October 2023 - Taking the Big Stage

Wants Your Input

Where You Can Find the Bands Arts Alliance

Feby's: One Heck of a Fish Story

BIG S TAGE TAKIN G THE

The Rock Orchestra has evolved into one of the area's most popular acts

OCT. 2023 COMPLIMENTARY

d Back Burner

d Bardea Steak

d Bar Reverie

d Brandywine Prime

d Cafe Mezzanotte

8th Annual

Brandywine Valley

RESTAURANT WEEK

Experience the best of area upscale dining with prix-fixe menus

2nd-6th

Two-Course

LUNCH:

$20 Three-Course

DINNER:

$35 $55 or

d Ciro Forty Acres

d Ciro Riverfront

d Columbus Inn

d Dorcea

d El Camino

d Krazy Kat’s

d La Fia Bistro

d Merchant Bar

d Piccolina Toscana

d Taverna (Wilm.)

d Market Kitchen & Bar

d The Quoin

d Tonic Seafood & Steak

d Walter’s Steakhouse

d Wilma’s

Saturday

October 28 5– 8 PM

Enjoy spooky cocktails and liquid libations, light nibbles, and bewitching entertainment featuring live music from Tim Jaudon. The Zoo will be decorated for Halloween with plenty of photo set-ups Costumes are encouraged We will hold a costume contest with prizes for the top 3 contestants! Plus enter to win a 50/50 raffle.

Proceeds from the event benefit the Delaware Zoological Society of the Brandywine Zoo The event will be held rain or moonshine. You must be 21+ with valid ID

Tickets: brandywinezoo.org/spiritsatthezoo

Members: $30 • Non-members: $35 • Includes: Two $ 6 Drink/Food Tickets.

(More tickets can be purchased for $6 each)

Brandywine Zoo, Wilmington, DE • FREE PARKING

The Brandywine Zoo is managed by DNREC, Division of Parks and Recreation with the support of the Delaware Zoological Society

Publisher Gerald duPhily • jduphily@tsnpub.com

Director of Publications Jim Miller • jmiller@tsnpub.com

Contributing Editor Bob Yearick • ryearick@comcast.net

Creative Director & Production Manager Matthew Loeb, Catalyst Visuals, LLC

Digital Services Director Michael O’Brian

Contributing Writers Adriana Camacho-Church, JulieAnne Cross, David Ferguson, Mark Fields, Pam George, Catherine Kempista, Michelle Kramer-Fitzgerald, Steve Lanahan, Ken Mammarella, Matt Morrissette, Kevin Noonan, Bob Yearick

Contributing Photographers Jim Coarse, Justin Heyes and Joe del Tufo/Moonloop Photography, Butch Comegys, Lindsay Rudney duPhily, Joe Hoddinott, Matthew Loeb Special Projects

John Holton, Cullen Robinson, Bev Zimmermann

THE WAR ON WORDS

A monthly column in which we attempt, however futilely, to defend the English language against misuse and abuse

DEPARTMENT OF REDUNDANCIES DEPT.

• An NPR commentator spoke of “an ominous portent.” Ominous: threatening, portentous. Portent: a sign or warning that something, especially something momentous or calamitous, is likely to happen.

• On Sunday Today with Willie Geist, the host spoke thusly: “The 42-year-old was nominated for a fifth career Oscar nomination.”

• Josh Tolentino, in The Philadelphia Inquirer: “That leaves one spot left for a handful of intriguing players. “

• Son Steven caught this line from a Nutrafol commercial: “Once I started using Nutrafol, I could visibly see my hair getting thicker.” Asks Steven: “As opposed to audibly see?”

• Also, see photo at upper right.

MISNOMER (AGAIN)

As discussed previously, a misnomer is a wrong or inaccurate name or designation. E.g., “The name ‘Greenland’ is a misnomer, since much of the island is covered by a massive ice sheet.” But many people have failed to heed our admonition and continue to think the word means a mistake or misconception. For example:

• A scientist on CBS News Sunday Morning, speaking of the belief that lightning always strikes the highest point. “That’s another misnomer.”

• New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers, quoted in USA TODAY, discussing Hard Knocks, the documentary series produced by NFL Films and HBO: “There’s a lot of misnomers about it.”

MEDIA WATCH

The first two come from The Philadelphia Inquirer:

• Josh Tolentino is back with a strange choice in prepositions: “Veteran center Jason Kelce lingered, and he casually spoke with onlookers, standing from the middle of the room.” Am pretty sure he stood in the middle of the room.

• Stephanie Farr: “These are all questions I never expected to ask inside of an old Forman Mills store, at least not before the apocalypse anyway.” No need for of after inside, and one of the qualifiers — at least or anyway — needs to go.

Word of the Month

By Bob Yearick

• An NBC reporter called the Maui fire “the most deadliest in the state’s history.” The double superlative lives!

• And finally, three of my ever-alert readers spotted this headline on Delawareonline: “Sewerage halting clam harvesting on Indian River Inlet.” That’s sewage. Sewerage is the infrastructure that conveys sewage.

LANGUAGE GONE AWRY

• Kelly Lawler, USA TODAY, in a review of the Netflix series Painkiller: “But it’s not serious enough for the crimes committed by companies hocking opioids to the public.” To hock is to pawn something; also, less delicately, to forcefully spit out a mass of saliva and phlegm. To hawk (the word needed here) is to sell or attempt to sell something, especially in a loud and intrusive manner.

• From the Williamsport Sun-Gazette, courtesy of reader Luann Haney, comes this nightmare of a sentence: “The players, who visitors may see at the complex dawning their Warrior baseball caps, are in their second year fundraising . . .” First, who should be whom, since it’s the object of the verb see. Second, and most egregiously, the writer used dawning (the beginning or first appearance of something) when he meant donning (to put on a piece of clothing). But, had he used donning, he still would have been wrong because he meant wearing. Unfortunately, many writers think that’s what donning means. And finally, it’s “their second year of fundraising.”

• Later in the same story: “With the abundance of people that attend the complex each year, the opportunity to raise funds are fruitful at the expense of the long hours worked.” Let’s disregard the clumsiness of the sentence while pointing out that the verb should be is, since the subject is the singular opportunity, not the plural funds

• Reader Debbie Layton reports that Delaware Today, in a story about Great Getaways, included this quote from a real estate agent: “Rental prices start to go down immediately and they crescendo a bit downward each week after that.” Things that crescendo go in the opposite direction: up

• Mick Jagger, commenting on the passing of Little Richard: “Everyone was beholding to him.” Mick meant beholden — “being under obligation for a favor or gift.”

Next Art Loop: Friday, Nov. 3, 2023

RIVERFRONT

The Delaware Contemporary

200 South Madison Street

656-6466 • decontemporary.org

Artists: MINING THE FORM, Stass Shpanin and Ben Snell, ARTCADE, Group Exhibition

DOWNTOWN

2nd & LOMA Leasing Office

211 N. Market Street

655-0124 • 2ndandloma.com

Artist: “Bold and Sassy” by Denise Palestini Pino

Chris White Gallery

701 N. Shipley Street

475-0998 • chriswhitegallery.com

Artist: Extranjera/o, No soy de aqui y no soy de alla curated by Cony Madariaga

Christina Cultural Arts Center

Edward Loper, Sr. Gallery

705 N. Market Street

652-0101 • ccacde.org

Artists: HEAL: Healing through Colors and Affirmations

City of Wilmington’s Redding Gallery

800 N. French Street

576-2100 • cityfestwilm. com/redding-gallery

Artist: Celebration of Creativity

2023 presents artwork created by individuals with disabilities

Delaware College of Art & Design

600 N. Market Street

622-8000 • dcad.edu

Artist: Bi-Annual Faculty & Staff Exhibition

919 Gallery Market

919 N. Market Street

298-1542

Artist: Visions by Nancy Dolan

The Grand Opera House 818 N. Market Street

658-7897 thegrandwilmington.org

Grand Gallery: Christy Yang - My Inner Wonderland baby grand Gallery: Reviving the Art of Hand-Painted Photography by Beth Trepper

MKT Place Gallery

200 W. 9th Street

302-289-6772

Artist: Loni Land

Mezzanine Gallery at the Carvel State Building

820 N. French Street 577-8278

arts.delaware.gov

Artist: Transcending Love by B. Proud

Urban Artist Exchange

Open Studios

16th & North Walnut Streets

493-7614

Artists: Positive Vibes in the Park presented by HOTC, LLC

WEST SIDE

Blue Streak Gallery

1721 Delaware Avenue

429-0506

Artist: Landscape Paintings & Full Circle: New Sculptures

Howard Pyle Studio

1305 N. Franklin Street

(978) 460-8120

Artists: Projected in Place

BEYOND THE CITY

Cab Calloway School of the Arts

100 N. Dupont Road

302-651-2700

Artists: Works by the Delaware Division of the Arts Award Winners

Lumen Studio & Gallery

Independence Mall

1601 Concord Pike, Suite 89

545-3204

Artist: INSPIRE Group Exhibition: Conner, Dougherty, Guerin, Josephson, Lucente, Mabrey, Peters, Tucci, Weaver & Zufelt

Arden Buzz-Ware Gallery

2119 The Highway, Arden

981-4811

Artist: Jeffrey Xu - Attention to Detail

Bellefonte Arts

803-C Brandywine Blvd

547-2573

Artist: “Theatre of the Macabre” Group Show

Finist & The Owl

811 Brandywine Boulevard

786-228-6638

Artist: “Color Outside The Margin: All Lies Matter” by Rising Phoenix

Bellefonte Vintage

901 Brandywine Blvd

983-5059

Artist: Decoupage

Re-Imagined, Terry Zink

The Station Gallery

3922 Kennett Pike

654-8638 • stationgallery.net

Artist: Group Show: Gay Freeborn, Hope Hanes, Temre Stanchfield

COCA Pop-Up Gallery

3829 Kennett Pike

218-4411

Artists: Group Show of local artists

A program of the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs

WORTH RECOGNIZING

Community Members Who Go Above & Beyond

‘A FULL-MISSION VOLUNTEER’

Linda Sydnor provides tireless support to those battling Alzheimer’s disease

By Adriana Camacho-Church

When her neighbor’s wife began wandering away from home, Linda Sydnor knew what to do.

