Good morning, Lancaster County, and happy Labor Day.
Patchy fog before nine, then clouds breaking to sun and a high near 79 — genuinely one of the nicer days we've had.
Fair warning: almost nothing is open today.
Every library in the county is closed, and so are LancasterHistory and the Railroad Museum.
So today's issue is mostly your week, with one thing you can actually do this morning.
In today's Lancaster Local:
An argument about Main Street, from someone who'd know
The one place in the county that's open on Labor Day
The 77th Solanco Fair, with a parade big enough to close a library early
A dog swim, a bad-art club, and a book club reading about solving your own murder
COMMUNITY NEWS
Every storefront represents jobs.
This one isn't news, and I want to be straight about that.
It's an argument, written by someone who spends her working life on it.
Liz Ackerman runs the Northern Lancaster County Chamber, and last Thursday the Chamber published her piece on why Main Street still matters here.
Her opening observation is the one that stuck with me.
"As factories have closed or moved to larger locations, new opportunities have emerged."
That's a gentle way to describe a hard thing.
What she's describing is the last few decades of northern Lancaster County — the plants that shrank or left, and the empty buildings they left behind.
And then what happened next.
Microbreweries.
Restaurants.
Small businesses moving into rooms that had gone dark.
She names them: Pour Man's Brewing in downtown Ephrata.
Harding Yost Insurance in Denver.
She also names the bigger employers who could have gone anywhere and stayed put on a Main Street corridor instead — Ephrata National Bank, Unruh Insurance, Garden Spot Village.
"Every storefront represents jobs, investment, and opportunity."
Which is a reasonable thing to think about on the one Monday a year that exists to mark exactly that.
But the line I keep coming back to is smaller.
"There is something special about walking into a local barber shop or family-owned store, being greeted by name, and running into neighbors you haven't seen in a while."
That isn't an economic argument at all.
It's just what a working town feels like when it's working.
EVENTS
One thing today.
Then a real week.
🏋️ Ephrata Rec is open — 130 S Academy Drive, Ephrata.
Today, Monday, September 7, 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
A half day, on a modified class schedule.
As far as I could confirm, it's the only place in the county opening its doors on Labor Day.
Day passes are $14 for adults and $10 for students.
📜 Entrepreneur, Reverend, Abolitionist: Stephen Smith's Journey From Columbia to Philadelphia — LancasterHistory, 230 N. President Avenue, Lancaster.
Thursday, September 10, 5 p.m. reception, 5:30 p.m. lecture. Free, registration requested.
Stephen Smith was raised in indentured servitude in Columbia and became, in LancasterHistory's words, "the richest Black man in America."
Michael Clemmons, formerly of the Mother Bethel AME Church Historical Society, is giving the talk.
It also streams on Zoom at 5:30 if you'd rather stay home.
Seats are capped and they warn that tickets may not be available at the door.
🐕 Dog Swim — Ephrata Community Pool, at Ephrata Rec, 130 S Academy Drive, Ephrata.
Saturday, September 12, 12:00 to 3:00 p.m.
The end-of-season swim where the pool belongs to the dogs.
No fee is posted, so check with the Rec before you load the car.
🌳 Gardens, Grounds, and a Gentleman's Farm: A Walk Around Wheatland — 230 N. President Avenue, Lancaster.
Saturday, September 12, tours at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.
James Buchanan is remembered as the fifteenth president and was also, less famously, a farmer.
Wheatland sat on 22.5 acres of meadows, orchards and gardens, and this walk is about how the place actually functioned.
Led by Stephanie Celiberti, who manages the property.
$20 for adults, $18 for seniors, $10 for students, free for children 10 and under.
It's outdoors on grass, dirt and brick, so dress accordingly.
🧶 Closely Knit — Milanof-Schock Library, 1184 Anderson Ferry Road, Mount Joy.
Monday, September 14, 1:00 to 3:00 p.m.
Two hours set aside every month for knitters to sit with other knitters.
All skill levels, no registration, just turn up.
🔍 Mystery Book Club — Manheim Township Public Library, 595 Granite Run Drive, Lancaster.
Monday, September 14, 7:00 to 8:00 p.m.
September's book is How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin, which is a premise that does a lot of work on its own.
They meet the second Monday, and they describe it as dissecting the clues to see whether anyone cracked it before the last chapter.
Registration closes at 6:45.
🥾 Stream Study with Lancaster County Parks — Environmental Center, 1 Nature's Way, Lancaster.
Tuesday, September 15, 10:30 to 11:30 a.m.
An hour of turning over rocks to find out what's living in the creek, then pooling everyone's findings to judge how healthy it is.
Built for kids with an adult along, ages 5 and up, capped at 40 and every person has to be registered separately.
Note the venue — you sign up through Columbia Public Library, but it happens at the Environmental Center.
Closed-toe shoes are required for anyone going in the water, and rain cancels it.
Registration closes at 8 a.m. that morning.
🎡 The 77th Solanco Fair — Solanco Fairgrounds, 172 S. Lime Street, Quarryville.
Wednesday, September 16 through Friday, September 18.
The street parade runs Wednesday evening from 6 to 8.
Here's how you know it matters down there: the Quarryville library closes at 3 p.m. that day for it.
The seventy-seventh one, run by the Southern Lancaster County Community Fair Association.
Admission isn't posted, so check the site before you go.
🖍️ Bad Art Club — Lancaster Public Library, 151 N. Queen Street, Lancaster.
Wednesday, September 16, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Ages 18 and up.
The whole point is permission to be bad at it.
In their words: release your fears, your doubts, your perfectionism, and just make bad art.
September's project is blind contour portraits, which is drawing someone without looking at your paper.
Registration closes at 5:45, mostly so they know how many supplies to put out.
⚔️ The Campaign That Broke the Confederacy in Two — Columbia Public Library, 24 South 6th Street, Columbia.
Thursday, September 17, 6:30 to 7:30 p.m.
An hour on Vicksburg with Columbia Civil War historian Cindy Beaston, tracing the campaign from its start in 1862 to its conclusion in 1863.
The library calls it one of Grant's greatest campaigns, and also one "filled with many doubts, failed attempts, bravery, and a will to achieve victory at all costs."
Patchy fog before 9 a.m., then mostly cloudy, gradually becoming sunny, with a high near 79.
Tonight is mostly clear and down around 56, with patchy fog after 3 a.m.
Tuesday looks like more of the same, mostly sunny and 82.
A good day to be outside, which is convenient, since indoors is mostly closed.
Enjoy the day off if you're getting one — and thanks to everyone working today so the rest of us can.
— The Lancaster Local