years thinking about how the studio would be designed and equipped.

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Tonicity Fit Continued from Page 12

conditioning, and recovery and maintenance of a physical illness.

One area in which Ostroski has developed a special interest is in helping people to use exercise to delay the aging process. Aging is inevitable, but finding an effective fitness routine that works, and combining that with a proper diet can help a person achieve a healthy lifestyle.

“Research does find that regular exercise can stall some of the issues that come along with aging,” Ostroski explained. “Maybe those issues can’t be avoided forever, but regular exercise will certainly help prevent issues with your knees and hips.”

Ostroski has also worked with a lot of women as they go through menopause, and she is well-versed on helping them adjust to changes that are taking place.

She is a big believer in the benefits of weight training, so she encourages all her clients to incorporate some weight training into their routines. She likes to keep the exercises simple, so when she was planning the studio, she knew she wanted the clients to focus a lot on using a training

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West Chester & Chadds Ford Life | Fall/Winter 2018 | www.chestercounty.com

bench, a stepper, and dumbells.

“I want people to be able to work out at home, too,” Ostroski explained. “Part of my job is teaching them so that won’t even need me.”

Ostroski said that she is very pleased with having her business in West Chester. She likes how there is a spirit of cooperation among the small business owners in town.

She also likes that she was able—after 10 or 12 years of planning it in her mind—to design the Tonicity Fit studio exactly the way that she likes it.

Ostroski selected equipment that would offer a wide variety of exercises to her clients. There is an ample supply of plate-loaded equipment for functional training. In another area of the studio, there are kettle bells, boxes, and ropes for training. There are treadmills, ellipticals, and cardio equipment. In the middle of the studio is the area for circuit training. There are also Smith machines which allow for several hundred different kinds of exercises. There are free weights and a very versatile piece Continued on Page 16

Tonicity Fit Continued from Page 14

of equipment called a functional training cable machine.

Mirrors are everywhere throughout the studio because they help people who are training to make sure that they are always following the proper form.

“I am a stickler for that,” she said.

There are lockers and showers for the clients because Ostroski knew that some people will be stopping by to train before or after work and might want to freshen up.

These rooms are all ADA-compliant.

With the studio designed exactly as she wants it and enough equipment to meet the needs of clients, the rest is up to Ostroski and the other trainers. As clients continue to train at Tonicity Fit, Ostroski does ongoing assessments, and she regularly talks with each person to make sure that they are meeting their fitness goals and building a more healthy lifestyle.

“Quality over quantity is what I always tell clients,” Ostroski explained. “Nobody is going to get hurt here. I want people to feel comfortable and motivated. I would

like to hold clients to coming in twice a week. Three times would be best. This is about results. That is where the science is.”

More information about personal training and small group exercise sessions at Tonicity Fit is available at tonicityfit.com.

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

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|West Chester & Chadds Ford People|

Hoop dreams

James Pinto builds a bright future by turning driveways into basketball courts Photo by John Chambless

James Pinto, 16, on his family’s home basketball court, which launched his successful line-painting business.

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West Chester & Chadds Ford Life | Fall/Winter 2018 | www.chestercounty.com

Courtesy photo

Home Court Advantage can paint a basketball court in just over two hours.

By John Chambless Staff Writer

T

hree years ago, when he was 13, all James Pinto wanted to do was get a decent basketball court painted on his family’s driveway. Today, he’s the head of a company that does just that.

At 16, when most of his peers are more concerned with Xbox and Snapchat, Pinto has more poise and focused enthusiasm than a corporate CEO twice his age. Sitting down for an interview in the lower level of his family’s home, south of West Chester, he is happy to share the short tale of how he saw a need and built a company from the ground up.

As one of six children, “all my brothers were into sports and played basketball,”

Pinto said. “I thought I’d do my brother a favor and find a kit online to paint him a court. I found a stencil for $14 or so.

It was fine, if you’re looking for a quick, lower-quality job, but it just didn’t do the job I wanted. It was really hard and took me every bit of five hours just to tape the lines. The paint was bleeding under the tape. I was about to be done with the idea and move on.

“But one of my dad’s friends came by and saw it and offered to pay me to paint a court for him,” Pinto continued. “That’s where the idea was born. So I did his court, and from there it snowballed. It was word of mouth. I did about 15 jobs in the next two months, using the kit and trying to find ways to improve it.

Continued on Page 20

www.chestercounty.com | Fall/Winter 2018 | West Chester & Chadds Ford Life

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Hoop Dreams Continued from Page 19

“I was down on my knees, roll-painting the entire court.

And driveways are very hot,” he said, smiling. “I was making money off of every job, because the only costs were paint and tape. But I was doing it alone.”

Frustrated that he was unable to get sharper, professional-looking lines, James turned to his older brother, Michael, who had a friend whose father ran a trade show fabrication company in Delaware. “We talked through some ideas and they drew up a computer-aided design that allowed us to create a 20-by-20-foot stencil,” Pinto said. “We wanted to be able to take it apart like puzzle pieces so we could transport it. We started with a material called MDF, so we were getting better lines, but it wasn’t perfect. But we did get jobs done faster.”

The boards used for his stencil fit into a pickup truck, and the heavier material largely eliminated bleeding paint lines, despite the variety of surfaces Pinto faced.

Not every driveway is smooth, and he had to learn to compensate.

“After about a year of using that first stencil, we were getting more clients, creating our website, reaching out

20

West Chester & Chadds Ford Life | Fall/Winter 2018 | www.chestercounty.com

Courtesy photo

Matthew Pinto is a very successful author of books on Catholic issues and the founder of Ascension Press, but has allowed his son James to get Home Court Advantage off the ground on his own.

to people,” he said. “We had so many people contacting us. By the winter of my freshman year, we got the stencil almost perfected. The pieces were small enough to fit into my truck, and fit together perfectly. We got it down from a five-hour job to an hour and a half.”

Despite the wide variations in the surfaces of driveways, “We were trying to get the same quality for every court,” Pinto said. “By the summer of my freshman year, we started hiring about 10 guys, on and off, who would help us paint. They were older than me. Michael was in college, so he wasn’t able to help as much. After that summer of doing about 50 jobs, some of the guys got

very good. I was able to trust them to keep the quality up. It was the biggest summer we had up to that point.”

The courts are high-school regulation size, which is smaller than a college or professional court. As a result, high school and junior level players can use the Home Court Advantage lines to refine their shooting skills on an accurate court. The paint is highway-grade Rustoleum, and will last for at least two years, Pinto said. The original court on his driveway is still in good shape despite heavy use.