“I helped him order an Alzheimer ID bracelet to identify her name, address and telephone number,” says Sydnor. “Since they had an alarm system, I got him to turn that on during the day, so he would know if she was trying to get out. It worked very well and there were no more problems with her wandering outside of the home.”

John Goodier, Sydnor’s neighbor, is thankful for her help. He describes Sydnor as having high energy. “Sure would love to feel that way,” he adds.

Besides helping her neighbors, Sydnor is a volunteer at the Alzheimer’s Association Delaware Valley Chapter.

“Linda is what we like to call a full-mission volunteer!” says Linda M. Barba, Senior Manager, Marketing and Communications with Alzheimer’s Association Delaware Valley Chapter.

Since she started volunteering in 2006, Sydnor, 70, estimates she has raised as much as $40,000 for the Association in the last decade. She has also talked to hundreds of people via zoom or in person about Alzheimer’s and the community resources and support available. The Odessa resident also advocates for funding, care and research initiatives at the state and federal level.

Alzheimer's disease is a degenerative brain disease and the most common form of dementia. Dementia is the gradual decline in memory, thinking, behavior and social skills. It is the seventh leading cause of death globally, according to the World Health Organization.

The number of Americans living with Alzheimer's is growing fast. Currently more than six million Americans have Alzheimer's. By 2050, this number is expected to rise to nearly 13 million, according to the Alzheimer's Association.

Alzheimer's not only affects the person with the disease, it impacts families, caregivers and society at large.

About one in nine people age 65 and older are living with Alzheimer’s in 2023. In Delaware, it afflicts 19,000 residents and 31,000 unpaid caregivers.

As the number of afflicted individuals rises, so does the need for geriatric specialists to effectively care for those living with the disease.

Before Sydnor retired in 2017, she worked at Christiana Care in the Acute Care for Elders (ACE) Unit. “We cared for people in our unit that had dementia,” she says. While working there, she and her co-workers formed a team to participate in The Walk to End Alzheimer’s. The annual event raises funds and awareness of the disease.

This event also launched Sydnor’s volunteer work with the Association.

“It is important to advocate for Alzheimer’s disease,” she says. “It is a critical public health issue. As a volunteer you get to work alongside others that are dedicated to making a world without Alzheimer’s or other dementias. They work on a local, national and global level providing support, uniting caregivers and advancing research into the disease.”

Sydnor is one of about 900 volunteers at the Alzheimer’s Association Delaware Valley Chapter.

“These volunteers are the engine that drives our mission forward,” says Barba. “(They) are key to making a difference in the lives of people facing Alzheimer’s and dementia.”

A volunteer’s roles range from event support to program educators and support group facilitators, to advocates, and to those serving on boards and committees.

“I think the reason I am so involved is the same reason I became a nurse,” says Sydnor. “Even if I can make a small difference in one person’s life, it is worth it. It definitely brings me joy and that is when I’m my happiest.”

Sydnor also shares her Alzheimer’s knowledge and experience with her church. At St. Paul’s United Methodist church in Odessa, she sits on the Health Ministries committee. The purpose of the committee is to provide social support, spiritual care, referral services and health education on several health topics including Alzheimer’s.

For information about volunteer opportunities, visit alz.org/ volunteer or call the Alzheimer's Association 24/7 helpline at 800.272.3900. For information about Alzheimer's and dementia, visit alz.org

Linda Sydnor: "A full-mission volunteer."

Things worth knowing

GO FIND SCRATCH!

Our good friends at El Diablo alerted us that Scratch slipped out a kitchen door and is rumored to be wandering around the pages of this magazine. So, we need your help. Find Scratch and you could earn a delectable lunch at one of the area's El Diablo restaurants. Scratch shows up on four pages (don't count this one). Tell us the pages. Three winners will be selected from those who answer correctly by Oct. 11. Email your answer with subject line “I Found Scratch” to Contact@TSNPub.com.

Congratulations to last month’s winners of the Find The Tickets contest: Jane Phillips, Kathleen Gegan and Connie Sherrill.

LAUGHS COME YOUR WAY THIS FALL, TAX FREE

City Theater Company and Fearless Improv are back creating laughs and advancing the area’s comedy scene with the annual Tax-Free Comedy Festival, Friday and Saturday, Oct. 20 & 21, at their home in the Wings Black Box of The Delaware Contemporary. The Festival not only features the hilarious on-the-spot comedy chops of the Fearless Improv team, but also shines the spotlight on other improv and stand-up comedians from around the nation. Tickets are on sale now and special pricing is available for a full two-day show pass as well as for military personnel, students, and youth up to age 15. Visit City-Theater.org.

A HAUNTED WALK THROUGH ROCKWOOD PARK & MUSEUM

Wilmington’s Rockwood Park & Museum will offer a unique Halloween attraction as Poplar Hall presents “The Revisionists: A Haunted Gothic Walk” Oct. 13-14, 20-21, 27-28. The haunted 90-minute story walk, which sold out many nights last year, is a guided tour by lamplight through the historic Victorian grounds. The evening is a tribute to Victorian storytelling and combines a mobile theatrical experience with a history lesson. In addition, the Revisionist Speakeasy will give guests the opportunity to sip wine, beer or custom cocktails. Adult tickets are $30; advance purchase is recommended. Visit PoplarHall.life.

OUT & ABOUT CONTRIBUTOR AUTHORS CHILDREN’S BOOK

Adriana Camacho-Church, an Out & About contributor since 2017, has authored a bilingual (English/Spanish) children’s book titled Grandma, Where Will Your Love Go? The 32-page book will be released by Pinata Books on Oct. 31 and is targeted to children ages 4-8.

The book, with illustrations by Gastón Hauviller depicting a child enjoying activities with a special adult, deals with loss, healing and conveys to children the concept that “we come from and return to nature.”

“This is more than a bilingual book for children. It reaches to the core of our need to understand those we love. The tenderness and the compassion in this book acknowledges that love can be expressed and remains eternal.” says Robert Abel Jr., MD, author of Lumi’s Book of Eyes

A hardcover copy of the book is $18.95. Order at ArtePublicoPress.com.

BIG IVE’S TURKEY DRIVE

The DETV team is inviting you to be part of a turkey drive and give-away that will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 21 at various locations throughout Wilmington. Those interested can donate money, volunteer to help distribute turkeys or spread the word via email or social media. The turkey distribution will take place from 8am-7pm. To participate, visit Detvch.com.

Poplar Hall turns Rockwood into a haunted happening this month.

Adriana Camacho-Church's bilingual children's book is available for purchase online beginning Oct. 31.

DELAWARE SHAKESPEARE EMBARKS ON STATEWIDE COMMUNITY TOUR

Delaware Shakespeare’s Community Tour 2023 will feature performances of Cybeline at venues throughout Delaware Oct. 5-20.The performances are free to attend and will be held at community centers, detention facilities, high schools and other non-traditional locations where people have limited access to professional arts experiences.

Performances begin on Thursday, Oct. 5 (5pm) at Christina Cultural Arts Center in Wilmington. Other New Castle County venues include Groves Adult High School, Project New Start, Jefferson Street Center and Easterseals. The tour will culminate with a fundraising gala performance on Saturday, Oct. 21 (7pm) at OperaDelaware Studios in Wilmington. For a complete schedule, visit DelShakes.org.

GRAND GALA TO FEATURE THE COMMODORES

The Grammy Award-winning Commodores take The Grand’s Copeland Hall stage on Saturday, Dec. 2 for the 47th Grand Gala. Proceeds benefit The Grand’s community engagement programs. This year will see a return to the “traditional gala format” as after the show attendees will be invited to walk up the street to the Hotel du Pont for an After Party featuring themed rooms, live music, food and signature cocktails. Tickets start at $250. Visit TheGrandWilmington.org.

The Handyman’s Candy Store

Run by longtime friends, this Newark business sells pre-owned tools and equipment at bargain prices

Like a candy store for anyone who does woodworking, machine work, or home repair.”

That’s one customer’s description of Delaware Tool Exchange (DTX), a Newark business started eight years ago by a couple of lifelong friends, Wade Horton and David MacIntyre.

DTX consists of a showroom, at 1007 S. College Ave., and a warehouse, three blocks away at 1251 Coochs Bridge Rd.

Inside, customers can find all manner of pre-owned tools and equipment plus safety gear and other items. The constantly changing inventory ranges in size from compressors, table saws — even a tractor — down to hand tools, including vintage items, as well as lawn and garden equipment, plus standard hardware like bolts, nuts, screws, and nails. ►

By Bob Yearick

Photos by Joe Hoddinott

David MacIntyre (l) and Wade Horton turned a problem into a business with the creation of Delaware Tool Exchange.

It could be said that Horton and MacIntyre inherited the business from their fathers, both of whom passed away in 2012. Horton’s father was a woodworker, and MacIntrye’s had been an electrician’s mate in the Navy and was handy around the house. As a result, both estates included large assortments of tools, many of them duplicates.

The two friends, who live in Newark, took what they needed from the estate, then tried to sell the rest online and through combined garage sales. But those methods soon became what MacIntyre calls “a hassle.”

“We came to the realization, frankly, what a pain in the butt it is to sell things online. You have people coming to your house that you may not want there, and pretty often they’re low-balling you. And sometimes they just don’t show up.”

