From our Friends at Everhart Park

Another PROGRESSIVE DINNER! at the four neighborhood homes of our…

HOSTS

David Neiblum & Suzanne Rosenberg
4:45 to 5:50 PM • Appetizers

Beetsie and Rich Fazio
6 to 6:50 PM • Soups or Salads

Jerry Szczepaniak & Beth Soldwisch • Casserole/Main Dish

Ronnie Balassone & Kirby Tirk
8:10 to 9:00 PM • Dessert, Coffee

Thanks to all the hosts and guests over the years for making this event possible and successful.

Your support brings our next big project closer every year—reinstalling the long-lost, NOW-FOUND FOUNTAIN at Franklin and Marshall Streets, gone since the last mid century!

The day started with a groundhog in Punxatawney failing to see his shadow (the sign of an early spring); but here, the temperature was dropping below freezing as we set out for the 7th Annual Progressive Dinner. Thoughts of the cold dispelled quickly as our first hosts Suzanne Rosenberg and David Neiblum welcomed us to their spectacular home.

Our biggest crowd ever—60 members—spread out through the first floor, exploring the appetizers laid out in the dining room, the huge hearths (one configured as Annie’s bed, a very lucky, friendly dog) and the beautiful living room. As we compared notes on the year past, about travels, about work and family, about the neighborhood, it quickly became apparent many in this group had gone beyond neighborliness and into friendship.

Unexpectedly, Jeff Beitel, our President, called us all upstairs to gather in the huge game room. Jeff updated us on the group’s projects in the park, especially the efforts to restore the long-lost and now recovered fountain.

CLICK PHOTO TO ENLARGE FOR DETAIL

Running slightly late, we then made our way to the home of Beetsie and Rich Fazio on Virginia Avenue. Dark had come, showing off the luminaries lining the path to each host home. A few thin flakes of snow also struck our cheeks.

The second stop is usually reserved for soup OR salad, but the Fazios decided not to choose and instead offered both, plus a hot pot of chili. Conversation seemed to slow a bit as the crowd dug in, but soon we returned to speaking quite loudly to hear above the background chatter.

Too soon, Linda Scott–perennial majordomo, creater and organizer of the Progressive Dinners–rang the gong; the bright red and very loud fire bell could not be ignored.

Leaving, we discovered the snow had picked up and made the going a little slippery. Thankfully, the next stop was next door at the home of Beth Soldwisch and Jerry Szczepaniak.

Departing from our unwritten custom of buffet dinners balanced precariously upon laps, our hosts for the entree had transformed their home into a multi-room restaurant with seating for all, flowers on each table. The main course was also impressive: huge portions of polenta topped with fresh mozzarella and served with sausage and tomato gravy.

Judging by photos taken during this stop, the crowd was becoming even chummier, with much hugging, some kissing and a few hijinks. Did I mention each home served wine and beer?

The final stop was just around the corner where more luminaries lined the curving walk to the home of Ronnie Balassone and Kirby Tirk–more surprises and delights awaited. The dessert trays and the selection of beverages impressed us. However, we were not prepared for the sound of a jazz duo—piano and bass—playing from the living room. FMSP member Mike Norris and his accompanist simply wowed with one tune after another from their broad repertoire. Of course, with toes tapping, it wasn’t long before a few were dancing.

Now here’s a warning to all future dessert hosts: people do not want to leave. Though some had to hurry home to children and sitters, many stayed way past our posted closing time, thanks to the hospitality of Ronnie, Kirk, and Seuss (another lucky dog). The band played on. The wine, beer and coffee kept pouring. For all we know, some are still there.

The rest of us? The 364-day countdown to next year’s 8th Progressive Dinner starts for us today.

Jim Salvas
FMSP Secretary

• Click the picture to enlarge it
• Click here for the 1889 Daily Local News article about purchasing the fountain
• Use the PROJECTS Menu at left for more info about this historic fountain and our restoration plans.

Click photo to enlarge for detail.

2012, February 4 (Saturday)

Members Only
+ their guests

$37.50 PROGRESSIVE DINNER!
At the four neighborhood homes of our…

HOSTS

Oscar and Vivian Lasko
4:45 to 5:50 PM • Appetizers

Jackie and Paul Cody
6 to 6:50 PM • Soups or Salads

Sandi & Mark DePhillips
7 to 8:00 PM • Casserole/Main Dish

Joe & Gretchen DelRossi
8:10 to 9:00 PM • Dessert, Coffee

Thanks to all the hosts and guests over the years for making this event possible and successful.