Pinto has two stencils that he uses to handle all the job requests, particularly during the summer months when he can devote more time to his business. Scheduling homework and football practice around the demands of running Homecourt Advantage can be a struggle, he said with a grin.

“I can only do one or two courts a week now, because of school,” he said. “I usually have football from 3 to 5, get home, do homework right away, then make sure everything is up to date, the checks were paid, and we have any materials we need. Then on weekends, I make Continued on Page 22

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Hoop Dreams Continued from Page 21

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West Chester & Chadds Ford Life | Fall/Winter 2018 | www.chestercounty.com

sure we have enough paint, materials and employees to do the painting on Saturdays and Sundays.”

While his father is Matthew Pinto, a very successful author of books on Catholic issues and the founder of Ascension Press, James hasn’t relied on any gifts for his start-up business. His father has decades of experience in handling a very successful publishing business, “and I think dad’s been one of my biggest mentors,” Pinto said. “He’s been very hands-off, and that’s been the best thing, in a way. He’s there for advice. When it comes to professionalism, I’ll ask, ‘How I should contact this person? What should I do when it comes to investing? How do we handle equity in the company?’ He’s let me do this myself, and I’ve been able to learn so much through both failing and achieving.”

When it comes to satisfied customers, Homecourt Advantage has a long list of successful projects. “We were at our friend’s house and noticed the impeccable basketball lines painted on their driveway,” reads one testimonial on the website. “They told us to contact Home Court Advantage. They were so polite, friendly and organized. Don’t let their youth fool you – they are as professional as any contractor I’ve used. Now our kids love practicing basketball after school.”

Pinto is a junior at Archmere Academy, and is beginning his college search. He’s thinking about Oxford or Stanford, where he plans to concentrate on computer science and business.

While he isn’t yet old enough to sign legal documents (his older brother has signed off on paperwork so far), Pinto has the business sense to carefully reinvest any profits he makes. “The first court generated about $50 in profit, and I put that right into buying the next supplies,” he said.

“And I kept reinvesting into the business. So now we’re doing well financially. The business is self-sustaining.”

Pinto has a goal of franchising his stencils Continued on Page 24

www.chestercounty.com | Fall/Winter 2018 | West Chester & Chadds Ford Life

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Continued from Page 22

and plan so anyone can start their own painting business. “We have a nationally registered trademark on the company name, ready-made marketing materials and an operations manual in continual development,” he said. “We could make the stencils by the dozens. We could ship them to court installers and they would do everything themselves. We could ship them the stencils to see what they can do with them before they become a licensed franchisee. We may be looking at competition,” he said, “because right now there are no other competitors.

So branding is very important to us.”

The business could be expanded to painting fullsize basketball or tennis courts, Pinto said. “We could do well just doing the painting work, but I want to focus on selling the half-court stencils. That keeps it simple. Painting the courts would bring us the cash flow to then create the stencils.”

Area parks and schools sometimes can rent linepainting equipment, Pinto said, but staff members often don’t know how to do the best job, or they don’t know the proper dimensions. “We’ve had parks contact us,” he said. “We just did a community center about a week ago. A lot of them don’t want to buy a machine, or they don’t know how to do it.”

Setting up legal documents and spreading the word about his business has taught Pinto selfconfidence. “I’d say that before this I wasn’t as aggressive,” he said. “I was searching for stuff to do – computer science and mechanical work, and doing research.” His peers know about Homecourt Advantage, and Pinto said that maybe someone his own age or younger could be inspired to start their own business because of his success.

“Even if this business ends up not being successful, it’s very important that I provide myself with opportunity and connections,” he said. “As I approach kids my own age, it may motivate them. I’m interested in selling to kids like me who are looking to do something, to learn a business. I get the stencil to you, you learn the whole business. It gives them great exposure. If I can do it, anyone can. That’s the cool part about it.”

For more information, visit www.discoverhomecourt.com.

To contact Staff Writer John Chambless, email jchambless@chestercounty.com.

www.chestercounty.com | Fall/Winter 2018 | West Chester & Chadds Ford Life

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|West Chester & Chadds Ford Business|

By John Chambless Staff Writer

E Edie’s Sweet and Savory Pastries is a bakery that does things the old-fashioned way

Black Forest Cakes for Two.

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West Chester & Chadds Ford Life | Fall/Winter 2018 | www.chestercounty.com

die O’Neill gets up at 2 a.m., starts baking at 3 a.m., and is regularly in bed by 9 p.m., “But this job is so much fun it’s not really a job,” she said brightly. “It doesn’t bother me to be here that long.”

Sitting at one of the cafe tables at her gleaming West Chester bakery, Edie’s Sweet and Savory Pastries, O’Neill has the beaming smile and confidence of someone who is finally doing what they love.

But for most of her career, she was pursuing a different path.

“I grew up in Chester, and graduated in 1973 from Chester High School,” she said. “For five and a half years, I worked for the Chester Police Department as secretary to the Chief. I worked at Crozer Hospital for a while, and then got into the financial planning industry for the rest of my career. I decided at the age of 56 that I wanted to get out of that whole industry, because it’s awful,” she said, laughing.

The career that was calling her was baking – something that had been a passion since she was about 14, “when my mom let me into the kitchen for the first time,” O’Neill said.

“She let me bake something on my own, and it was chocolate pumpkin cookies. I was following a recipe, but it didn’t

translate well,” she said. “So I’ve never made them again, but the baking bug bit me. At that point, my mom said, ‘If you like baking, then you bake.’ I did most of the baking from then on.”

It took a few decades, but now O’Neill is putting her business background and her baking skills to use by running her own business, which opened in March and has already established itself as a bright spot on Market Street’s east end.

Edie’s started out with O’Neill renting the kitchen at her church, St. John’s Episcopal in Concord Township, and selling her products from her home. “As a business, when you’re selling to the public, you’re not allowed to use a non-certified kitchen,” she said. The church Continued on Page 28

Photo by John Chambless

Edie O’Neill behind the counter at Edie’s Sweet and Savory Pastries in West Chester.

Edie’s can supply elegant desserts or brunch items for any occasion. www.chestercounty.com | Fall/Winter 2018 | West Chester & Chadds Ford Life

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Edie’s Continued from Page 27

kitchen worked for a while, but she had to transport all perishable ingredients back and forth from her home.