Consignment Only

Then, one night in 2014, “over a beer,” the two buddies hit on the idea that became DTX. They incorporated the next year and opened the warehouse on Coochs Bridge Road. Last year, after securing a $25,000 EDGE (Encouraging Development, Growth and Expansion) Grant from the state, they opened the College Avenue store.

DTX is strictly a consignment operation. When people bring in their tools, MacIntyre says, “We set the price — rule of thumb is about 50 percent of what the item costs new.” When the item sells, the business splits the price 50-50 with the consigner. If the item doesn’t sell after 90 days, the consigner can elect to take it back or leave it at the store. DTX usually gives unsold merchandise to Habitat for Humanity or Goodwill.

Advertising is largely word of mouth, Facebook Marketplace, and the website — delawaretoolexchange.com.

Horton and MacIntyre grew up in Delaware County, met each other in junior high and graduated from Garnet Valley High School in 1981. Army veterans who had successful civilian careers, both retired within the past three years. Horton is married with two grown sons and MacIntyre and his wife have a grown daughter.

DTX, which started as a side gig, has pretty much

Wade Horton spends a lot of his time in DTX's warehouse, cleaning the latest tools that arrive — making them "curb appealable."

David Celli

Orga

Robinson

Coby Jongebreur Beverly Bosik

Kathy Ruck

become a full-time retirement job. The store is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and the warehouse is open Monday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., or by appointment. Monday is consignment day, when the partners take in new consignments. That’s why veteran customers know to visit the store on Tuesdays and see what’s been added to the inventory, which can total 1,500 items, according to MacIntyre.

Pat Wisniewski has been one of those customers since DTX opened eight years ago. He’s the one who called it a tool-lover’s candy store. Wisniewski is an arborist, former owner of multiple bicycle stores, and a member of the Delaware Woodworkers Guild, First State Woodturners, and The DelVal Turners in New Jersey.

“You never know what’s going to be there,” he says. “It’s always a treat to go in and browse, and they’re very helpful and knowledgeable about what they have.”

Chuck Skelley, Wisniewski’s friend and also a customer almost since day one, describes himself as “a tool junkie.” A woodworker, cabinetmaker, and past president of the Delaware Woodworkers Guild, Skelley retired in 2018 after 40 years as senior carpenter at the University of Delaware.

“[DTX] is only about 15 minutes from my house, so I drive over and see what they have about once a week,” he says. “They have their web page, but not everything’s advertised, so it’s good to look around. And it’s always good to talk to them. Dave and Wade are both very nice. I’ve sent several people to them.”

Inside Jokes

MacIntrye generally manages the store, taking phone calls, greeting customers and doing the Excel spreadsheets and online postings. Horton usually can be found at the warehouse, cleaning the latest items — “making them curb appealable.”

He says the two have an easy working relationship, with plenty of inside jokes. In fact, he says, “Dave and I have figured out we’re the only people in the world we could do this with. The way that we run it is an idea unto our own.” Thus, he says, it’s unlikely they’ll be adding any employees. “It’s easier to do it ourselves.”

Horton has an associate degree in engineering. He was a nuclear missile repairman in the Army and spent his civilian career working with his hands.

MacIntyre, with a bachelor’s degree in economics and a master’s in geography/regional planning, retired from the Army Reserve as a lieutenant colonel. In civilian life, he specialized in quality assurance and contract administration. He readily admits that he is not handy and that Horton definitely is.

MacIntyre and his wife recently moved into an apartment, where management takes care of repairs and maintenance. Which, unlike DTX’s customer base, is just fine with him. “Instead of a set of tools,” MacIntyre says, “I have a telephone.”-

— For more information on Delaware Tool Exchange, visit delawaretoolexchange.com or call 302-585-6923

ChapelStreetPlayers

DelawareSymphonyOrchestra

TonySmith(allphotos provided )

PoplarHall

WilmacreatorLaurenPeters

Bryant "Tee" Bellpainting

Creative Input

Deadline Formoreinfo,followthislink:

Your input — as a patron of the arts, creator or business that caters to the creative economy — is desired in a groundbreaking survey of Delaware’s creative economy.

The Delaware Arts Alliance (DAA), a nonpartisan nonprofit, is running the survey through Oct. 15 at DelawareArtsAlliance.org/survey. The DAA says the survey is the first of its kind in the nation.

“Our hope with all this is that we show that the arts won’t exist on an island,” says Neil Kirschling, executive director of the alliance.

►

Arts are an essential industry says the Delaware Arts Alliance. Now, the organization wants your help in making the case.

“This survey could only happen in a place like Delaware, because we’re so small and so well-connected,” says Jessica Ball, director of the Delaware Division of the Arts.

The DAA says the resulting Creative Economy and Cultural Tourism Recovery and Growth Plan, to be released by next summer, will map Delaware’s arts and culture offerings, analyze the sector’s economic impact, review regulatory policies and recommend ways to improve it all.

And it will create recovery plans for the state, all three counties and select Opportunity Zone municipalities (Wilmington, Middletown, Dover, Smyrna, Milford and Georgetown). Along with Newark (enriched in so many ways by the University of Delaware’s main campus) and Seaford, they are Delaware’s eight most populous municipalities.

“We’re hoping to produce a songbook that we can all be singing from,” Kirschling says.

The recovery refers back to funding from the federal Travel, Tourism & Outdoor Recreation program of the American Rescue Plan, for communities to recover from the pandemic.

In 2022, DAA got $1 million in federal money for the survey. Delaware announced at the same time six other grants: $3.25 million to the Riverfront Development Corp. to improve Wilmington’s Riverfront, $1.7 million to Delaware State University to promote its hospitality and tourism management degree, $752,000 to the Greater Wilmington Convention and Visitors Convention Bureau for marketing, $400,000 to Southern Delaware Tourism for marketing, $335,000 to Kent County Tourism for marketing and $300,000 to the Joshua M. Freeman Foundation for marketing.

Survey Says ...

The survey uses seven UNESCO pairs of categories for the creative sector: audiovisual and interactive media; books and press; design and creative services; music recording and publishing; natural and cultural heritage; performance and celebration; and visual arts and crafts.

It then offers two dozen subcategories, including advertising, archaeological sites, architecture, archives, dance, circuses, fashion, galleries, graphic design, interior design, libraries, museums, music, newspapers, opera, photography, radio, recording studios, television, theater and video games and other interactive media. Plus: festivals, schools, retailers and rental companies that cater to any of the above.

delart.org/rossettis

Dancers of the Wilmington Ballet. Photo by Kevin Francis

The Rossettis Revolution, partnership, love.

The major international exhibition of an iconic family of artists comes to Delaware October 21.

This exhibition was organized by the Delaware Art Museum in partnership with Tate Britain and is made possible through support from the Nathan Clark Foundation, the Amy P. Goldman Foundation, the Delaware Art Museum Council, and the Dr. Lee MacCormick Edwards Charitable FoundationThis exhibition is supported, in part, by the National Endowment for the Arts and by a grant from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts. The Division promotes Delaware arts events on www.DelawareScene.com. Image: La Ghirlandata (detail), 1873. Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Oil on canvas. Guildhall Art Gallery. Photo credit: City of London Corporation.

“We’re being intentionally inclusive,” Kirschling says. “We’re using the term ‘creative economy’ to show all the businesses that rely on creativity and creative services. … It’s a pretty broad ecosystem.”

The 31-question survey for participants starts by asking for general information and then moves on to sections titled “participants and places,” “regulatory framework,” “cultural tourism,” “creatives and performers,” “demographic information” and “closing questions.” The survey for patrons is far shorter.

The state’s $1 billion creative sector represents 8,000 jobs and 1.4% of its gross domestic product, says Ball, citing work by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Compare that to a $1.02 trillion national creative sector (4.4% of the U.S. economy) and Delaware’s tourism industry is a $3.2 billion sector that employs 44,000.

A survey question suggests almost 20 ways that the state can help the creative sector. Ball says these suggestions include current practices, programs being piloted, and things note yet posed.

One prominent current effort involves grants to artists: $4.5 million this year, up dramatically from $3.265 million in pre-pandemic 2019. Pass-through federal funding requires a 1:1 match, but Delaware goes beyond that, she says. This year’s federal support is about $900,000.

One current effort that’s growing is DelawareScene.com, a division site that started as a calendar and is now also “a hub for jobs and opportunities,” she says. “We’re also taking a more active role in promoting artists as a whole. We know that this state has so many, yet there’s lots of room to grow.”

One prototype that addresses one of the survey suggestions is a career development program that is helping a cohort of three emerging artists “manage themselves as a business,” she says.

The alliance has contracted with a British company called Sound Diplomacy to manage the data collection, economic analysis and development of an action plan for government. Kirschling says Sound Diplomacy has run similar but limited surveys in other areas on, say, just music or just nightlife.

The map will use a digital geographic information system (GIS) to “help us define for the first time who we are as a sector, where we are and where there might be gaps and strengths,” he says.

Such GIS mapping is familiar for planning in other sectors, such as education, transportation and health. And maybe all this will suggest synergies between the creative sector and these other services.

Barriers/Opportunities

In announcing the survey, Kirschling referred to “barriers for creatives.” In a follow-up interview, he says these barriers “can also be branded as opportunities.”

The survey will eventually lead to insights backed by data, but right now, anecdotally, he says such barriers/opportunities include individual artists who feel they must move to larger markets to succeed; organizations finding that their traditional funding from governments, donors and patrons is all drying up; and “the hoops to be jumped through” when starting, running and expanding businesses. ►

Hagley Craft Fair

celebrating 45 years with local artisans!

“What are the sustainable business models?” he asks. “What, for instance, makes it easy or hard to organize a large-scale event? What incentives are there for creative people or businesses to come to Delaware?”

