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Young boys huddled Saturday and clutched tiny fishing poles around a temporary above-ground pond.
They were trying to reel in catfish in the murky water being swirled by a fountain in the center of the pond.For the moment the fish weren’t biting, but that was hardly a deterrent to the determined youngsters.
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The Central Catholic High School Class of 1947 meets every year on the date of its graduation, and Thursday marked the group’s 70-year anniversary.
About 20 of the former classmates gathered at St. Paul’s Roman Catholic Church in Reading for Mass before reminiscing over lunch.
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The Reading Housing Authority unveiled its new bike share station at Oakbrook Homes in Reading on Wednesday morning.
The station is run by Zagster, a Cambridge, Mass.-based company that hosts more than 160 bike-sharing programs in 35 states. At the Oakbrook station, five bikes will be made available to Oakbrook residents to ride for recreation or transportation, for running errands or other reasons.
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Clear skies and the return of the sun welcomed downtown shoppers Thursday to the season opening of the Penn Street Market.
Now in its third year at Penn Square, Fifth and Penn streets, the outdoor market has about 15 vendors, some of whom will attend on rotating weeks. The market will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Thursday through Sept. 28. Previously, the market was in the 800 block of Penn Street.
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Ten Thousand Villages, a nonprofit retailer selling fair trade artisan products made around the world, will introduce children to the plight of refugees this weekend at its 23rd annual International Children’s Festival in Lancaster County.
The festival will feature live music from the Andes mountains as well as a variety of food, crafts, games and other activities. It will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at Ten Thousand Villages, 240 N. Reading Road, Ephrata. Admission is free, although food and some activities have a cost associated with them.
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Skywriting has come a long way since the Wicked Witch of the West wrote “Surrender Dorothy” with the smoke trailing from her flying broom.
Skywriting is a complex art, and this week one of the most precision-focused groups to spell out messages in the sky will come to Reading.The GEICO Skytypers, pilots who use exhaust and precision flying to “type” out giant messages, will make their first appearance at Reading Regional Airport during the 27th annual World War II Weekend hosted by the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum.
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Penn State Berks held a reunion Friday for students of the former Wyomissing Center of the Pennsylvania State University who graduated between 1960 and 1972.
About 60 were in attendance at the reunion on the Penn State Berks campus. Some came from around Berks County, while others traveled from as far as New Mexico and Florida.
The event, which featured remarks from David Delozier, director of development and alumni relations, and R. Keith Hillkirk, Penn State Berks chancellor, was dubbed the “Pioneer Reunion” in honor of the students and staff of the Wyomissing Center, who are known as pioneers because they were the first graduates of the campus.
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Businesses in downtown Boyertown hosted a group of diversely skilled local artists Friday during the town’s monthly Fourth Friday Art Walk.
Rachael Kehler, owner of the Peppermint Stick Candy Store, said the idea for the Art Walk began when someone approached her at last October’s Pickfest, Boyertown’s music and culture festival, expressing an interest in having musicians play in front of stores. At the time, Kehler, who started the Boyertown Main Street Merchants Group, already had a banjo player performing in front of her Philadelphia Avenue candy store and loved the idea.
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When the State Theatre in Boyertown opened its doors Friday night for its first movie screening in more than two years, it welcomed a crowd of enthusiastic moviegoers of all ages, many of whom were dressed in pirate gear.
The 7 p.m. showing of “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales” was the first movie the theater has run on its new digital projector and sound system, which the State Theatre Preservation Society purchased with the help of donations and a grant from the Berks County Community Foundation.”It’s $100,000 well spent,” said Charles Haddad, president of the Boyertown State Preservation Society.
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UGI Energy Services presented $28,000 in scholarships to organizations in Berks County on Thursday.
The scholarship contributions were divided among three check presentations throughout the day. The first, an $8,000 donation to the Penngift Foundation, took place at High Point Baptist Church in Geigertown. The second was a $15,000 gift to the Berks County Community Foundation in Reading, and the final check, worth $5,000, was presented to ACSI Children’s Community Foundation in Reading. All three organizations work to provide financial assistance for students to attend private schools.
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