She began selling her products – quiches, pies, cookies and cakes – at the Thornton Farmer’s Market four years ago. That got her on firm footing without the expense of a storefront.

“It was like running a business in a microcosm,” she said.

“You’re watching food trends, you’re watching what sells, what people are looking for. Basically, it taught us a lot.

We built a customer base and learned a lot about how to do business.”

Working with her son, Billy, as a business partner, O’Neill methodically planned her new venture. “Our plan was to open a bakery, but we did it very methodically. I have to say that none of this would have happened without a group called SCORE. They mentor you. Many times people think they’re ready to do something, but they’d ask me questions.

They’d ask how I would handle things financially, that sort

Bruschetta Corn Bread is one of Edie’s distinctly different items.

of thing. Those questions reined me in a little bit, and made me a more effective business person.”

Working with a realtor, she investigated a wide range of available spaces in the region, including a spot right across Chestnut Street, but when she stepped into the former welding warehouse at 136 E. Market, she was hooked.

“My son and I walked in and said, ‘This is it,’” O’Neill said. “It was awful, though. It was very dirty, there was a taxidermied puma in the window,” she added, laughing. “I said, ‘That is leaving, right?’”

The 600 square feet for the bakery was carved out of the vast space, and is perfectly sized for the bakery. There are cafe tables by the large front window, and just enough space for the refrigerators and ovens that O’Neill bought.

An antique wooden display cabinet holds the day’s specialties, which change each day, as well as seasonally.

Of the recipes O’Neill uses, “some are mine, some are my mother’s, some are my mother-in-law’s, some are recipes that I adapted from a cookbook,” she said. “We are an oldfashioned bakery. People call in, I take orders. I’m doing a wedding this weekend where I’m doing a lot of cupcakes, but they also wanted a brunch, so I’m doing a lot of quiches and muffins, too.”

Realizing that delivering products was not something she wanted to handle, “I don’t do off-site catering,” O’Neill said. “We don’t do prepared cakes and hold them in the freezer. So if you want a layer cake for a birthday, you’ll have to call in advance, because we’re going to make your

O’Neill particularly enjoys making pies, such as these miniature ‘baby pies.’

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West Chester & Chadds Ford Life | Fall/Winter 2018 | www.chestercounty.com

Scones are a staple at the bakery.

cake. We’re not going to whip something out of the freezer and put ‘Happy birthday’ on it and hand it to you.”

Among O’Neill’s hottest sellers are her pot pies – beef or chicken, with the kind of flaky crust that takes time and care to create. “I just made a double batch of chicken and a batch of beef two days ago, and the chicken’s gone, and the beef is almost gone,” she said. “Let’s just say there is a huge difference between a frozen supermarket pot pie and a homemade pot pie.”

She also sells a lot of quiches for brunches, “but making the pies is my favorite,” she said. “That’s why my logo is in the shape of a pie. I could make pies all the time.”

O’Neill’s daughter, Jenny, helps out with the cakes, since she loves that aspect of baking. It’s a team effort that pays off with distinctive products such as the Cowboy Cookies, which are constantly on the display counter but don’t last long. “People go crazy for them because they have so much stuff in them,” O’Neill said. “They have pretzels, pecans, chocolate chips, coconut and oatmeal.

And there’s just enough dough to hold all that craziness together. That is one of the few cookies that I make constantly.”

Continued on Page 30

The crusts for pies are hand-decorated by Edie herself. www.chestercounty.com | Fall/Winter 2018 | West Chester & Chadds Ford Life

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Edie’s Continued from Page 29

Her shortbread cookies are pure and simple, so they’re good for anyone with allergies.

O’Neill has sidestepped the pitfalls of many bakeries, such as the overuse of fondant, which is structurally necessary for elaborate cake sculptures, but simply doesn’t taste good. “We absolutely refuse fondant. We use buttercream or cream cheese frosting, or ganache,” she said. “We don’t mass produce anything. There are no preservatives in anything. We don’t use mixes. If you’ve been in a big bakery and you try three different cookies, there’s a good chance they’re going to taste very similar. What they do is make a mix, and then make several kinds of cookies out of it. That doesn’t happen here. And our pies are not as sweet. You should be able to taste the individual fruit.”

The idea, she said, “is to have food like your own family would make. This is real food, as opposed to the manufactured food you get in so many places.”

After baking all day during the week, O’Neill said Sunday is her day to make meals for her family ahead of time for use during the week. Her daughter still lives at home with O’Neill and her husband in Middletown Township.

Continued on Page 32

Photo by John Chambless

These Cowboy Cookies are a tempting blend of ingredients, and regularly sell out at the bakery.

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West Chester & Chadds Ford Life | Fall/Winter 2018 | www.chestercounty.com

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Edie’s Continued from Page 30

Part of running a business in West Chester means interacting with students from West Chester University, and “My generation did not cook as much as our parents’ genO’Neill is proud that she supplies breakfast provisions at a eration, and that has filtered down to the next generation. fair price. “We keep prices lower so college kids can come Part of that is lifestyle change. My daughter’s generation is in and get something for breakfast. We so involved in so many activities, when offer higher-end items for dinner parties, would they have time to be in the kitchtoo, but we also have affordable items en? That’s where we’ve begun to lose the for the kids who just want a muffin or a ability to make good food.” quiche or something.”

O’Neill sees hope, though, in the farmOne of the generational changes to-table movement that has increased O’Neill has seen is that customers are awareness of using pure ingredients that sometimes dazzled by what she can are locally sourced. “A lot of people create. are starting to make food themselves,” “Cooking in general is fading away,” she said. “They’re more interested in she said. “My older daughter, who is The packaging at Edie’s is extra special, how their food is prepared. A lot of it is particularly for elegant events. also a pastry chef, and my younger health-based, and a lot of it is concern daughter, were stunned by how many of about the environment, which is a good their classmates didn’t understand where things come from. thing. I’m beginning to see people in my children’s generaMy older daughter had a friend who thought that pasta tion get more interested in real food.” actually grew. I find that so scary,” O’Neill said, laughing.

As the smiling face behind the counter every day, O’Neill is rapidly getting a steady clientele, and becoming part of the community.

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“This is my retirement,” she said. “The goal was two-fold.

I wanted to leave a legacy for my children, and the other goal of being here in West Chester is to become part of the community. There are a lot of good things happening.