Ten engagement captains will help promote the survey and organize focus groups. They are Akima A. Brown, a filmmaker and founder of Reel Families for Change; Gayle Dillman, founder of Gable Music Ventures; Jordyn Gum, a filmmaker and founder of Nantico Studios; Stephen Manocchio, an audio engineer and production manager; Michelle Peebles, a playwright and arts entrepreneur; Mike Rasmussen, co-owner of Painted Stave Distilling and Taco Jardin and a Smyrna council member; Sadé Truiett, a public relations specialist and founder of GIRL talk, a mentoring organization for teen girls; Angela Wagner, an entertainment attorney and talent agent; Chantal Whitehead-Scott, a program manager for leadership edge at JPMorgan Chase; and Nicodemus Williams, a singer/songwriter and behavior interventionist at Kuumba Academy Charter School.

Williams says he got involved because the survey involves his interests in “the arts, politics and engagement. There’s a need to recognize the arts on a wider spectrum and have it taken more seriously,” he says.

“I want to make sure I keep my family connected to the arts,” says Whitehead-Scott, a mother of two and a former member of the Choir School of Delaware board.

Looking Back, Looking Forward

“The state’s role in building up our art community demands that we work on multiple fronts simultaneously, and that work has only just begun,” says Sen. S. Elizabeth Lockman, a Wilmington Democrat who in 2020 formed the bipartisan, bicameral Arts and Culture Caucus with Rep. Bryan Shupe, a Milford Republican.

One front is money. The General

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Assembly, for example, voted in June to add $1 million to the Delaware Arts Trust Fund, which provides grants to the arts community.

Another is in support and leadership. “We are continuing to have open dialogues with artists and the institutions that support them about how we might be able to help encourage the development of a film and television production industry here in Delaware and how we can assist our nonprofit partners in securing affordable healthcare coverage,” Lockman says. She’s speaking from personal experience. She earned a bachelor’s degree in film and began her career as a production assistant for Lionsgate and Nickelodeon before joining Teleduction, a Delaware video production and postproduction company.

“Delaware has a strong history of supporting the arts and culture sector,” the alliance says in announcing the survey.

Yet, “Delaware has a significant arts and culture sector that’s often unrecognized as an industry worth financing,” says Molly Giordano, president of the alliance board and executive director of the Delaware Art Museum. “It’s an unturned stone in economic development.”

When she moved to Delaware, she was told that the state’s economy was “anchored by the ‘C’ industries: chemicals, credit cards, corporations and chickens,” she said when the survey was announced. “We have an enormous opportunity to vault Delaware from a state best known for its ‘C’ industries to a cultural capital known as a must-visit arts destination.”

Places such as Nashville, Austin and Philadelphia, she says, demonstrate how culture can attract tourists and businesses.

The potential draw of culture is especially important now that the DuPont Co., which for so many decades dominated one of the C’s, is so much smaller.

“We can really leverage how many wonderful creatives … there are in Delaware already and build upon that,” Kirschling says. “There’s so much potential here.”

Taking The BIG Stage

The Rock Orchestra has evolved into one of the area’s most popular acts

By Michelle Kramer-Fitzgerald

Joe Trainor and Matt Urban first met in 2008 while working in the same building: The Grand. One wonders if they foresaw that introduction leading them to create one of the most popular live acts in the area — then elevating their shows to become the first local band to regularly perform in The Grand’s majestic Copeland Hall.

This season, The Rock Orchestra (TRO) moves up to the big stage for their entire concert series, which features tributes to David Bowie (Nov. 11), Bruce Springsteen (Feb. 17), and Fleetwood Mac (May 4). According to Grand Executive Director Pam Manocchio, that’s something that’s never been done by a local act.

►

Matt Urban (l) and Joe Trainor of The Rock Orchestra at The Grand's Copeland Hall.

Photo by Joe del Tufo

Trainor and Urban, both 50-somethings, have seen their professional — and personal — relationships grow and strengthen over recent years. Along with an 110-musiciandeep roster, they’ve been rocking the Brandywine Valley as the leaders of TRO since 2017.

As one of the area’s most well-known tribute bands, TRO specializes in taking on a range of classic and alt rock “Best Of’s” — from their annual weeklong celebration All Together Now (formerly known as BeatleFest) to concerts honoring the music of Queen, Genesis, Tom Petty, Talking Heads, Jethro Tull, and Sir Elton John, among others. (Often, this writer will re-watch their quarantineera video of Tiny Dancer and still get chills.)

WE WILL ROCK YOU

The two were already juggling busy schedules when they developed the idea, so why launch a tribute band?

“Because Joe’s insane, and I’m insane too,” laughs Urban.

“It was out of boredom,” Trainor muses, who had begun performing one-

off tribute shows with other musicians in 2004, starting with Pink Floyd’s The Wall “From the get-go, I didn't want to be in a ‘singular’ tribute band,” Trainor says. “I wanted to tackle other artists and do other things. Part of the fun for me now is we're always learning new material.”

They began performing together in earnest in 2010-2011 as In The Light, a six-member ensemble that played several successful gigs, including their first

performance of Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti album in its entirety. After a time, both felt the artistic pull to reinvent their brand but continue to work with In The Light colleagues and artists they’d met through their involvement in the Shine a Light concerts.

“I’d always intended [Physical Graffiti] to be a one off,” says Urban. “I knew I was getting people who were busy in other bands. But afterward, everybody was like, ‘Hey, let’s keep doing this.’”

Trainor agrees. “I didn’t just want to do Zeppelin. I said, ‘I’ve got an idea,’ and that led to In The Light performing their Queen [show], and the Who, and the Eagles.” Once they formed TRO, they scheduled initial performances at The Queen before approaching (former Grand Executive Director) Mark Fields with a partnership idea. “He dug it,” Urban said, and TRO settled into a performance home at The Grand.

Today, Trainor is TRO’s lead singer and artistic director while Urban mans the drum kit and managing director

Joe Trainor performs at All Together Now.

Photo by Brad Billet

duties, although Trainor admits there is some cross over. Additionally, they both balance full-time jobs against their TRO responsibilities — Trainor with Gable Music Ventures and Urban with NüPOINT Marketing — and Trainor serves as the longtime music director of City Theater Company. Each also performs with their own respective tribute bands outside of TRO: Trainor sings with Angry Young Band (Billy Joel) and Urban is the drummer of Echoes (Pink Floyd).

FANS PLAYING FOR FANS

The duo’s goal for TRO is to replicate the music not just with reverence to the artist but for the original recordings as well. “We try to build [the show] so that we're doing it note-for-note off the record as people remember,” Trainor says.

And Urban notes that, unlike larger performing artists, TRO is completely unscripted — just an authentic interchange between musicians who are connected and care about each other. “I've had audience members say [to me] that the appeal is not just the music, the band, or the presentation, but it’s seeing

people genuinely having fun together and supporting each other on stage.”

a masterful mad genius at pairing orchestrations and musicians until he’s found that magic combination.

“We try to find people who share in that same reverence, and our lineups change from show to show based on that,” he says. “The approach that I try to convey is that we're fans playing for fans. We don't try to

create,” Urban says. “An understanding that when you come to our show, you’re going to see people at the top of their game. That’s what people are responding to.”

Longtime TRO fan Karen Singley could not agree more. “What I love most about them is how they perform the shows true to the artist — down to every last note. ►

In its first year at Delaware Theatre Co., All Together Now packed the house throughout the week.

Photo by Matt Urban

Joe makes sure [the performance] sounds just like the song you heard on the radio, and that’s why I am a huge fan. You know you are going to see a great show!”

RUNNIN’ DOWN A DREAM

While TRO has played in The Grand’s Copeland Hall for past shows, this is the first season that their entire series will be presented in the big hall.

“The fact that we’re doing more and more of our shows there — as well as all of the shows this season — is a testament to our partnership with The Grand,” said Urban. “They're emphasizing us a lot more because they understand that it's connecting with the community and that’s what’s cool. They also have a real interest and focus on artist development.”

“We deeply value the relationships with our resident companies,” says Pam Manocchio. “Not only do they bring the highest quality of their artforms to our stages, but they also bring a strong sense of camaraderie and collaboration. We’re lucky to have them all here!”

The most mind-blowing thing for both Trainor and Urban may be how The Rock Orchestra is now spoken of alongside the other longtime resident companies of The Grand.

“The whole idea of TRO in the same breath as OperaDelaware, the Delaware Symphony Orchestra, and First State Ballet Theatre means there is really good classic material in the rock genre that should be elevated so that audiences experience it as classic, like the Symphony,” Urban says. “That approach dictates something unlike a cover band because it's a different kind of reverence for the material.”

Trainor agrees. “My goal from the beginning has been to legitimize what we do within the greater arts community; to acknowledge that recreating Elton John or Jethro Tull or David Bowie can be as important to an arts community as Verdi, Mozart, or Tchaikovsky.”

Trainor admits it makes him “tingly” when he sees The Grand post about their partners and TRO is in that mix. “I feel a little like the Fox TV Network back in the '80s — you know … it was

always channels 3, 6, and 10, and then Fox showed up with all these cool things. Like, we’re something fresh and different,” he says.

RAMBLE ON

With the new season looming, what do the two most anticipate taking on?

“I'm most looking forward to Springsteen, because he's one of my top-five favorite songwriters,” says Trainor. “Bowie and Fleetwood Mac are going to be amazing as well, but Bruce is a personal favorite.”

Urban checks Fleetwood Mac — especially Rumours — as his pick. “I can’t wait to dig into that,” he says. “We’ve got an amazing band that will really suit the material. Bowie is a close second. My daughter, Grace, is a huge Bowie fan. I’m excited to do a show that celebrates one of her favorite artists.”

Manocchio says TRO has developed their audience over time with a solid combination of folks who love their band as much as the music.

“Copeland Hall was the natural choice for these performances,” she says. “Fans are already responding [to the series], and our expectations are high.”

