Good morning, Lancaster County. Cloudy early, then gradually mostly sunny and 87 — about the last mild thing this week is going to do to you, because Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are all forecast near 92. Before the heat lands, here's a week with a $15 art festival, a bat talk, and a donut shop full of mahjong.
In today's Lancaster Local:
A pro tennis tournament in Landisville played through a flood and a heat wave
Long's Park hosts its 48th art festival over Labor Day weekend
The Stormers play ten games across nine home dates in ten days
Mahjong at an Akron donut counter, and quilts in Mount Joy
COMMUNITY NEWS
The tournament hit flooding and a heat wave. It still crowned two champions — and gave away a pizza party.
Earlier this month, Hempfield recCenter in Landisville hosted the $100,000 Koser Jewelers Tennis Challenge, and the recCenter's own recap is refreshingly blunt about how the week went: flooding, extreme heat, weather delays.
They played anyway. On Championship Sunday, sisters I-Hsuan and Yi Tsen Cho of Chinese Taipei took the doubles title over Savannah Broadus and Kylie Collins, 6-2, 6-4. The singles final went the other way first — Hanne Vandewinkel of Belgium dropped the opening set to Anastasia Zakharova, then won the next two going away, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1.
What's striking is how the host tells the story. The trophies get a paragraph. The rest of the recap goes to the week's other business: more than 100 kids on court for Kids Day with USTA Middle States-Central PA. A wheelchair and adaptive tennis clinic, an exhibition match, and a player recognition ceremony marking 50 years of wheelchair tennis. A luncheon honoring Julie Walker of the Peyton Walker Foundation. And on High School Night, junior players competing in Around the World to win their school's tennis team a pizza party from Hot Z Pizza.
If you'd like to play the same facility, the recCenter's Labor Day mixer is a week from today. Details below.
EVENTS
Labor Day weekend is the busy one, but the week after it is quietly better.
📚 Swoon Squad: A Romance TBR Book Club — Manheim Township Public Library, 595 Granite Run Drive, Lancaster. Tonight, Monday, August 31, 6:00–8:00 p.m. No assigned title — the club picks a monthly trope and you bring whatever book fits it. Registration closes at 5:45 tonight, so decide fast.
💧 Stormwater & You — Ephrata Public Library, 550 South Reading Rd., Ephrata. Tomorrow, Tuesday, September 1, 6:00–7:00 p.m. Andrew Tuleya on where the water goes when it leaves your roof. Four municipalities — Ephrata Borough, Ephrata Township, Clay Township and Akron Borough — are behind this one. Ages 18+, registration required.
⚾ Lancaster Stormers homestand — Penn Medicine Park, 650 North Prince Street, Lancaster. Ten games across nine home dates in ten days, starting Tuesday, September 1: Southern Maryland through Sunday, September 6 — including a doubleheader Wednesday, September 2 at 4:00 p.m. — then Hagerstown September 8–10. Evening starts are 6:45 p.m.; Sunday, September 6 goes at 1:30. Ballpark Digest voted this park the best in the country.
🥕 Lititz Farmers Market — Lititz Springs Park, 24 N. Broad Street, Lititz. Thursday, September 3, 3:30–7:00 p.m. Growers, prepared food, rotating food trucks and live music, which makes it a decent Thursday dinner plan and not just a produce run. Runs every Thursday through October 15.
🎨 48th Annual Long's Park Art Festival — Long's Park, 1441 Harrisburg Pike, Lancaster. Friday, September 4 through Sunday, September 6 — Friday and Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sunday 10 to 5. Over 200 juried exhibitors, running since 1979, with proceeds going back into the summer concerts. The festival says single-day tickets are $15 and you can request a free return pass to come back over the weekend. Service animals welcome; leave the rest of the pets home.
🎾 Labor Day Tennis Mixer — Hempfield recCenter, 1251 Stony Battery Rd., Landisville. Monday, September 7. Play runs 9–11 a.m., food 11 to noon, and the courts stay open past that for anyone still going. $18 for members, $23 if you're not. The recCenter brings a meat dish and the drinks; you bring a snack to share. Same facility that hosted the pros this month.
🦇 The Secret World of Pennsylvania's Bats — Manheim Township Public Library, 595 Granite Run Drive, Lancaster. Wednesday, September 9, 6:00–7:45 p.m. Lancaster County Parks & Rec on the six species that hibernate here, the ones that just pass through, and a 99% population collapse most people never heard about. Adults, registration required.
🧵 Quilt Study — Milanof-Schock Library, 1184 Anderson Ferry Road, Mount Joy. Wednesday, September 9, 12:30–3:00 p.m. Bring a quilt if you have one and they'll spread it out for the group to look at properly. No registration, no library card, meets every other month.
🥾 Urban Hikes in Downtown Lititz — starts at Earth to Lititz, 56 E Main Street, Lititz. Thursday, September 10, 8:00 a.m. Free. About an hour on foot through a different corner of town each time — architecture one month, gardens or a nature trail the next — with history mixed in as you go. They carry biodegradable bags and pick up litter along the route. Second Thursday of every month; comfy shoes and water, and you're set.
🀄 Mahjong at W Donuts — W Donuts Cafe, 805 Main St., Akron. Thursday, September 10, 10:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m. The Ephrata library runs this one out of a shop carrying on a donut tradition that's been part of Akron for more than 60 years. Helpers are there for beginners. Bring your own set if you have one. No registration, 18+.
Monday, August 31 — Cloudy to start, then gradually becoming mostly sunny, high near 87, with a calm wind. Partly cloudy tonight, low around 71. Then it turns: Tuesday is mostly sunny and hot near 92 with a 20% chance of showers or a thunderstorm after 2 p.m. and some storms possibly severe, and Wednesday and Thursday both land near 92 as well.
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