Your support brings our next big project closer every year—reinstalling the long-lost FOUNTAIN at Franklin and Marshall Streets, where it was well into the last mid century!

6^th ANNUAL
PROGRESSIVE DINNER

CLICK FOR SLIDESHOW
by Jim Salvas

Narrative by Jim Salvas,
FMSP Secretary

“Standing here among the people of Punxsutawney and basking in the warmth of their hearths and hearts, I couldn’t imagine a better fate than a long and lustrous winter.
—Bill Murray, from Groundhog Day

Once again, just after Groundhog Day, Friends of Marshall Square Park gather for their midwinter festivity, the Annual Progressive Dinner. With a chilly dusk approaching, we walk down the hill of North Matlack to the first of our four stops, the sprawling and beautiful home of Oscar and Vivian Lasko.

This first door swings open and there’s Oscar to greet us and lead us to the beverages, with Vivian not far behind, passing around the first trays of appetizers. We greet old friends and meet new ones as we all marvel together at how cozy our hosts have made their large home. Oscar, a 91-year resident of West Chester, is relatively new to the home, having built it only four decades ago.

For many of us, this year’s Progressive Dinner is something of a reunion. For the first time, we gave past hosts “first dibs” on our scarce, hot tickets to show our appreciation. As a result, almost all of them are here, sharing tales of the nights they hosted The Progressive. We see John Cigler and Patrick McCoy, who served the dessert course way back in 2007. Bob and Mary Kay McCann took their turn in 2008; and they’re here, too. There are more from each year; but last year’s hosts take the prize—every one of them is here this year (there’s a 2011 Host Group photo in the slideshow at time 2:49).

Too soon, Linda Scott—our longtime mastermind—rings her new bell (traditionally a gong), and we’re off up the hill a little ways to the stately home of Paul and Jackie Cody. Soup’s on!

Warmed by their den’s fireplace and in the great room (and, wow, is it a GREAT room!), everyone mingles. The party kicks into high gear as we are joined by a few late arrivals. A lot of talk, a few glasses of wine and a delicious cup of soup later, it’s time to move on.

As we make our way to the home of Mark and Sandi DePhillips on Penny Lane—many of course singing the old Beatles tune—those in the know thread our way in the dark through the backyard.

The DePhillips have the distinction of being our first repeat hosts, having also served the main course in 2008. More importantly, they are serving up their warm hospitality. Though theirs is the newest house ever on our tour, they make it feel like an old, friendly gathering spot.

This time Miriam Coleman gets in on the bell-ringing and does it in style, signaling it’s time to move on to our last stop, just up the hill to the stone home of Joe and Gretchen DelRossi, where we find welcoming Christmas decorations shining brightly.

Inside, we’re impressed to find that Gretchen has made almost every one of the delicious desserts herself. How is it she and Joe are so trim? (Gretchen told Lane the coconut ones had no gluten—?)

A cup of coffee… A few last chats… A speech by our stalwart President (since 2007), Jeff Beitel.

The 6th Annual Progressive Dinner ends as we climb back up the hill—a few still holding hands in the midwinter chill.

See SLIDESHOW—6th (most-recent) Progressive Dinner

See PHOTOS and read about PAST PROGRESSIVE DINNERS

$50 off framing at
Fast Frame Gallery, 27 W. Gay, Borough of WC
limited time

Download PDF to learn how to get one for yourself.

SEE the Swiss Cottage improvements under our PROJECTS menu

Click painting to enlarge.

What our Marshall Square Park trees do for us

Have you ever thought about what our trees do all day, every day?

An email volley called What’s happening to the trees? circulated because of the removal of many mature trees during High Street’s sidewalk renovation and drew in local experts.

A tree with a 24-inch girth will typically store more than 100 pounds of carbon, because trees are largely comprised of carbon.

To achieve this girth, the tree has to remove more than 367 pounds of CO₂ (a global warming pollutant) from the air. The bigger the tree, the more carbon it stores, and the more CO₂ it removes from the air.

As long as a tree is healthy and not extremely old, it keeps taking out more carbon each year. Planting a new, young tree in place of a mature tree cannot mitigate the lost benefit; it takes about sixteen (16) young trees to make up for the loss of one mature tree.

So, now you know what our MSP trees are doing all day, every day.

Now—have you ever wondered what their names are? If so, click here.

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 3,000 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 5 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.

Always held the first Saturday in February, this year our 2013 Progressive Dinner falls on the evening of Groundhog Day. Though tickets are not yet on sale and reservations begin some time in January, you’ll want to pencil in 2/2 now.

Limited host space strictly limits attendance. The ceiling is a bit higher this year, but the ticket remains HOT.

