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1. Wellsboro Growers Market Vendors to Bring Vegetables This Thursday, Oct. 1 Despite Early Frost
2. First Free Saturday Afternoon Outdoor Concert is This Saturday, Oct. 3 with Drowsy Maggie and Ethan Hawkins
3. Nessmuk Rod and Gun Club’s Last Trap Shoot Practices are on Tuesdays, Oct. 6, 13, 20 & 27
4. Stone to Talk About Fisheries at Trout Unlimited Tiadaghton Chapter #688 Tuesday, Oct. 6 Meeting
5. Performances of Hamilton-Gibson’s Production of “Stray Cats” are Oct. 9, 10, 11, 16, 17 & 18
6. Master Storyteller Jonathan Kruk to Present Free Ghostly Tales for Youth, 8 and older and Adults at Noon on Saturday, Oct. 10
7. Free Outdoor Concert with Mama Corn is Saturday Afternoon, Oct, 10 at 3 p.m.
8. Register Now for Saturday, Oct. 24 NRA Basic Pistol Class
9. “Lifespan of a Fact” Cast Members are Named

Diane Eaton
dianetn@ptd.net
(570) 724-3800

WELLSBORO GROWERS MARKET VENDORS TO BRING VEGETABLES THIS THURSDAY, OCT. 1 DESPITE EARLY FROST

Three September nights of killing frosts in a row have eliminated some of the fresh vegetables that would normally be available at the Thursday, Oct. 1 Wellsboro Growers Market.

The market is being held from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. on the front lawn of the First Presbyterian Church at 130 Main Street in Wellsboro, weather permitting.

“It is unusual to have frosts like that in September,” said Janet MacWhinnie of Udder Merry Mac Farms. “We are bringing our lettuce blend, basil, arugula, cucumbers, sweet peppers and fresh picked raspberries to this Thursday’s market.”

“We had three nights of 28- to 30-degree temperatures but were able to put enough heat into our high tunnel to keep those vegetables from freezing,” said “Gary Keeney of Keeney Farm. He will be bringing pumpkins, winter squash, gourds, onions, cabbage, kohlrabi, beets, ornamental corn, and popcorn bunches.

Kathy Siegrist of Bakery 303, better known as the pound cake lady, will have her classic butter, coconut, crumb and get it, lemon with lemon glaze and serious chocolate pound cakes. In honor of October Fest, she is also bringing her chocolate stout pound cake.

At the Between Two Rivers Maple Products booth will be Sally and Jeff Jones with a new sweet homemade treat – pumpkin maple whoopie pies – along with their maple cinnamon buns, maple sticky buns, peanut butter maple jumbo cookies and maple candied pecans and almonds. They will also have maple syrup, cream and candies.

Liz McLelland of Yorkshire Meadows is bringing freshly made apple dumplings, lemon curd bars, scones, ginger cookies, peanut butter cookies, salted caramel shortbread bars, shortbread cookies, pecan sandies, carrot cake and chocolate zucchini cake.

At her booth, Linda Sweely of New View Farm will have her freshly made cinnamon buns, artisan breads (Focaccia, Italian herb and everything), beer bread, cinnamon raisin and everything bagels, maple syrup, honey, jams and jellies, tomato relish and jalapeno pepper spread.

Frank Maffei will be bringing a selection of Staggering Unicorn wines. Among them will be cranberry, pineapple strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, and mint chocolate.

Also at the market are Growin’ Native, Shortsville Green Growers, Scentillating Creations, Pinafore Run Farm, WindStone Landing Farms, Aunt Lulu’s Embroidery and Todd Webster of Hillstone Farms.

Customers are asked to wear face masks and maintain social distancing.

Vendors who want to participate are asked to call Thomas Putnam at (570) 439-2000 or email him at wellsborogrowersmarket@gmail.com.

FIRST FREE SATURDAY AFTERNOON OUTDOOR CONCERT IS THIS SATURDAY, OCT. 3 WITH DROWSY MAGGIE AND ETHAN HAWKINS

This Saturday, Oct. 3 at 3 p.m. Drowsy Maggie and special guest Ethan Hawkins will perform on the outdoor stage on the Central Avenue side of the Deane Center for the Performing Arts at 104 Main Street in Wellsboro. The concert is free and open to the public. Donations are appreciated.