As they head into a new performance year, there’s still more the two seek to accomplish with TRO.

“Our primary goal is to grow the audience,” says Trainor. “To keep doing good work and making more people aware of what TRO brings to The Grand.”

Matt Urban and Joe Trainor with bassist Tony Cappella and keyboardist Brian O'Sullivan during a past TRO tribute to The Who at The Grand. Photo by Joe del Tufo

Photo byJoe del Tufo

LISTEN TO THE MUSIC!

Looking for places to catch a live band? Here is a really good start!

someone

has to say it…

Time to drop the remote, get off the couch, and come alive again with the one thing that has connected, invigorated, and elevated all of humanity since the dawn of time — live music.

We’re talking to everyone who became too comfortable staying at home during the pandemic: Getout,it’sover .

We’re speaking to those saying a $10 cover is too much: TrygettingticketstoBruceSpringsteenorTaylorSwift .

We’re calling out anyone who questions the quality of bands in our area: We’vebeendoingthisfor35years— trustus—themusicianshipandcollaborativeenergyinourareamatchesthatofanysmallcityontheEastCoast.

Lastly, if you think it’s too hard to find out what kind of music each venue offers, we’re making it easy for you in the pages that follow…

So, what are you waiting for? Go explore!

You might just find yourself pleasantly surprised.

Chris Maloney, Phil Matarese, and Tyler Halloway (l-r) of MEGA during one of the band’s ripping jams upstairs at Kelly’s Logan House. O&A file photo/Matt Urban

ARDEN GILD HALL

In the quiet, artsy hamlet of Arden, this Tudor-styled concert hall has long stood as a community hub for both local and world culture. On Friday, Oct. 6, Dar Williams and John Flynn return to the stage with Suzanne Vega on Oct 7 and Artemis on Oct 13.

Address: 2126 The Highway, Arden

Days of Music: Fri-Sat,

Musical Styles: Rock, indie, folk, country, bluegrass, world

Typical Starting Time: 8pm

Cover Charge: Varied

ARGILLA BREWING CO. AT PIETRO’S PIZZA

For nearly a decade, Argilla has been the home of The Sin City Band every Monday night. This month, the brewery-meetspizzeria also sees The Bullets on Oct 7, The Collingwood on Oct 14, Magical Mystery of Oct 21 and lower case blues on Oct 28.

Address: 2667 Kirkwood Hwy., Newark

Days of Music: Sat

Musical Styles: Rock, blues, jazz, alternative

Typical Starting Time: 7pm; 6pm on Wednesdays

Cover Charge: No cover

BAR XIII

This North Wilmington spot has earned the reputation as an eclectic oasis for alternative rock, punk, hardcore, and metal. For those who enjoy things edgier, it’s a community favorite, boasting a spacious bar, gothic décor, and darker amusements. Often offers a food truck outside.

Address: 1706 Philadelphia Pike, Wilmington

Days of Music: Thurs-Sat,

Musical Styles: Rock, metal, goth, darkwave, industrial

Typical Starting Time: 8/9pm

Cover Charge: $7-15

CATHERINE ROONEY’S

An Irish pub that offers more than great sheppard’s pie, Catherine Rooney’s features live cover bands like Cherry Crush and Shake Shake Shake on weekend nights — as well acoustic acts on Thursdays. Catch The Malarkey Brothers on Irish Sunday (10/22) from 4-7pm.

Address: 1616 Delaware Ave., Trolley Square

Days of Music: Thurs-Sun

Musical Styles: Acoustic and full-band covers; Irish

Typical Starting Time: Thurs 6pm, Fri & Sat 10pm

Cover Charge: Varies

THE CHANCERY MARKET FOOD HALL & BAR

The new food hall has entertainment most nights ranging from Quizzo with Lew on Wednesday nights, Music Bingo on Thursday nights to live music on Friday and Saturday nights.

Address: 1313 N. Market Street, Wilmington

Days of Music: Friday & Saturday

Musical Styles: Acoustic, soul, rock & pop cover bands

Typical Starting Time: Friday 6pm, Saturday 7pm

Cover Charge: No cover

CONSTITUTION YARDS BEER GARDEN

Open seasonally during the spring through fall, this Wilmington Riverfront venue boasts 30,000 square feet of outdoor space, a rotating craft beer selection, and beautiful river views. The musical entertainment takes place on the weekends with a focus on cover bands and local bands of various styles.

Address: 308 Justison St.

Days of Music: Fri & Sat

Musical Styles: cover and original, rock, blues, funk, alternative

Typical Starting Time: 6/7pm

Cover Charge: No cover

DE.CO

The contemporary food hall inside the Hotel DuPont building has 8 food vendors and features live music on Thursday nights.

Address: 111 W. 10th Street

Days of Music: Thursday

Musical Styles: Varies- swing, rock, cover bands

Typical Starting Time: 6pm

Cover Charge: No cover

reputation as one of the rowdiest blues-rock bands on the bar circuit. Tuesday nights feature the duo Jenni & Hugh, DJs play Thursdays at 8pm and Friday & Saturdays at 10pm. Longtime Sunday-Funday stalwarts Chorduroy return on October 29.

Address: 108 W. Main St., Newark

Days of Music: Tues, Sun

Musical Styles: Acoustic, rock & pop cover bands

Typical Starting Time: 7pm

Cover Charge: No cover

PinWheel's Jamie Brancaccio at Oddity Bar.

Photo courtesy Michelle McBride Minner

Typical Starting Time: 7pm (3pm on Sundays)

Cover Charge: None

DOCKLANDS

Nestled on a lovely bend along Wilmington’s Riverfront, Docklands offers a mix of acoustic music, DJs, and live bands 5 nights a week year-round inside by the bar and also outside on the patio. Weekend nights feature bands like Cherry Crush, It’s All Good, and Chorduroy.

Address: 110 West St., Wilmington

Days of Music: Tues-Sat

Musical Styles: Acoustic, soul, rock & pop cover bands

Typical Starting Time: 9pm on weekends; varies other nights

Cover Charge: No cover

FINNEGAN’S PUB 302

With an abundance of televisions, this neighborhood sports bar on the outskirts of Forty Acres also features a spacious outdoor patio and live entertainment several nights a week. Coming up in October: Twangabillies on the 7th, Just a Bit Outside on the 13th, Genesis Z Trio on the 14th, Dodging Cupid on the 20th and Big Laird Band on the 21st.

Address: 1705 Lovering Ave., Wilmington

Days of Music: Thurs-Sun

Musical Styles: covers and originals, rock, blues, alternative

Typical Starting Time: 8pm, Sun (4pm)

Cover Charge: $5

HALFTIME SPORTS BAR

Monster metal and hard-rock shows in a sprawling pool hall. A serious treat for any fan of ‘70s/’80s/’90s heavy rock. The stage is seriously stacked with speakers, so don’t forget your earplugs. Oct 7 is Delaware for Metal 9, Oct 18: Earshot Live in concert and Oct 27: Halftime HallowScream 6 with Lost Continent, Eyes of the Living, Black Sun Marauders and more.

Address: 500 Plaza Dr., Newark

Days of Music: Fri & Sat

Musical Styles: Rock, metal, tribute acts

Typical Starting Time: 7pm

Cover Charge: $7-15

HANGMAN BREWING COMPANY

Looking for a new music venue in North Wilmington with plenty of parking? The HBC stage was built by a musician for fellow musicians: in-house sound system, lights, drum kit, and amps make it easy for the artist(s) to plug-in and play. The stage also accommodates karaoke nights when requested. Have a fresh craft beer at the bar or a table and enjoy the music.

Address: 2703-A Philadelphia Pike, Claymont (Town & Country Shopping Center)

Days of Music: Friday/Saturdays

Musical Styles: Rock, Acoustic, Classic, Folk, Punk

Typical Starting Time: 7pm

Cover Charge: Varies (no cover most of the time; special bigger events check hangmanbrewing.com)

HOME BASE

Acoustic acts on Thursday and Friday nights; vocal duos on select Mondays and Tuesdays. Live bands Saturdays like Stage Left (10/14), Sin Brothers (11/18) and Laces Out (12/09).

Address: Wilmington

Days of Music:

Thur-Sat

Musical Styles: band cover

Typical Starting Time:

Cover Charge:

HUMMINGBIRD TO MARS

Located above Catherine Rooney’s, Hummingbird to Mars offers live jazz in an intimate setting, where you can enjoy expertly mixed cocktails and a delectable menu while you enjoy the music.

Address: 1616 Delaware Ave. (entrance located on W 16thSt)

Days of Music: Thurs-Sat

Musical Styles: Jazz, blues

Typical Starting Time: 9pm; Thurs (6pm)

Cover Charge: No cover

GALLUCIO’S ITALIAN RESTAURANT

On Tuesday nights, the cozy barroom out front is the setting for one of the longest running open mic nights in the area, hosted by guitarist E. Shaun “Q” Qaissaunee from 7-10pm. Thursday nights sees local favorites The Bullets from 8-11pm. And the small (but enduring) stage also sees full bands during special events throughout the year.

Address: 1709 Lovering Ave., Wilmington

Days of Music: Tues, Thurs

Musical Styles: Rock & pop covers, jazz

Typical Starting Time: 7pm

Cover Charge: No cover

Chris Malinowski of The Collingwood.

world, folk, tribute

Typical Starting Time: 8pm

Cover Charge: Varies

KELLY’S LOGAN HOUSE

Plenty of great music outside and on both floors with acoustic acts downstairs on Thursday nights, then bigger bands rocking upstairs on weekends. Legendary for its crowded party atmosphere, Logan House has been a live-music destination in Trolley Square for decades.

