Letter from the Manager

Fall for West Reading

by Mark Ratcliffe, Main Street Manager, West Reading Community Revitalization Foundation

As Fall approaches I want to look back on a very busy summer and some epic events that started with Art on the Avenue. A big thank you to Emily Branch, our event coordinator, and the Art Plus team for helping make this Art on the Ave the biggest and best festival we have ever had in West Reading. With more artists and our Plein Air event bringing in artists from around the region it was truly an amazing day. I love Art on the Ave because it helps showcase our beautiful area and allows these very talented artists to explore and see everything Berks County has to offer. I hear from Russ Slocum who runs the Plein Air event that a number of artists came back to paint the beautiful landscape and architecture here in Berks and because it is such a relaxed and fun event. Relaxed and fun, that is the goal for all of our events.

The summer also saw a Sidewalk Sale, the West Reading Tavern French Fry Festival, our 2nd Fridays continue to grow and Sunday was fun day with the Farmers Market and new places to eat including Fresh and Noodl. The Avenue also expanded a little with Trish’s Specialty Cheese Cakes opening on N. 6th Ave as well. With all of our Penn Ave locations filled, we are looking for more businesses to open on 6th Ave as we look to grow our business district and open more shops on 6th and Reading Avenue.

Fall Fest is right around the corner (September 17th) and this event is all about food, music and festive beverages. Our musical line up this year includes A.D. Blanco – Based in Athens, Georgia, their summer tour stop in West Reading left a great impression on them and the band left quite an impression on West Reading! Dylan Zangwill – Best known as a contestant on America’s Got Talent (Season 16 / 2021) at the age of 14. Flux Capacitor – the newly reunited popular Reading band will play their first hometown show in close to 5 years. Small Business Saturday will be on November 26th this year and don’t forget our carriage rides in December. Tickets will go on sale Nov 1st. Join our email list www.visitwestreading.com or follow us on Facebook to learn more.

As for improvements to the Ave, our next project is improving our gateway. The is the entrance to West Reading near the Railroad bridge. Kevin Kozo is helping us and we look to partner with the Goggleworks to create an entrance to West Reading fitting of our diverse community and help showcase our Art, Entertainment & Healthy Community.

VisitWestReading.com

When visiting our merchants tell them you saw West Reading Avenues magazine!