A successful concert series

Our 67th Pastorius Park Concert (PPC) season finished on July 29, and our stage is back in storage for another year. We enjoyed some wonderful performances, most of which were in the Park!

A big thank you to all our hard working PPC volunteers: Adam Kalushner, Aidan Robinson, Andy (CHCA membership King) Kite, Art (King of the Fishbowl) Howe, Bob (Stage Guru) Rossman, Christopher Plant, Craig Currie, Denise Chapline, Doug Knauer, Heather Currie, Janet Lippincott, Jay (King of the Hedge) Valinis, Jean Wedgwood, Jeremy Heep, Karl Martin, Kathy (Concessions Queen) Gannon, Larry McEwen, Lisa Howe, Maggie Leichleitner, Maria (Queen of the Fishbowl) Vecchioli, Michelle Sage, Mike (The Iceman) Chomentowski, Morgan Plant, Pastor John Leonard, Richard Snowden, Rod Bartchy, Steve (Sharp Shooter) Feistel, Steve (Master MC) Pearson, Talia Burke, Tia Burke, and our friends Melany Nelson and Pat Fisher from Northwest Victims Services.

Our concert series would not happen without our dedicated PPC volunteers who put the stage up at the start of the season, set up before each concert, MC for the performers, sell concessions and performer merchandise, collect donations, clear away after each concert, and take the stage down at season end! Phew! Our volunteers work hard!! But we have a lot of fun too!

Thanks to Noreen Spota, Janet Gala and Celeste Hardester from the Chestnut Hill Community Association for their support, Philadelphia Parks and Recreation, the Friends of Pastorius Park who did their usual great job of clearing up the Park before the start of concert season, and to McNallys Tavern who gave a generous supply of ice to keep our concessions cold.

Thanks you to our friends at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy who made us so very welcome twice this season.

Thank you to our sponsors who generously funded our concert series: Chestnut Hill Community Fund, Chestnut Hill Hospital, TD Bank, and Philadelphia Parks and Recreation. Many thanks also to the local businesses who supported us: Bowman Properties, Elfant Wissahickon Commercial and Residential Real Estate, Kilians, Nolan Painting, Queenies Pets, Trolley Car Diner, Valley Green Bank, and Weavers Way Co Op. We appreciate your support providing vital funds to support the Pastorius Park Concerts!

We hope you all enjoyed our 67th Pastorius Park Concert Season, here's looking forward to 2016, our 68th Season in Pastorius Park! Its never too soon to think about volunteering, if you'd like to help with next years Concerts please contact me at pastoriusparkconcerts@gmail.com

Julie Byrne

Chair, Pastorius Park Concerts

Board Directors, Chestnut Hill Community Association

Does the Local endorse same sex marriage?

Does Sue Ann Rybak’s editorial, “Same sex marriage only part of the solution” (Local, 8/13) constitute an endorsement of same sex marriage by the Local and its parent organization, the Chestnut Hill Community Association? The CHCA presumably exists to foster community and civic fellowship. Why is the Local promoting the divisive and socially contentious issue of same-sex marriage? Those of us who wish the Local and the CHCA well, and who work for and support these organizations, deserve an answer to this question.

Caryl Johnston

Germantown

Editor’s Note: One of the many unique features of the Local is that our editorials are signed. The reason? They are not organizational or institutional opinions. They are the opinions of the author. It has been that way for most of the Local’s nearly 60-year history. One of the primary goals for having signed editorials was to foster discussion and debate in these pages on issues, local, regional and beyond.

Does alcohol make the man?

The article about the "classic tradition" the new Duke Barber Co. location brings to Chestnut Hill repeatedly mentions serving alcohol.

I've enjoyed visiting Duke in Northern Liberties and I'm glad it's now nearby, but I'm weary of the notion that "manliness" (and there's no mention of Duke serving anyone but men) requires alcohol. The article's emphasis on booze makes the "camaraderie" Duke hopes to provide sound as if any man who doesn't drink doesn't make the cut.

Peter Cortner

Chestnut Hill

‘Brilliant’ satire

From Aristophanes to Erasmus to Mark Twain, I appreciate good old fashioned political satire, especially when it’s funny. Mark Twain was funny because he was exposing an agenda and not forwarding an agenda.

With so many unfunny agenda-forwarding satirists around these days, I was wondering who was going to step up and satirize the satirists. Thankfully, Stacia Friedman, with her article in last week’s Local (Walker Endorses...), has given us a brilliant satire of the satirical method of the educated Left. She is a real genius, I hope the Anti-Defamation League gives her a Nobel Peace prize.

After all, in this age of increased sensitivity, we need satirists who can brilliantly highlight how utterly obligatory it has become, no matter what the issue in question (unions, military budget, whatever), for left-wing satirists to brand their opponents as racists and sexists, just as a matter of course, just to top it off for good measure. Because branding people racist and sexist is more than just funny, it’s important, maybe even a privilege.

Daniel Kelly

Chestnut Hill

‘Dumocrats’

In regards to Stacia's Friedman's insipid satirical article on Republican candidate Scott Walker, you do realize that Dumocrats will believe everything she wrote!

Kate Ferry

Erdenheim

Appreciates good local reporting

I do so deeply appreciate the Local and all the great work you all do to keep us informed, entertained and, sometimes, provoked (as in thought-provoking). That "Trumped" up dialog between two hypothetical Presidential candidates was delightful. And I appreciated your editorial about how the crime rate in our area is down, noting the great work that our precinct police force does, along with local cooperation and engagement, to keep it that way.

I just wish you'd included some fuller acknowledgement that those crime statistics you quoted indicate that we live in a very protected enclave here in Chestnut Hill. It's no accident that there is this strong cooperation between police and residents, and though some of that is thankfully due to the very good spirited thinking and work on both sides, it's also got something to do with our having a lot more economic privilege, and therefore leverage, in our part of the city.

There are areas whose crime rate is still frighteningly high, despite many residents' efforts to change things. There are places one or two miles from here in Chestnut Hill, which I hold in prayer in my heart because they are basically a "war zone," where people are consistently in danger of being injured or killed by gunfire, whether deliberately or by accident.

I hope that we here in Chestnut Hill never get complacent or self-satisfied about the relative safety we enjoy on our streets. As Project Home's slogan states, "none of us are home until all of us are home," and likewise, "none of us are safe until all of us are safe."

Thanks again for the ongoing great work.

Ellen Deacon

Chestnut Hill