There’s a virtual reality place opening down the street, Miss Winnie’s has amazing Jamaican food. We’re seeing a lot more interest moving down this way. We want to be a part of this vital community.”

For more information, visit www.ediespastriespa.com.

To contact Staff Writer John Chambless, email jchamb*Reservations suggested. less@chestercounty.com.

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|West Chester & Chadds Ford Arts| Seventeen-year-old Julia Johnson began playing the acoustic violin when she was 8 years old, and what began as a first love is now the start of a life in music, kicked up a bit with a new sound

Her electr

By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer

I

t was the evening of the 2013 talent show at Downingtown Middle School, and Julia Johnson’s parents Charlie and Anne Johnson sat nervously in the auditorium waiting for their eighth-grade daughter to perform on the violin.

They loved the swirling sounds that came from their daughter’s room at home when she practiced, but this was different. This was go time. Her time. A live performance.

Mothers and fathers and students filed in to take their seats, and they knew that at some moment in the evening everyone would collectively focus their eyes on their daughter, and hear the sounds they had heard coming from that room since Julia was in the third grade, when she told them she wanted to learn to play the violin.

From the audience, Charlie and Anne faintly heard the herky-jerky banter of the backstage, knowing that somewhere in the scrum of techies and the stage props and costumes, Julia was likely pacing back and forth. When her time came to perform, Julia walked to the center of the stage, and with the focus of a lion eyeing its prey, she lifted her violin to her left shoulder and immediately busted out a piece by recording artist and violinist Lindsey Stirling.

When it was over, the audience stood, applauded and many couldn’t contain themselves over what they had just heard coming from the young girl and the delicate machine she was carrying. Everyone in the middle school auditorium, it seemed, was smiling, all except the musician.

With a face that blankly registered the moment, Julia Johnson looked into the appreciative audience and saw what the rest of her life would look and sound like.

By virtue of the delicacy of its construction, an acoustic violin contains a series of intricate parts that work with the person who plays it to form a sound that many have called the equivalent of a musical prayer. There is the body or corpus, the neck, the finger board, the bridge, the sound post, four strings and various fittings, known as tuning pegs, the tailpiece, tail gut, end pin and the chin rest. Its body is made of two arched plates that are fastened to a garland of ribs that make up the “side” of the instrument, and made into the shape of an hourglass.

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Johnson plans to attend college to further study music, in preparation for a career in the industry.

Since she began taking lessons at the Bradford Heights Elementary School in Downingtown in the third grade with her teacher, Heather Siegfried, Julia Johnson has become one with this finely-made music machine. Now a 17-yearold senior at Downingtown West High School, Johnson has spent most of her life dedicated to pursuing her dream of becoming a widely-known violinist, traveling the country and the world and performing her own compositions.

A review of her journey reveals a how-to of dream

ctric symphony

Courtesy photos

Johnson began playing the violin in the third grade at Bradford Heights Elementary School.

making: early lessons, followed by more advanced tutorials with former West Chester University music teacher Rebecca Ansel, who now teaches Johnson in weekly classes at her Collingswood, New Jersey home; a daily practice routine in her home studio, fashioned around her academic schedule, that includes work on classical and jazz compositions, learning new songs that she plays at concerts and gigs; and writing her own songs with the help of some very cool music software and her digital audio workstation, which

she’s done since her freshman year.

Perhaps the most important notch on her musical belt was her attendance at a music camp held at the Berklee College of Music in Boston this past summer, where she embarked on an intensive schedule of workshops, tutorials, performances and networking with other young musicians.

“I’m looking to attend a music conservatory next fall and major in musical performance and musical production,” Continued on Page 36 www.chestercounty.com | Fall/Winter 2018 | West Chester & Chadds Ford Life

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Julia Johnson Continued from Page 35

she said. “I want to find a college that will fit me to where I want to go musically. I want to find a college that will lead me in the direction of my dreams, rather than form me or mold me into just what they have to offer.”

When she first started playing the violin, Johnson never thought that she would ever be able to make a living doing it.

“In middle school, you rarely think about what you’re going to be doing for a career years from then, and for me, playing the violin as a career that I never knew was actually possible,” she said. “At that age, everybody wants to be an actor or a rock star or somebody famous, but slowly, as the dreams of my classmates to become rock stars began to die, mine never did.

“I realized that I still loved playing the violin, and I got more into the instrument, and began to figure out how I will be able to make it.”

Johnson now has another instrument that she believes will further support her dreams: an electric violin which she has performed with at live shows at the Flash in Kennett Square in 2017 and 2018 and at several private shows and functions. She first came upon the instrument when she was in the

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West Chester & Chadds Ford Life | Fall/Winter 2018 | www.chestercounty.com

Johnson has performed twice at the Kennett Flash in Kennett Square.

eighth grade, during a trip she made with her family to North Carolina, to visit a friend and her family. During the trip, they stopped in the Electric Violin Shop in Durham.

Johnson tried nearly every electric violin in the store.

It’s all part of her need to branch out, not only with instrumentation, but with musical composition.

Continued on Page 38

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Julia Johnson Continued from Page 36

“I was brought up as a classically trained violinist, but as I get more into the music industry and knowing that this is what I do, I’ve recently brought jazz music into the equation,” she said. “Jazz music and classical music are two totally different styles. In classical music, you learn your part, and then you begin to understand how your sound will contribute to the larger whole.

You have to conform to form and technique.

“In jazz, it’s more like, ‘Here’s the bigger picture, and here are your options.’ Jazz is the universal language of music.”

There is no one definitive how-to handbook that shows a young musician how to get into the music industry, but as she approaches the end of her high school years and prepares for college, Johnson is not naive to the fact that finding the right doors – specifically, the ones that open to performing, recording and representation – can be a daunting task, and nor are her parents.

“When Charlie and I realized how serious Julia was about music, we would talk between ourselves and ask, ‘How can we make her dreams happen and allow her to do it in an industry that has a lot of uncertainty around it? How can we give her the tools, and help her achieve her dreams?’

“At some time, you reach a point when you decide whether your interest is in fact, a passion, and we know that Julia has reached that point. She’s going

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to find a way to do it, because music is a part of her.”

“For me, music has become my cycle, and one component of what I do feeds directly into the next,” Johnson said. “I love writing music, and when I’m done writing I want to perform music, and when I finish performing music, I want to write more music.

“It’s the cycle that has proven to me that I need to make this my life’s work.”

To contact Staff Writer Richard L. Gaw, email rgaw@chestercounty.com.