Address: 1701 Delaware Ave., Wilmington

Days of Music: Thurs-Sat

Musical Styles: Acoustic, rock & pop cover bands

Typical Starting Time: 10pm for live bands upstairs

Cover Charge: No cover

Typical Starting Time: 6pm

Cover Charge: No cover

THE NOMAD BAR

Over the past 12 years, this popular bar has offered live jazz on Friday nights. But it’s more than a jazz club — on Thursdays and Saturdays, you’re likely to hear anything from blues to bluegrass. Plus, behind the bar, you’ll find some of the friendliest bartenders around.

Address: 905 N. Orange St., Wilmington

Days of Music: Thurs-Sat

Musical Styles: Jazz, blues, soul, funk, rock, island, Americana

Typical Starting Time: 9:30; Thurs (9pm)

Cover Charge: No cover

DELAWARE 2023

DELAWARE 2023

HALL OF FAME

HALL OF FAME

INDUCTION

INDUCTION

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2023 • 2:00PM

2023 Hall of Fame Inductees: RICK FUSCO, JEFF IRWIN, JUDY MANGINI, KITTY MAYO WITH VENOM BLUES, BOB MILLER WITH FLASHBACK, MICHAEL PHOUTS, JOE TRAINOR & JOHN P. (SMITTY) SMITH

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2023 • 2:00PM JEFF IRWIN, JOE TRAINOR

THE FABULOUS HOUSE BAND CLUB PHRED

GRAND OPERA HOUSE — BABY GRAND

818 MARKET STREET WILMINGTON, DE 19801

TICKETS AVAILABLE AT BOX OFFICE: (302) 652-5577

Or at Tickets.TheGrandWilmington.org

ODDITY BAR

Hosted by NRG every Wednesday night at 9pm, Oddity’s Industry Jam Session is an open-mic for local artists that has become one the venue’s strongest nights. And Friday and Saturday nights, it’s “everything from hip-hop to heavy metal,” says Manny Hernandez, who owns and runs the venue with his brother, Napoleon. “We want to be a platform for up-andcoming musicians,” Hernandez adds.

Address: 500 Greenhill Ave., Wilmington

Days of Music: Wed, Fri and Sat

Musical Styles: funk, rock, blues, jazz, hip-hop, punk, metal

Typical Starting Time: 8pm

Cover Charge: $5-$10 with 100% going to performers

PIZZA BY ELIZABETHS

The bands pack the bar at this popular Greenville restaurant famous for its gourmet pizza. The Sin Brothers are scheduled for October 13th. Check the website for upcoming live music.

Address: 1705 Lovering Ave., Wilmington

Days of Music: Varies Fri-Sun

Musical Styles: Rock & pop covers, jazz, piano

Typical Starting Time: 7pm, Sun brunch (noon)

Cover Charge: No cover

metal, jazz, tribute

Typical Starting Time: 7/8pm

Cover Charge: Varies by show

TONIC

In addition to featuring acoustic acts in its bar lounge area, Tonic has been featuring bands in it Juniper event space next door. On Saturday, Nov. 25, that room will be rocking to the sounds of legends Love Seed Mama Jump from 9pm to midnight — a great chance to dance off the Thanksgiving calories!

Address: 111 W. 11th St., Wilmington

Days of Music: Fri & Sat

Musical Styles: Rock, dance & pop covers

Typical Starting Time: 8pm, Sun (4pm)

Cover Charge: No cover in bar; $10 in Juniper

Singing Its Praises

OperaDelaware’s Keriann Otaño and Dane Suarez love the creative energy of their new home — Wilmington. Now they’re doing their part to tell others.

By Ken Mammarella

Keriann Otaño believes Wilmington has the potential to be a “hub for creativity.” And as vice president of engagement for OperaDelaware, she wants her organization to be a key part of that.

“I think the fact that the OperaDelaware studios are right on Amtrak means we are a place where artists can [easily] come together to create new works,” she said. “That gets me super-excited.”

She and her husband, opera singer Dane Suarez, recently bought a house in the suburbs west of Wilmington. “This is the first place we’ve really been able to call home,” he says.

Otaño grew up in Long Island, lived in Italy for a year and earned degrees from Indiana University and Mannes School of Music at The New School in New York City. She sang in operas in multiple cities before segueing into arts administration in 2020 and moving to Wilmington in 2022. ►

Keriann Otaño and Dane Suarez at OperaDelaware Studios.

Photo by Jim Coarse

continued from previous

Suarez grew up in Princeton, Illinois, earned degrees from Butler University in Indianapolis and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and has performed in more than 25 cities.

As newcomers to Wilmington, they have a long local bucket list. “You could listen to a chamber orchestra perform on a Monday night and slam poetry on a Tuesday,” she says. “All that exists here. There’s so much to experience. We just have to be curious about it and find out where it’s happening.”

One such place, of course, is the OperaDelaware Wilmington Riverfront studios. The location has two spaces that can hold 100 or so people for intimate performances — by OperaDelaware or groups that rent it.

That prime site has allowed OperaDelaware to develop a less expensive way to handle understudies, aka “couch covers.” They stream in during rehearsals and can easily use Amtrak if needed.

The day before the interview, a soprano who lives in Washington stopped by on her way to New York to make audition recordings at the OperaDelaware, with Suarez, as the engineer.

“We take personal responsibility to take care of artists and provide a space where they can be creatives,” Otaño says. “I think this results in artists who want to come back and work here.”

The themes of accessibility to all and fresh takes kept recurring in the interview.

“We have this idea that theater and those classics are supposed to be about preserving,” she says — before being interrupted by Suarez adding “I’ve seen it before, and I don’t need to see it again” — “but it’s not just about preserving the art form. It’s also making it accessible for a new audience.”

They both praised the Delaware Theatre Company production of The Man of La Mancha, where all the actors were musicians. “It definitely changed my perspective of the piece,” Suarez says.

She praised Delaware Shakespeare — which rents space from OperaDelaware and performs all over, including nontraditional locations — for its new approaches, such as a bilingual version of Twelfth Night in 2022 and gender-blind casting in Macbeth this year, with a Black female as the doomed king.

OperaDelaware also performs all over. Since it began outdoor pop-up performances in 2020, it’s done 200, some at private events, some free to the public.

“Opera is for everyone,” Otaño wrote in an introductory blog post on www.operade.org. One way is the verismo style of opera, “where you can see yourself in the story.”

Consider Rigoletto, censored when it debuted in 1851 because she says it was “too close to life.” OperaDelaware presents it at the Grand on Oct. 27 and Oct. 29, with Suarez as the duke of Mantua.

Consider Turnadot, which OperaDelaware presents next May at the Grand. It’s a fantasy involving a Chinese princess asking suitors three know-or-die questions.

“Puccini is a verismo composer,” Suarez says, “but while living in a fantasy, it’s as close as he could get to really talking about real life.”

Opera also shouldn’t make unrealistic and exclusionary demands on patrons, they believe.

“When you go to the opera, you want to dress to be seen,” Otaño says. “You want to wear something you’re proud of. You want to wear something that makes you confident and comfortable. For me, it’s a polka dot ball gown with Converse sneakers. For my dad, it’s sweatpants and a baseball cap.”

One

He of a Fi Tale

One He of a Fi Tale

Feby’s Fishery, Wilmington landmark, prepares to turn 50

By Pam George

t’s a Wednesday evening in late August and judging by the packed parking lot at Feby’s Fishery, not everyone is at the beach. Every seat in the Wilmington restaurant’s first-floor dining room is occupied. The diners are all ages. There are multigenerational families with young children, middle-aged couples and an adult son with his father. ►

Soon, the reason for the crowd is evident. Wednesday is lobster night, and many guests are cracking 1¼-pound whole Maine lobsters. However, others enjoy the classics: fried shrimp, crab cakes or crab imperial.

The business has been a Delaware institution since 1974, when it started as an Elsmere seafood market. The eve of the 50th anniversary is an excellent time to examine the secrets to Feby’s success.

All in the Family

“Feby” is short for “DiFebo,” and Philip DiFebo and his sons have heard all the name variations. “We’ve been called Feby, Feebs or Feebo all our lives,” says Philip DiFebo Jr. (He’s not technically a junior but prefers it over “Little Philip.” There was another reason for using the nickname. In 1975. Philip’s father, Dominic, owned Dominic A. DiFebo & Sons, a hardwood flooring company.

A fisherman’s son, Dominic, was born in 1914 in Piscata, Italy, and came to the U.S. in 1917. He started the flooring business in 1938. However, the enthusiastic entrepreneur also owned Feby’s Marine Supplies from 1958 to 1960. He and his wife, Angelina, had five sons and one daughter, and the boys worked in the family business, which they ran out of the older couple’s home. After dropping off the work vans, the men and their families sat down to dinner.

“My grandmother would have a pot of gravy and meatballs on the stove,” recalls Lisa DiFebo-Osias, Philip’s niece. Those meals would influence the menu at her DiFebo’s restaurants in Bethany Beach and Rehoboth Beach.

When the hardwood floor business hit a lull, Philip, the youngest son, needed another income source. Why not open a seafood market?

From Elsmere to Wilmington

In 1974, Hadfield’s Seafood was the leading go-to store for seafood, and it was on Route 202. Philip and his wife, MarySue, who wed in 1969, opened Feby’s at 1111 New Road next to the Elsmere Fire Co.

“We had a big lobster tank in the front,” MarySue recalls. “We had fish, clams — almost everything we have now and anything that was in season.” The shop also sold Scottish salmon and a few items from the West Coast.

In 1975, live lobsters were $2.99 a pound. Christmas specials included squid (calamari), salt cod (baccala), octopus, smoked fish and live eels. DiFebo-Osias, who was 14 when she started working at Feby’s, remembers skinning the slithering eels.

“You had to grab the eels live, but I would do it,” she says. “To this day, I can out-shuck some of the best shuckers.”

Her sister, Michelle, and brother, Bobby, also worked in the market.

