John Fischer's Philadelphia
Vol. 1 - Number 43 - 09/07/99
The weekend actually turned out a bit better than many of us expected. In fact by Monday afternoon the sun was shining and things had begun to dry out a bit.
Saturday I drove down to Arden, Delaware, a small eclectic town right over the Delaware/Pennsylvania border. The town was founded 100 years ago next year by a group of artists and it remains an town very dedicated to the promotion and enjoyment of the arts. All of the land in Arden is owned by the community. Residents purchase 99 year leases.
My wife and I first learned about Arden last winter when a native Hawaiian woman from Maui arranged to have a slack key guitar concert featuring three prominent Hawaiian slack key guitar masters. During that concert she mentioned the Arden Fair which is held on the Saturday of each Labor Day weekend.
The Fair is attended by lots of folks. In fact, parking is so limited in the small town of Arden and around Gild Hall that people attending the fair park offsite and are bused into town. There was the typical "fair" type things, crafts, antiques, games, food and a beer garden. There were also very enjoyable demonstrations of dance in Gild Hall including folk and square dance demonstrations and lessons.
For us, the highlight of the day was a performance by Ohana o Hawaii, where numerous native Hawaiians from all over the east coast got together to sing and dance hula and provide a fun hour of entertainment for a very appreciative crowd. It was good to see that even on the mainland, Hawaiian culture still thrives and that the keiki (children) are so much involved in the culture. Hawaiian culture focuses very strongly on children. In Hawaii, new Hawaiian language immersion schools open every year. A culture once almost destroyed is once again thriving.
While we're mentioning Delaware, I'd like to welcome Jeannine Lahey to the About.com family. Jeannine is our new Guide to Wilmington/Newark Delaware. She has done an excellent job in getting this very much needed site up and running. For all of us that often visit Delaware, we're really glad to see Jeannine on board.
Now that the Labor Day weekend has come and gone, you can be sure that we will all be deluged with campaign ads in the Philadelphia's mayoral race. With that in mind, this week's column is called "The Fall Campaign Begins" and is about the race for mayor. We have also added an index of links to information on the web to help you make a wise decision in casting your ballot in November.
Well, that's my spin on things. I'll catch you again soon. You can join me in our chat room almost every evening - Philly Chat - or drop me a note at philadelphia.guide@about.com. Also, be sure to check out our new Philadelphia Forum where you can share your comments and feelings, ask questions, post classifieds and much more
If you missed any of our recent columns you can still catch them:
John Fischer's Philadelphia 08/20/99
John Fischer's Philadelphia 08/23/99
John Fischer's Philadelphia 08/27/99
John Fischer's Philadelphia 08/30/99
John Fischer's Philadelphia 09/02/99