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|West Chester & Chadds Ford Business|

It’s still the Tave New owner takes well-known Chadds Ford eatery to another level

By Natalie Smith Staff Writer

I

t could be intimidating to purchase a longtime area institution. Do you keep it the same, knowing how fond people were of the original? Or do you make changes, hoping the public will appreciate something new?

For Philip Ferro, chef and owner of the Chadds Ford Tavern on Baltimore Pike, melding what people loved about the popular restaurant with his own high-quality dishes can, by any definition, be called a success. And it turns out, it was just what folks in the Chadds Ford area were waiting for.

“We were supposed to have a soft opening [this past] April 6,” Ferro said with a smile, referring to the business practice of an initial opening without flourish, often for family and friends. “It was after nine months of renovations and we put it on social media. Of course, it turned into a grand, grand opening from day one. Everyone’s really, really, really supported us in a way greater than I could imagine.”

The Tavern had been long been known as place to grab a bite and have a drink. Owned and operated for a halfcentury by Tommy Drane, it was a popular neighborhood hangout and counted among its patrons performers, sports figures and artists, notably the Wyeths and George “Frolic” Weymouth. But 50 years is a long time, and Drane decided it was time to sell, but not to Ferro – at first.

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West Chester & Chadds Ford Life | Fall/Winter 2018 | www.chestercounty.com

vern, only better This sign greets those who enter the Tavern, referencing the many talented patrons.

Photos by Natalie Smith

Philip Ferro is chef-owner of Chadds Ford Tavern. Ferro has kept the original feel of the Tavern, much to the pleasure of longtime patrons.

About three years ago, Ferro found out the property was for sale from his mother, whose work commute from Lancaster to Newtown Square regularly took her past the Chadds Ford Tavern, and she noticed the sign stating it was for sale. “So I stopped in and met with Tommy and he said, ‘You’re too late.’ He’d sold it to someone else,” Ferro said.

But Ferro wasn’t idle. The Media man was chef-owner of both Edgewood Café and Vida, two very popular BYOBs in the Brookline neighborhood of Haverford Township, Delaware County.

His mom kept giving him updates on what kind of renovation work she saw at the Tavern. Then, at one point, it looked as if it was vacant again. Ferro got in touch with Drane, who told him the other sale hadn’t worked out.

Ferro was interested. After dealing with some zoning issues, in 2017, Ferro became owner of the Chadds Ford Tavern.

It was always Ferro’s intent to keep it the same, comfortable, welcoming pub it had always been, with a few tweaks here and there.

“All the support we’re getting … everyone loves the Tavern and what we’ve done,” he said. “We kept the feel of he Tavern and just updated all the infrastructure – the HVAC, the water system, the kitchen, but it still has the Tavern feel.”

It was also important to keep the same furnishings, Continued on Page 42 www.chestercounty.com | Fall/Winter 2018 | West Chester & Chadds Ford Life

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Chadds Ford Tavern Continued from Page 41

although they have been reupholstered and refinished.

One wall is covered with metal stars. “The star wall was my idea. I hung them all,” Ferro said.

Although Ferro had never been in the Tavern as a customer, that didn’t stop him from appreciating its history.

“I’ve never dined in here or anything. But I’ve heard from many, many people that in the ‘80s it was the place to be,” he said.

As chef, Ferro is especially excited about the new menu.

“We’ve kept all the items that people are really drawn to, and we added a couple more selections on the steak and seafood end,” he said. “We still have our sandwiches and the raw bar’s doing very well, with the oysters and the clams and the shrimp. The roast beef sandwich was a staple here. We just took the Tavern roast beef sandwich and we use choice Angus ribeye, which we shave down.

We make a real nice au jus … it’s one of our top-selling items. We make 20 or 30 of them a day.

“We added a couple soups for the fall -- the mushroom bisque and lobster chowder.” A longtime favorite is on the menu, too. “French onion is on there, of course -- that has to be on there.” The soup’s popularity is unwavering.

“French onion moves even through the summer,” Ferro said. “We were [serving] 20 bowls a day, even though it was 100 degrees out.”

Another well-liked dish uses arguably two of a meat-lover’s favorites: Bacon and filet mignon. “It was a staple at my Edgewood Café,” Ferro said. The perimeter of the filet is wrapped in applewood bacon and served with cheddarchive mashed potatoes and roasted asparagus.

“One addition we’ve made is a 40-ounce Tavern Tomahawk ribeye,” he said. “It’s a bone-in ribeye that looks like a tomahawk.” Ferro joked that he was considering awarding a T-shirt to any customer who finishes the steak in one sitting. Sundays and Mondays through the winter are all-you-can-eat prime rib nights for $39.95.

If the food isn’t enough to bring you in, Chadds Ford Tavern offers entertainment every day of the week, and it runs the gamut.

“Monday nights, we do a blues open mic night where all the local musicians come in and they take turns playing.

They’re top-notch,” Ferro said. “Tuesday night is Anthony Caserta, the ‘Boy in Black,’ doing a Johnny Cash tribute.

Wednesday night is country night with Brian McConnell.

Thursday, Friday and Saturday is just any live local solo or duo. Sunday, we do a jazz brunch from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. with a saxophone player.”

Ferro’s interest in food was piqued when he was a young teenager growing up in Upper Darby. It was in 1993 when the then-burgeoning Food Network on cable TV caught his attention. “I started watching when I was 13 years old. Emeril Lagasse was on there with his very first show, ‘How to Boil Water.’ I just got glued to it.

And then I excelled in home economics class,” Ferro said.

When Ferro was 15, he had the opportunity to go to Delaware County Technical School in Folcroft to study culinary arts.

“I did very well in vo-tech,” he said. “I learned all the fundamentals, the basics -- how to make a vinaigrette, how to make your five mother sauces [basic sauces of French cooking] … I had the opportunity to go to some contests and I did very well.”

A teacher, Andrew Subashi, saw something special in Ferro, and asked him to work part-time in his side catering business, which gave Ferro his first taste of working in the food world. “He would do little events on the weekends and he

The bar at the Chadds Ford Tavern has played host to many people from the area.

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would take me along to help them do the catering, setting up trays of pasta, trays of roast beef,” Ferro said. “I’d go and help set up and work with him and his wife, who was the waitress.”