The Elsmere store’s takeout business was so brisk the DiFebos built a small bar with four seats, most of which were occupied by DuPont Co. employees. Nearly 10 years later, the business needed more space for the restaurant. Dominic’s sons Bob (Lisa’s father) and Johnny had been building spec houses, and the family knew people in the building industry, including

Robert Suppe of RC Fabricators. They pooled their resources to create the restaurant, which has a separate bar and attached market.

Feby’s opened at 3701 Lancaster Pike on Feb. 22, 1984.

Attaining Icon Status

For the 10th anniversary, Feby’s sold live lobsters for $3.99 a pound and the lunch special featured Maryland crab soup or Manhattan clam chowder and a flounder sandwich at a reasonable $2.95. Of course, prices crept up over the years — not much you can do about inflation — but Feby’s retained an old-school vibe without becoming a relic.

For instance, Feby’s still offers complimentary warm rolls. “We go out to dinner at the beach, and they don’t even offer bread anymore,” MarySue says with surprise. “You can’t even buy it, and I don’t mind buying it.”

Fresh is the word that faithful customers use to describe the food.

“I always ask what on the special board looks good and fresh and am always happy with what they recommend,” says

Jody Beth Jaeger of Wilmington. “And when they have dayboat scallops (seasonal), I cannot get enough.”

Jaeger rarely lacks choices. The seafood market might have halibut, salmon, grouper and rockfish, and the harder-to-find orange roughy, wild blue catfish from the Chesapeake Bay, and bluefish.

Local rockfish is a big seller when it’s in season. For other varieties, Philip has cultivated relationships with vendors across the country. Feby’s gets calls when boats laden with redfish and red snapper pull into the Gulf of Mexico docks.

“We order it, and the next day, we get it,” MarySue says.

She notes that you don’t need a great chef or a lot of sauces with fresh finfish. It should stand on its own with simple preparations. Ed Dwornik of Wilmington likes the lack of pretentiousness regarding the food and atmosphere. That’s not to say you won’t find an adornment or two. On a recent visit, specials included red snapper with a mango glaze over parmesan orzo.

Many customers prefer the standards, including snapper soup in a sherry-based broth and the steamed, fried or broiled ►

Philip DiFebo preps an order of oysters. Fresh is the word faithful customers use to describe Feby's food.

seafood medley. Despite the family’s heritage, the DiFebos leave Italian dishes to Mrs. Robino’s or their niece, Lisa, at the beach. The exceptions include crabs and spaghetti and a seafood mix over spaghetti.

The restaurant is well known for specials, such as whole lobster on Mondays and Wednesdays and Dungeness crab on Thursdays.

“It’s a big hit,” MarySue says of the crabs, which are unusual in this region. “We buy direct from the West Coast and keep it in a storage freezer in Philadelphia.”

She and her husband remain at the helm, and their son, Chad, is in the family business. Regulars count on seeing the familiar faces.

“There are servers who have been there for a long time,” says Philip Jr., who now works for Sysco. “They contribute to the energy and the popularity.”

Indeed, the guests and staff have formed an informal family. After the birth of Philip Jr.’s first daughter, he received more than 200 gifts from customers.

“Think about it,” he says. “I mean, that’s incredible. It makes you feel good that people that people come to Feby’s and spend money yet think about you enough to go out and buy you a gift.”

On any given night, you’ll see Wilmington builders responsible for a wealth of local structures and communities or politicians past and present. In short, dining at Feby’s is a “Wilmington thing,” Philip Jr. says. Along with Kid Shelleen’s in Trolley Square and Mrs. Robino’s in Little Italy, Feby’s is part of a rotation. Taking your family to Feby’s is a tradition that is nearly 50 years old.

Says Philip Jr.: “As I get older, I’m just overwhelmed with pride at that accomplishment.”

Monday is Whole Lobster Night, and it's a weekly hit.

TUNEDIN

SPOKEY SPEAKEY PLAYS THIS MONTH’S CITY SOUNDS BLOCK PARTY

One of the area most popular reggae bands, Spokey Speaky, will bring their mellow island vibes to the 1300 block of North Washington Street for the City Sounds Block Party on Thursday, October 12, from 5-8 p.m. The event will feature vendors along with giveaways and free ice cream (while supplies last).

TAYLOR SWIFT | THE ERAS TOUR TO PLAY THE SCREENING ROOM

The Screening Room at 1313 opened a second theater in September and will be featuring the new concert film TAYLOR SWIFT | THE ERAS TOUR starting Friday, October 13. Tickets can be bought at TheScreeningRoom. org or at the door for each screening. Run time for the film is 165 minutes. Parking is available in the garage under the building and food bought at The Chancery Market can beer brought into the theater, which also sells its own concessions such as popcorn, candy, sodas, water, beer and wine.

RAINBOW RECORDS ROCKS OCTOBER IN STORE AND AT THE KENNETT FLASH

Newark’s Rainbow Records continues to drive energy in the local music scene with three shows this month.

Saturday, Oct. 7 sees power sets from Local Orange, FRND CRCL, Gabe Woodrow, and Quick Change! Sunday, Oct. 8 brings together Think Machine, Trophy Husband, and Lemmeno. Both shows are in-store at Rainbow.

Then on Saturday, Oct. 28 at the Kennett Flash, the store holds a big Halloween show with MEGA, Think Machine, Sarah Koon, Grandeur, Rainbow Records’ employees, Abydos and more. For more info, visit Rainbow Records on Facebook.

A BIG OCTOBER FOR THE COLLINGWOOD

In addition to the band getting its

“Jouissance” music video featured at the Newport Beach Film Festival on October 19, The Collingwood has a busy few weeks ahead with three area shows.

On Saturday, October 14, they perform at Argilla Brewing Co. in Newark, then on the following Saturday, October 21, they hit the stage at The Queen in Wilmington. Finally, on Friday, October 27, the band plays The Acadian Wine Company in West Grove, Pa.

“This is huge for us,” lead singer Chris Malinowski says regarding the Newport Beach Film Festival selection. He added that the video has made the rounds at other film fests, winning the Best Music Video award at the Montreal Independent Film Festival in 2021.

VOLTIC ELECTRONIC DEVICES ANNOUNCES 'JAWN FUZZ' COLLAB PEDAL FOR GUITARS

Area guitar effects wizard John-Anthony DeMaio says his Voltic Electronics Devices will be dropping its “Jawn Fuzz” guitar pedal in the next month or two. The series of 10 collaboration pedals will be hand-painted by Tony Trov of Philly custom apparel store South Fellini.

In that same time frame, look for Voltic to offer its first of two drops of its DTF (dual transistor fuzz) and Awkward Mustache pedals as well. For more info, visit VolticElectronicDevices.com.

DELAWARE SYMPONY ORCHESTRA LAUNCHES NEW SEASON OCT. 13 AT THE GRAND

The Delaware Symphony embarks on its 118th season with the captivating performance, “Sky, Sea, and Rhapsody” under the baton of Music Director Laureate David Amado, on Friday, October 13, at The Grand Opera House. The DSO is also welcoming back renowned pianist Stewart Goodyear to perform Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini

The concert opens with the stirring Overture to Ruslan and Ludmilla, a five-act opera written by Mikhail Glinka. Also on the performance is Debussy’s La Mer — which captures the serene yet tumultuous interplay between wind and ocean — and Japanese composer Tōru Takemitsu’s A Flock Descends into the Pentagonal Garden, blending traditional Japanese and contemporary Western musical traditions in a mesmerizing tapestry of scenes.

For more details and tickets visit DelawareSymphony.org.

JOHN FAYE ANNOUNCES NEW SINGLE COLLAB PLUS PONDEROSA SHOW WITH THE CAULFIELDS

Prolific musician — and now best-selling author — John Faye will be releasing a new collaboration single with Annalise Curtin called “Ghost Writer” on Monday, October 16. The release will be preceded with a “release celebration” on Friday, October 13 at Media Arts Council in Media, Pa., where Faye will also be bringing a stripped-down version of his Songs and Stories show, based on his new book The Yin and the Yang of It All

Then, on Friday, November 10 — just 21 days after he’ll be added as a distinguished high school alum to The Tatnall School’s Wall of Fame — Faye will join his old bandmates of The Caulfields and other musicians to perform a noholds-barred rendition of his Songs and Stories show at the Ponderosa Barn in West Grove, Pa.

For tickets and more info, visit JohnFaye.com.

DELAWARE ROCK & ROLL SOCIETY HOLDS 2023 HALL OF FAME INDUCTION OCT. 22

The Delaware Rock & Roll Society will induct eight bands and musicians to its Hall of Fame on Sunday, October 22 at the baby grand starting at 2 p.m.

This year’s honorees are Rick Fusco, Jeff Irwin, Judy Mangini, Kitty Mayo with Venom Blues, Bob Miller with Flashback, Michael Phouts, Joe Trainor, and John P. (Smitty) Smith.

The ceremony will bring the Hall of Fame inductee list to more than 130 musicians, bands, singers, bar owners, and DJs of Delaware — keeping with the society’s mission of “keepin’ the faith with the music, the faces, and the memories.”

Tickets available at Tickets.TheGrandWilmington.org.

BENJAMIN WAGNER, SUG DANIELS AND JD WEBB TEAM UP FOR SHOW AT THE QUEEN

Look for musician-filmmaker Benjamin Wagner to headline a special show on Friday, November 3 at The Queen’s Olympia Room with Sug Daniels and JD Webb opening with a duo and solo set, respectively.

Think acoustic music with candles on the tables — a relaxing space in which to listen to some originals and a few cover tunes.

For more info visit BenjaminWagner.com.

Literary Legacy

Created 40 years ago in a Wilmington pub, 2nd Saturday Poets continues its celebration of the written and spoken word

By Adriana Camacho-Church

On October 14, Delaware’s longest continuously running poetry reading group will celebrate its 40th anniversary.