Look for our January email announcement for opening reservations and get yours in early—no not just early—suddenly!

Check out the video from other FMSP Progressive Dinners, which started in 2007…

2012 Fall Garden Party
Prior Progressive Dinners still on the ORIGINAL 2005 marshallsquarepark.org website, now superseded.

The Phillips’ have been involved with Marshall Square Park, their home fronts the Park, the Holiday House Tour supports a good neighborhood cause and can use publicity. So, we blasted the article to our entire membership and added it to the FMSP Website—for posterity.

Part of the FMSP Core Group, the Woodrow’s home is also on the Holiday House Tour, but it’s a bit north of the Park on N. Matlack. Also on the Tour are FMSP Members, the Clarks and McCanns of North Walnut Street and the Scotts of East Lafayette Street.

Get your HHT Tickets online

Bill Scott
N. Franklin St.

Sharing their Queen Anne style
West Chester home on annual holiday tour is decorated in full-on Victorian.
December 03, 2012 | By Christine Bahls, For The Inquirer

Would you cringe knowing 300 people were about to walk through your house over the course of a few hours?

Marybeth and Stephen Phillips of West Chester are expecting that many people Saturday, and they aren’t cringing. In fact, they’re looking forward to having guests in their Queen Anne-style home.

“They don’t come all at once,” Marybeth Phillips says matter-of-factly, referring to the visitors she and her husband will receive for the borough’s annual Holiday House Tour.

Besides, says Marybeth, 56, “the years that I have this big, comfortable spot, I want everybody to enjoy it. It’s a fun place. It’s a warm family home.”

The couple are seasoned entertainers. They bought their 3,300-plus-square-foot, five-bedroom home in 2000 with gatherings of all sorts in mind, says the owner of MB Phillips Music Productions. Steve Phillips, also 56, is president of Reilly Foam Corp., which has offices in several locations.

The product of a large extended Irish family, Marybeth says she grew up in a West Philadelphia household in which there were always political gatherings of some sort. Besides that, a relative or two was always at the dinner table.

In West Chester, the couple host a gathering each year for at least 100 people, she says.

“A house doesn’t mean stuff,” she says. It means get-togethers, dining, dancing. The couple have also hosted a medic from Iraq, who spoke about his experiences helping U.S. soldiers stationed there.

Marybeth and Steve, who also comes from a large family, had been living in West Goshen. They visited the West Chester house, still under construction, on a whim.

“We didn’t need to move,” she says, but she had two criteria if she did: brick sidewalks outside her front door and easy accessibility to a cup of coffee. In other words, she wanted to be able to walk into town.

But what persuaded them to buy was the quality of the construction. They were in the basement, Marybeth says, and looked up at the beams. ” ‘They do build them like they used to,’ we said.”

The couple have decorated like the Victorians used to. Marybeth says the style is gaudy, and she likes it that way: In the Queen Anne period, “everything was gaudy.”

It’s the wallpaper, primarily on the first floor, that makes the interior distinctive. Marybeth chose seven patterns for the living room ceiling, and three for the walls. “I did the ceilings because the Victorians did,” she says.

She didn’t pick little rosebud patterns, either. The 9-foot walls are big, bold, and colorful, with patterns that are intricately linked.

The dining room deserves a word or two, mainly because it holds Marybeth’s grandmother’s 130-year-old furniture. She hasn’t had it refinished, which adds to its charm.

The dining room was added on after the house was built. It is bathed in light from many windows, and is accessed by French doors from the kitchen. It, too, got the big-bold-wallpaper treatment.

But big and bold doesn’t dominate everywhere. The serene yellow kitchen has green laminate countertops and cream-colored, painted-maple cabinets. Sunlight streams through its many windows and a door that opens to the wraparound porch. (Steve has woven climbing hydrangeas into the porch railing.)

Also in the kitchen are glass-front cabinets – one holds Waterford crystal, another some Lenox china. The table and chairs, modeled after the set in Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s country home, were made by Amish artisans, who also crafted the kitchen cabinets, among other pieces – one of which, designed to look like a sideboard, holds part of the couple’s enormous music collection.

Visitors on the holiday tour pay $25 for advance tickets, with the money benefiting a local institution. For the last couple of years, proceeds have helped the West Chester Public Library, a favorite haunt of Marybeth’s. (Find tour details at www.wcpubliclibrary.org.)

So it’s safe to say she’s going all-out. There will be candles in more than 60 windows. Wreaths and swags will cover the porch. Live holly, grown on the property, will be cut and displayed in floral arrangements. The Christmas tree, a doll collection, and more have come out of storage.