Ferro continued to watch Food Network while regularly reviewing his copy of the Culinary Institute of America book from school. Early jobs busing tables put him in Delaware County restaurants, where he could watch the chefs. The owner of a few of these restaurants, Pat Burns, saw he had potential, and at 17 he was tapped to run a “monster of a food court” in a supermarket.

It wasn’t always easy. Gaining the respect of the employees doesn’t come automatically to someone so young.

“That’s always been the issue because I’ve always been the youngest one,” he said.

At 22 he left to work at Anthony’s in Drexel Hill, becoming head chef at the Italian restaurant. After leaving there and working in catering, he opened Edgewood Café in 2014 and Vida, a Mexican taco spot, in 2016.

In Ferro’s new venture, he has carryover employees from previous restaurants, and family as well. His sister, Jillian

This wine corner is a new addition.

Maher, is general manager. His wife Kristen – with whom he has son Vincent, 2, and daughter Giovanna, 4 – works at the Tavern a couple of nights a week, picking up a few tables. But he couldn’t convince his mother to work there, he said with a laugh, even if it would cut down on her commute.

Plans for the Tavern include constructing a patio in the spring, Ferro said. Former owner Tommy Drane stops in once a week, and Ferro said he’s great for pointing out local celebrities. After 50 years, not surprisingly, “He knows everybody,” Ferro said.

“He’s happier than ever,” Ferro said of the former owner.

“He finally sold the tavern and it’s doing better than ever.

So he’s beside himself. You know, it really helps that he spent 50 years here. So for him to be happy means a lot.

He’s just thrilled that the tavern’s living on. We didn’t change it and make it ultra-modern. It’s the Tavern.”

Natalie Smith may be contacted at natalie@ DoubleSMedia.com.

The U.K. phone box was placed under the Chadds Ford Tavern sign on Baltimore Pike by former owner Tommy Drane as a landmark for travelers. New owner Philip Ferro decided to keep it. www.chestercounty.com | Fall/Winter 2018 | West Chester & Chadds Ford Life

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|West Chester Business|

Greater West Chester Chamber of Commerce offers numerous benefits to its members— and the community

By Steven Hoffman Staff Writer

T

here are many benefits to belonging to a chamber of commerce.

Approximately 700 businesses, entrepreneurs, and professionals in the greater West Chester area currently utilize the wide variety of programs and services provided by the Greater West Chester Chamber of Commerce, and Mark Yoder, the CEO of the organization, explained that the chamber of commerce focuses its efforts on serving its diverse group of members through advocacy, resources, and opportunities.

The chamber’s efforts to help businesses grow and prosper, and to contribute to the overall

Courtesy photo

Mark Yoder, the CEO of the Greater West Chester Chamber of Commerce.

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West Chester & Chadds Ford Life | Fall/Winter 2018 | www.chestercounty.com

All photos courtesy

Helping new businesses is part of the mission of the Greater West Chester Chamber of Commerce.

economic stability of the community, take many forms. There are monthly breakfast and luncheon meetings that bring community leaders together to promote collaboration. There are monthly business card exchanges so that professionals can connect with one another. The chamber provides networking, marketing, and advertising opportunities to its members.

There are numerous ways that the chamber works with local business owners on professional development opportunities

that would not otherwise be available to them.

One example of this will take place on March 18, 2019, when the Greater West Chester Chamber of Commerce will be bringing in experts from the Disney Institute to lead a day-long training about Disney’s industry-leading approach to quality service. The event will be held at the Desmond Hotel, and will be open to the public.

Continued on Page 46

www.chestercounty.com | Fall/Winter 2018 | West Chester & Chadds Ford Life

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Chamber of Commerce Continued from Page 45

“Anybody who attends will walk away with one, and probably ten things, that they can take back to their businesses,” Yoder explained. “It’s a first-class program.”

The Greater West Chester Chamber of Commerce is a membership-based organization that focuses on helping businesses attain new customers, address the most pressing issues that the business might be encountering, and help business owners and professionals be a productive part of a community. The chamber’s objective is to bring people together, and there are many ways to accomplish this goal.

One illustration of how the Greater West Chester Chamber of Commerce helps strengthen the West Chester community can be found in the annual Christmas Parade, which has grown into one of the most beloved and popu-

lar events in the entire region over the last decade.

“It continues to be one of our largest events,” Yoder explained.

The Greater West Chester Chamber of Commerce plays an important role in organizing the event. The annual QVC West Chester Christmas Parade is set for Friday, Nov. 30 at 7:15 p.m. Before the parade, many local businesses and organizations throughout downtown West Chester will be hosting Holiday Open Houses featuring seasonal refreshments and entertainment in preparation for the parade.

The Christmas Parade not only attracts up to 40,000 people to the downtown, giving them a look at the town’s shops and restaurants, it also helps bring a lot of attention Continued on Page 48

On March 18, 2019, the Greater West Chester Chamber of Commerce will be bringing in experts from the Disney Institute to lead a day-long training about Disney’s industry-leading approach to quality service.

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West Chester & Chadds Ford Life | Fall/Winter 2018 | www.chestercounty.com

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Chamber of Commerce Continued from Page 46

to West Chester Borough and provides over $550,000 of true economic impact, which pays dividends in many different ways. The Christmas Parade results in additional sales at local restaurants and shops from visitors attending the event. The economic impact figure includes only outof-town visitors attending the parade, thus indicating that this economic impact was generated solely as a result of the event. The chamber of commerce works closely with West Chester-based Under the Sun Productions on the Christmas Parade. Under the Sun Productions is a fullservice production company serving the special events,

parade, mass production, Christmas decoration, marching band, and color guard industries. While Under the Sun Productions takes care of organizing and producing the parade, the chamber of commerce leads the effort to communicate with the borough and its police department to ensure that everything associated with the parade runs smoothly and safely. “It’s something that has made a difference in West Chester,� Yoder said.

Another big event that the Greater West Chester Chamber of Commerce helps organize and host is the

The Benchmark Twilight Cycling Classic is one of the major events that the Greater West Chester Chamber of Commerce helps organize.

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Benchmark Twilight Cycling Classic, which brings in some of the top cyclists around the world to the borough.

The Benchmark Twilight Cycling Classic includes the Iron Hill Pro Men’s Criterium and Brumbaugh Wealth Management Pro Women’s Criterium. Both of these pro bike-racing events are contests of endurance and speed as riders fly by at break-neck speeds through the downtown route. According to a 2017 study conducted

by West Chester University’s Department of Economics and Finance on the economic impact of the Benchmark Twilight Cycling Classic, the event generated as much as $166,194 in additional sales at local restaurants and shops from visitors attending the races. Like the

Christmas Parade, the cycling event provides real economic benefits to the community.