The celebration takes place at The Chancery Market in the Hercules Building at 13th and Market in Wilmington.

2nd Saturday Poets was born on the day the U.S. made National Poetry Day official — October 15, 1983. Since then, local poets and authors have kept Delaware’s public readings alive, creating a literary legacy and tradition that has survived 40 years.

“There is a kind of accumulated wealth in a tradition and it is the inheritance of future generations.” says Phillip Bannowsky, 79, who currently helps manage the group.

A member of 2nd Saturday Poets since 1983, Bannowsky, is a retired autoworker, an educator, a college adjunct, and an award-winning author and poet.

“Poetry, like art, is anything you can get away with,” says Bannowsky, when asked to define poetry.

And why does it matter? “It matters because it evokes human solidarity and the varieties of human experience,”

he says. “Like music, it can elicit a sublime experience in the reader or listener.”

Before the 1980s, public readings were rare and sometimes exclusive. In the 1960s and ‘70s, local poets gathered in private to read their poems to one another. Eventfully, this led to staging public readings.

In 1983, a group of 10 poets gathered at the now-closed O’Friel’s Irish Pub in Wilmington to read to a live audience. After the readings, the owner invited the group back — on the next second Saturday. And a new poetry tradition was born. ►

A 2nd Saturday Poets public reading at the group's former gathering place, the Jackson Inn. Photo courtesy Phillip Bannowsky

O’Friel’s became the principal outlet for many writers and poets in Delaware, including e. jean Lanyon, who was appointed Poet Laureate of Delaware in 1979. Lanyon is also a 2nd Saturday Poets founder and has the longest tenure of any member.

Although the group is not a formal organization, Bannowsky estimates there are about 200 folks on the mailing list. Currently, 2nd Saturday Poets is managed by Bannowsky and Bert Moniz, poet and former DuPont engineer.

Most of those who read are local or from the tri-state area. Writers from all walks participate, bringing their original work to share or reading from a favorite author. There are also musical performances, haiku, and fiction.

O’Friel’s Pub isn’t the only venue the 2nd Saturday Poets has outlived. The Jackson Inn was the group’s gathering spot for years, but that historic venue closed in March 2023. Still, the poetry lives on.

2nd Saturday Poets has survived “because many poets and local poetry lovers have wanted it to survive,” says Steven Leech, who also helped found the organization and is an author, poet, publisher, radio personality and former contributor to Out & About. “It feels gratifying to be part of Delaware’s literary legacy. I believe we’ve accomplished something on which future generations can build.”

The group aims to continue to enrich Delaware’s art culture, inspire and encourage novice and seasoned writers, and provide a venue where the written word can be heard.

Future plans include providing hybrid Zoom/live performances and attracting the next generation of Delaware writers as well as a new generation to manage the group. 2nd Saturday Poets also plans to collaborate more with other local reading groups.

“Fortunately, we are not the only game in town as all kinds of readings have proliferated without our help,” says Bannowsky.

Some of these reading groups include Books and Bagels, Diverse Verses Community, and Arden Writers Guild.

— If you would like to be on the 2nd Saturday Poets mailing list, please contact Barbara Gray at graybeg@comcast.net

WIN A $50 GIFT CARD TO PIZZA BY ELIZABETHS!

Fill in the

You know the drill:

(1) Ask your friends to help “fill in the blanks” for the missing words needed below.

(2) Once completed, read aloud and watch hilarity ensue.

(3) Got a funny one? Take a photo and send it to us at Contact@OutAndAboutNow.com.

Randomly drawn winner will get a $50 Gift Card to Pizza By Elizabeths

(One entry per person; must be 21+ to enter; due by the 21st of each month.). Have fun!

WE CANDY!

Sure, there are a lot of candies that have been around since folks like you and I were kids — like chocolate ( plural noun ) and ( spice or herb

)-flavored chewing gum.

Then again, a lot has changed in the candy industry over the past few years, and today’s kids are choosing more sophisticated candies ranging from ( type of food

)-covered ( plural noun ) to super-sour ( plural noun ).

Yes, when it comes to candy nowadays, the more extreme the better. Take for instance the “( adjective ) Bar” — it’s a ( adjective ) sugar wafer coated with ( type of food ), stuffed with a ( fruit ) filling, and then topped with ( type of food

)-flavored sprinkles. Then, there are “( adjective ) ( plural animal ),” which essentially are tiny, chewy ( plural noun

) that you pop in your mouth to make your tastebuds ( verb ) like crazy!

But the top seller? It’s called a “( nonsense name )” and it’s ( fruit

)-flavored nougat with crunchy bits of ( noun ) and ( noun ), all covered in a layer of ( adjective ) caramel, then dipped in ( hot liquid ).

Sound sweet to you? The kids today love it!

THE CITY

FIRST LEVITT AMP WILMINGTON MUSIC SERIES A SUCCESS

Mayor Mike Purzycki and Cultural Affairs Dir. Tina Betz celebrate the success of the inaugural season of concerts from the Levitt AMP Wilmington Music Series at the Urban Artist Exchange (UAE) Amphitheater , at 16th & N. Walnut St. on Wilmington’s East Side. Hundreds of people from across the City and region have enjoyed FREE music across diverse genres — from jazz to soul to bluegrass to zydeco to world rhythms — all summer long. There is still time to get in on the fun, with the final two shows set for this month: World Rhythms Ensemble featuring Tonny Vacca, Abdou Sarr, Jo Sallens, Derrick Jordan, and Charles Langford (Weds., Oct. 4) and Grace Kelly (Weds., Oct. 11). Both shows begin at 6:30 p.m. Bring picnics, blankets, and lawn chairs to the shows, which feature an open lawn setting. Visit www.cityfestwilm.com for more information.

NEW HOUSING ON BENNETT ST.

Mayor Mike Purzycki marked the advancement of Bennett Street’s ongoing revitalization with two separate groundbreaking ceremonies on the 800 block of Bennett St. on Wilmington’s East Side last month. The first, on Sept. 5th, kicked off the construction of three singlefamily townhomes by WHA and the Delaware Affordable Housing Group. Then, on Sept. 20th, the Mayor joined the Todmorden East Foundation to celebrate the beginning of construction on 20 new homes as well as the rehabilitation of six vacant properties. Both projects are key components of Mayor Purzycki’s historic Neighborhood Revitalization Plan, which is already transforming distressed communities across the City.

“This incredibly ambitious revitalization effort on Wilmington’s East Side is already proving transformative,” said the Mayor. “It requires not only a tremendous amount of resources, but also vital partnerships with key groups like Todmorden East, WHA, DAHG, and Woodlawn Trustees. We are extremely grateful for their valuable contributions to the sea change that is now occurring on the East Side and other distressed neighborhoods across our City. I look forward to attending many more such groundbreakings in the future and remain excited about the possibilities that lie ahead.”

Brazilian singer Caro Pierotto dazzled the crowd at the UAE Amphitheater in September. Photo by Jea Street

Architectural Alliance; New Castle County Councilman Penrose Hollins; New Castle County Executive Meyer; Wilmington Mayor Micheal Purzycki; Andy Brubaker, E.G. Stoltzfus; Hans Brubaker, E.G. Stoltzfus; Alan Matas, Todmorden Foundation; Wilmington City Councilman Vincent White.

MAYOR’S CUP MARKS 20TH ANNIVERSARY

CELEBRATING HISPANIC HERITAGE IN WILMINGTON

Mayor Purzycki once again recognized Hispanic Heritage Month in Wilmington by issuing a Proclamation on September 1st. Hispanic Heritage Month has been observed in the U.S. each year since 1988 and celebrated with events throughout the month of September that honor and commemorate the heritage and culture of Hispanics and Latinos. Wilmington, with nearly 8,000 Hispanic residents comprising more than 10% of the City’s population, is home to many important Hispanic enterprises and services, from eateries to periodicals to medical facilities to houses of worship and more.

Mayor Mike Purzycki joined Honorary Chairperson Logan Herring Sr., CEO of the WRK Group, at Rock Manor Golf Course on September 14th for the 20th Annual Mayor’s Cup Golf Outing benefitting First Tee — Delaware, a non-profit youth development organization that has made a positive impact on the lives of thousands of children since its founding in 1995 through school, community, and on-course programs.

Mayor Purzycki (2nd from right) joins Honorary Chairperson Logan Herring Sr. (far left) and students from Nativity Preparatory School in Wilmington.

To mark Hispanic Heritage Month, Mayor Purzycki attended the LACC’s annual Fiesta Latina in Hilltop (above) and joined members of the Mexican American community for a flag raising ceremony in Peter Spencer Square.

Restaurants and Beer Garden

Banks’ Seafood Kitchen & Raw Bar

Big Fish Grill

Ciro Food & Drink

Constitution Yards Beer Garden

Delaware Duck Café and Catering

Del Pez

Docklands

Drop Squad Kitchen

Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant

Riverfront Bakery

River Rock Kitchen

Starbucks

Taco Grande

Timothy’s on the Riverfront

Ubon Thai

RIVERFRONT MARKET

OPEN

MON-FRI: 9AM-6PM

SAT: 9AM-4PM

Stop in and enjoy fresh produce, salads, sandwiches, pizza, sushi, Mexican, Thai cuisine, Peruvian Rotisserie, Soulfood and much more!

Dine-in or carry out

DuPont Environmental Education Center

The DuPont Environmental Education Center provides a 13,000 square foot facility along the 212-acre Peterson Wildlife Refuge, where guests can explore the marshes and look for various species of amphibians, birds and fish.

They offer guided tours, weekly drop-in classes, and have easy access to the Jack A. Markell Bike Trail.

Delawarenaturesociety.org/centers/dupont-environmental-education-center

Michael Davis of The Bullets

Photo by Butch Comegys