Marybeth’s favorite ornament? One her mother-in-law gave her, designed and assembled by a 90-year-old blind nun. In an empty crab shell spray-painted gold are figures of the Holy Family.

The Library is again proud to present a Holiday Home Tour of 10 beautifully decorated homes in the northwest & northeast sections of West Chester Borough with one home located just outside the borough. This tour features “the old & the new,” spanning 130 years of home building history.

Mark your calendar and join us as we enjoy the homes graciously opened to benefit the West Chester Public Library through the Holiday Home Tour. (Snow date is Sunday, December 9, 2012)

1. The Fiest’s, Brookside Court
2. The Giuta’s, Locust Lane North
3. The Vincent’s, West Virginia Avenue
4. The Finn’s, North Church Street
5. The Moussa’s, North High Street
6. The Clark’s, North Walnut Street
7. The McCann’s North Walnut Street
8. The Woodrow’s, North Matlack Street
9. The Phillips’, North Matlack Street
10. The Scott’s, East Lafayette Street

As most of you know, the FMSP with the help of Boy Scout Troop 14, lights up Marshall Square Park with over 300 luminaria every year — the photo is 2008 — as part of our town’s kickoff of the Christmas Season.

We encourage everyone in the greater MSP neighborhood to take part in this community celebration. In previous years, we have had nearly 1000 luminaria lighting up our neighborhood, and it has been quite spectacular. I hope you can join with us this year to make it the best display ever! –Jeff Beitel, FMSP President

PDF of Luminaria Flyer

NOTE: SPACE BAGS APPROX. FIVE TO SIX FEET APART ON THE HOUSE SIDE OF THE SIDEWALK.

*PLEASE HAVE LUMINARIA SET OUT & LIT BY 6:00PM on November 30th.

*ALL PROCEEDS GO TO BENEFIT BOY SCOUT TROOP 14 OF WEST CHESTER

MORE INFORMATION and to PURCHASE LUMINARIA

1. The cost of the luminaria this year is $1.00 for two bags with candles. Sand is not included.
2. Sand can be purchased at a local hardware store. A 1-pound coffee can per bag should be enough. Fun Fact: you can expect to get about 25 full coffee cans from one 40 lb. bag of sand!
3. We recommend that you buy a butane lighter with a long neck to light the candles in the bags.
4. Placing the bags on the inside (house side) of the sidewalk is best, so people can get in and out of parked cars and so the cars don’t totally obscure the light.
5. Pick up is at the Walters’ house, 224 E. Biddle Street, starting November 27th through November 30th. Please EMAIL Anne Walters at: annefwalters@comcast.net with your name, how many luminaria you would like and when you want to pick them up.
6. OPTION: If you would like to hire the Scouts to set up, take down and cleanup your luminaries for you, the cost for this service is $1.00 per bag with a $15 minimum charge. Please let Anne know if you would like to hire the Scouts for their help with the luminaries and how many you would like.
7. The Friends of Marshall Square Park are also asking everyone to try to get your “old fashioned” decorations up by Friday the 30th. That includes white candles in windows, garlands/wreaths on porches, railings, doors, windows (evergreen style).
8. These make great gifts!
9. Please consider donating an extra $5, $10 or $20 (or whatever you can) toward the “Luminaries Around the Park” sponsored by the Friends of Marshall Square Park. The group plans to line the perimeter of Marshall Square Park with the candlelight glow of about 300 Luminaries on November 30th!

For the first time, this fundraiser was also a block party; the hosts arranged with the Borough to close Matlack Street between Virginia Avenue and Elizabeth Street.

Chaddsford Winery served complementary wine from the front garden of Ronnie Balassone and Dr. Kirby Tirk while across the street, Victory Brewing Company offered beer at Betsy and Gordon Woodrow’s front wall. Food tables stretched across the street filled with tables topped with white cloths and candles.

As the group gathered, greetings rang out and talk and laughter filled the street under the tall trees as twilight approached. In the gathering dusk, we started to notice the luminaries and twinkling lights among the trees. Nikolay Gavlishin, a WCU music student, played classical guitar softly in the background as neighbor talked with neighbor.

As darkness descended, a bonfire was lit. And, too soon, it was time to call it a night—to fold up the tables and say goodnight to all.

Until our next gathering—the eagerly-awaited Progressive Dinner, which falls on Groundhog Day, February 2, 2013—please consider donating a little something to help us raise the funds needed to restore and reinstall our fabulous Victorian fountain email for donating instructions.

Jim Salvas (aka camerajim)
FMSP Secretary