Yoder joined the Greater West Chester Chamber of Commerce about ten years ago, and has been the CEO for the last six years. He said that while the chamber serves companies that are large, medium, and small in size, generally the work that chambers of commerce do is in support of those smaller local businesses. “They really have different struggles,” Yoder explained of the small businesses.

Advocating for small businesses is an important part of the chamber of commerce’s mission. The chamber Continued on Page 50

Many local groups and community organizations take part in the annual parade.

www.chestercounty.com | Fall/Winter 2018 | West Chester & Chadds Ford Life

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Chamber of Commerce Continued from Page 49

advocates for a variety of business principles—an improved tax structure and local economic vitality, improved infrastructure, including transit, and training, education, and workforce development. In order to accomplish this goal, the chamber educates both its members and local and state officials who deal with issues of importance.

To keep members informed about the latest business happenings, the chamber publishes a bimonthly publication, The Chamber Chatter, with a circulation of approximately 17,500 providing news and information along with the happenings of the Greater West Chester Chamber of Commerce. It is a free publication, and the editorial content and advertising is limited to chamber members.

Yoder explained that the chamber also publishes a membership directory that goes out to the entire community as a service to members. The Membership Directory

is delivered to every member business, sent to every student’s household in the West Chester Area School District (over 11,600 students) and shared with local businesses and visitors.

The chamber of commerce is also a strong supporter of the ongoing Think, Shop, Buy Local campaign that aims to get people to support local businesses and professionals in all areas. As part of this effort, the chamber is promoting Small Business Saturday, which takes place during Shop Small West Chester on Thanksgiving weekend.

For more information about the Greater West Chester Chamber of Commerce and its activities, visit the website at www.greaterwestchester.com, or the organization’s Facebook and Twitter pages.

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

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PHOTO ESSAY

The smooth and dimpling stream of the

Brandywine 52

West Chester & Chadds Ford Life | Fall/Winter 2018 | www.chestercounty.com

Photos by Jim Coarse Text by Richard L. Gaw

“When the green woods laugh with the voice of joy, and the dimpling stream runs laughing by; When the air does laugh with our merry wit, and the green hill laughs with the noise of it.”

–William Blake www.chestercounty.com | Fall/Winter 2018 | West Chester & Chadds Ford Life

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PHOTO ESSAY

B

eginning at its headwaters near Honey Brook and flowing into the Delaware River estuary in the City of Wilmington, the Brandywine Creek – also known as the Brandywine River – is a waterway that cuts through our area’s history and challenges the wellspring of our imaginations and the will of our souls.

It glides past the site of the New Sweden Colony, where colonists first settled in 1638. It pours past the site of the Battle of the Brandywine in 1777, and it served to power the gristmills in Brandywine Village and the nearby DuPont gunpowder mill.

www.chestercounty.com | Fall/Winter 2018 | West Chester & Chadds Ford Life

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T

he curvature of its course kisses the borders of our towns, and by virtue of this proximity, we attempt to engage its meandering navigation by swimming in it, paddle boating in it, canoeing in it and hugging its shoreline on the rugged and sweet walks that it promises.

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t is our occasional playground and our tender place, but the Brandywine Creek is not for us to keep but to borrow, just as it is not for us to tame but simply to treasure as a lasting, scissoring stream that winds so spectacularly, and so quietly, past the places where we live.

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PHOTO ESSAY

www.chestercounty.com | Fall/Winter 2018 | West Chester & Chadds Ford Life

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|West Chester & Chadds Ford People|

West Chester native keeps Navy wing flying

By M. Dawn Scott, Navy Office of Community Outreach

A

2011 Bayard Rustin High School graduate and West Chester, Pa., native is serving in the U.S. Navy aboard Naval Air Station Jacksonville, home to the U.S. Navy’s newest maritime, patrol and reconnaissance aircraft.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Christina Marcano is a naval air crewman (operator) serving with Commander, Patrol and Reconnaissance Wing 11 (CPRW-11).

A naval aircrewman (operator) is responsible for operating the electronic sensors on the P-8A Poseidon.

“I love the crew atmosphere,” said Marcano. “I get to know everyone very well, because you have to rely on other people to make the mission successful.”

The P-8A is a multi-mission aircraft that is replacing the legacy P-3C Orion. Those who fly in the P-8A hunt for submarines and surface ships as well as conduct intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions.

The P-8A operates with a smaller crew than the P-3C, and it also delivers an extended global reach, greater payload capacity, and higher operating altitude. It also has an open-systems architecture with significant growth potential.

According to Navy officials, there are more than 15 Navy patrol squadrons in the U.S. and eight of those squadrons belong to Wing Eleven, headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. This means that those who serve here are part of the first “Super Wing” in Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance history, ready to deploy and defend America and allies around the world.

Wing Eleven recently added the Navy’s newest squadron to its arsenal: Unmanned Patrol Squadron Nineteen (VP-19), flying the MQ-4C Triton Unmanned Aerial System (UAS). The P-8A and MQ-4C will serve as the future of the Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Force, according to Navy officials.

When asked about his plans following his assumption of command ceremony in June, Capt. Craig T. Mattingly, Commodore, Patrol and Reconnaissance Wing 11, said, “Our focus will be to take care of our most precious assets, the men and women of (Wing Eleven). We will sustain current readiness of our P-8A squadrons and reserve P-3C squadron while incorporating the MQ-4C Triton into the maritime

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Photo courtesy Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Theodore Quintana

Petty Officer 2nd Class Christina Marcano

patrol and reconnaissance force.”

Though there are many ways for a sailor to earn distinction in their command, community, and career, Marcano is most proud of graduating naval air crewman “A” school.

“There are five schools and it is a continual learning process,” Marcano said.

As a member of one of the U.S. Navy’s most relied upon assets, Marcano and other sailors know they are part of a legacy that will last beyond their lifetimes, one that will provide a critical component of the Navy that the nation needs.

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|West Chester & Chadds Ford Arts|

Since its founding in 2006, The Art Trust, housed in a gallery at the Meridian Bank on Market Street in West Chester, has cultivated the exploration of contemporary art and the local artists who make it, while contributing to the careers of the future artists around us

Taking art to the bank

By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer

I

t is an early fall evening in West Chester, and a persistent rain falls on every pedestrian who walks by the Meridian Bank on 16 West Market Street, but the party inside seems to puncture the gloomy darkness, and several of them step out of the rain and into the light, curious to know what’s there.

They soon join nearly a dozen others in a floating conversation of modern art with

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West Chester & Chadds Ford Life | Fall/Winter 2018 | www.chestercounty.com

board members of The Art Trust, a non-profit organization who since they first formed in 2006 have used the front gallery of the bank as a showcase for local artists who seek audiences for their contemporary art. Many are also here to see and hear Jennifer Hartz and Sharon Bartman, two of the three artists whose work belongs to “Mixed,” The Art Trust’s current exhibit.

For the next hour, Hartz and Bartman lift the veil off of their creative process and invite the audience in to see how the artist

Since its beginning in 2006, The Art Trust has showcased the works of artists throughout the Brandywine Valley and beyond.

works. Hartz, a painter, printmaker and mixed media artist, describes the way she applied material and paint onto her layered canvases. Bartman, a former art director and graphic artist, described how she manipulated cell phone photographs into a narrative of colors and textures.

The back-and-forth interplay between artists and the audience is intimate, pared down to the tiny minutia of artistic creation, and over time, the board members – part of the consortium that has helped nurture and grow this gallery into one of West Chester’s most well-known artistic centerpieces – stepped back and just let the moment continue to happen on its own.

The founding of The Art Trust began a dozen years ago, when Chris Annas, president of Meridian Bank, set up a branch of the bank at the 16 West Market Street location, which had been the home of the Garrubbo Bazan Gallery. Patricia Bazan-Garrubbo, the gallery’s owner, then recruited a group of dedicated art enthusiasts in an effort to help grow the art community in West Chester. Together, they created The Art Trust Gallery at Meridian Bank.

Since then, its mission has blossomed into an appreciation of the contemporary aesthetic, said Liz Ruff, president of The Art Trust Board of Directors.

“We look to promote artists who are working in all kinds of mediums that have a contemporary aesthetic to their art, and Continued on Page 62

Throughout the year, The Art Trust gallery invites exhibiting artists and the community together for informal artist’s talks.

Photo by Richard L. Gaw

The work of Main Line artist Sharon Bartman was featured in The Art Trust’s recent “Mixed” exhibit this fall. www.chestercounty.com | Fall/Winter 2018 | West Chester & Chadds Ford Life

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The Art Trust Continued from Page 61

not the classic Brandywine School of Art themes that you often find in this area,” she said. “We find there is more opportunity for our local artists in the niche that we love, and it’s also become an opportunity to expose our patrons and the community at large to a different slant of artwork that they don’t see all of the time in the area.”

Meridian Bank fully sponsors The Art Trust, funds its operating expenses for its gallery, and provides the space to them, free of charge. It’s what Joseph Ennis, the bank’s regional branch manager and a member of The Art Trust board of directors calls a “great partnership.”

“This allows both the bank and The Art Trust to be a part of the local art community,” Ennis said. “There are galleries that have to sell the art work in order to stay in business, but in contrast, if the gallery happens to sell some pieces during an exhibition, that’s great, but we believe that it’s more important to show the artists.”

“Mixed” is representative of each Art Trust gallery show, which melds the work of distinctive artists in several mediums in order to form a similar narrative. The artists come from all around the local region; Hartz is from Philadelphia; Bartman is from the Main Line and the third artist, sculptor Jim Roberts, is from Baltimore.

Continued on Page 64

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Photo by Richard L. Gaw

Philadelphia artist Jennifer Hartz spoke about her work at an artist’s talk in September.

West Chester & Chadds Ford Life | Fall/Winter 2018 | www.chestercounty.com

The Art Trust Continued from Page 62

Throughout the year, The Art Trust board explores the local and regional art scene – at galleries and First Friday events in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and New Jersey, and on group trips, as well. Every in year in June and July, the board comes together to select the artists who will be represented in The Art Trust’s shows.

“We call it ‘shopping for artists,’” Ruff said. “Often, these are artists who don’t know each other, but we’ve pulled their work together into a beautiful composition, so that when you walk into the gallery, you get that heart

thump, the way you do when you see a piece of art you love.”

It is fairly common in the art world for a gallery to represent an exhibiting artist, but The Art Trust does not represent artists, but just gets people to admire their work. The only monetary transactions it makes from art sales are during the time of the exhibit, which when joined by online donations are then funneled toward providing art scholarships for emerging artists.

In 2018, The Art Trust granted scholarships to six graduating West Chester Area School District high school students who are planning to continue their art studies in college.

“We chose to drive right into the educational network of area high schools, where we can bring some attention to those lesser-served students who want to pursue the fine arts,” Ruff said. “There’s not a lot of opportunity for many of them to receive scholarships. It increases their visibility, and they get their name announced along with the other students who receive other kinds of scholarships. It puts them on the same pedestal, and that’s what we’re trying to accomplish.”

John Baker, professor emeritus in the Department of Art + Design at West Chester University, has been on The Art Trust board for several years, and said that the strength of The Art Trust’s mission is seen in the diversity of talents it showcases.

Continued on Page 66

Some of the members of The Art Trust Board of Directors.

Photos by Richard L. Gaw

Two patrons admire work that was recently featured at The Art Trust.

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The Art Trust Continued from Page 64

“We want to continue to provide outreach to new collectors, potential collectors and current collectors,” he said. “Each one of the board members has an opportunity to put forward the names of three to five artists, so every year, we mix up the group that’s invited, and the purpose is two-fold: it’s affordable art that allows us to reach new populations, but at the same time, we’re bringing in a new group artists, for a new clientele. Hopefully, one feeds the other.

“At the same time, we’re also encouraging emerging artists to come show with us, along with established artists. It covers several silos and several umbrellas of our mission.”

Influenced,” a retrospective of the work of the artist Mitch Lyons, will be running at The Art Trust gallery through Nov. 9, and “Gifted” will run from Nov. 16 to Jan. 11, 2019. To learn more about The Art Trust, visit www.thearttrust.org. The Art Trust gallery is located at the Meridian Bank, 16 West Market Street, in West Chester.

To contact Staff Writer Richard L. Gaw, email rgaw@ chestercounty.com.

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West Chester & Chadds Ford Life | Fall/Winter 2018 | www.chestercounty.com

“Influenced,” a retrospective of the work of artist Mitch Lyons, will be on exhibit at The Art Trust through Nov. 9.

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