The group will be playing and singing a variety of folk, country rock, bluegrass and old-time songs. Among them are Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon”, Andy Griffith’s “Moonshiner” and Emmy Lou Harris’ “Boulder to Birmingham,” along with standards such as “Whiskey Before Breakfast” and “Wagon Wheel.”

Drowsy Maggie band members who are performing include: Danny Shipe on guitar and banjo, Molly Cary on guitar, Daria Lin-Guelig on hammered dulcimer and concertina, and Bruce Smith on upright bass. Both Cary and Shipe sing lead and harmony vocals.

Hawkins, a multi-instrumentalist, is filling in for Carl Conn who could not attend. “I will be playing fiddle, mandolin and guitar and singing harmony on most of the songs,” said Hawkins. “The only song I am singing lead on is ‘I Belong To The Band, Hallelujah’ by blues guitar legend The Reverend Gary Davis. “It’s a tune a friend of mine shared with me that has proven to be a real crowd-pleaser. Audiences easily learn the music and the words and usually join in,” he said.

“I’ve been staying in the Wellsboro area since June working on two new albums thanks to Aubrey Irion, a member of the Cherry Flats Ridge Pluckers and a friend to my band, The Mudskippers,” Hawkins said. “Staying with the Irions has allowed me to have musicians join me in recording the songs while maintaining social distancing. The first record is an EP (extended play) with six songs. The other is a solo record that has 12 songs that I am making preparations to release. The recording is done but it needs to be mixed, mastered and funded.”

Bluegrass and old-time music have been the building blocks of this young musician’s life. Hawkins is the The Mudskippers’ main songwriter, lead singer and guitarist. In April of 2018, he and three other bandsmen co-founded this Boston-based acoustic band, which embodies New England-style grass, modern songwriting and a respect for bluegrass and old-time traditions. He is also a full-time member of the band Corner House and has performed with Jake Blount, Bruce Molsky and Twisted Pine.

For the free Oct. 3 concert, bring lawn chairs and sit on the grass in front of the outdoor stage or on Central Avenue, which will be closed to traffic between Main Street and the Warehouse Theatre to provide space for social distancing.

For more information about it and other free concerts in the Saturday afternoon series, visit deanecenter.com, email office@deanecenter.com, or call (570) 724-6220.

Photo provided
Ethan Hawkins is shown during a rehearsal with Drowsy Maggie.

NESSMUK ROD AND GUN CLUB’S LAST TRAP SHOOT PRACTICES ARE ON TUESDAYS, OCT. 6, 13, 20 & 27

The Nessmuk Rod and Gun Club is hosting the last four trap shoot practices of the season for beginners and experienced shooters from 3 p.m. until 6 p.m. on Tuesdays, Oct. 6, 13, 20 and 27, weather permitting. The shoots are at the club’s outdoor range at 4646 Route 287 in Delmar Township, 6.5 miles south of Wellsboro.

“Trap shoot practices are open to members and the public,” said Rick Niles, Nessmuk’s trap shoot organizer. The fee is $6 per adult for a round of 25 clays and $3 for those under 18. Eye and ear protection must be worn. Shooters are asked to provide their own shotguns and ammunition.

The club will have a limited supply of 12-gauge shotgun shells in boxes of 25 available for purchase.

For more information about Nessmuk’s Tuesday trap shoot practices and the trap team, call Niles at (570) 439-0187.

STONE TO TALK ABOUT FISHERIES AT TROUT UNLIMITED TIADAGHTON CHAPTER #688 TUESDAY, OCT. 6 MEETING

At 5:30 p.m., this coming Tuesday, Oct. 6, Trout Unlimited Tiadaghton Chapter #688 will host featured speaker Hills Creek State Park Complex Park Manager Ben Stone outdoors at the Sugarbush Pavilion in the day use area at Hills Creek State Park at 111 Spillway Road, Wellsboro, PA 16901. Immediately following Stone’s presentation will be an informal business meeting. Members and the public are invited to attend. State required COVID-19 protocols must be followed within the park.

Stone oversees the operation of eight state parks in Potter and Tioga counties. He will talk about fishing opportunities at Hills Creek Lake in Hills Creek State Park, near Wellsboro in Tioga County and Lyman Run Lake in Lyman Run State Park, near Galeton in Potter County. Also discussed will be the different users of each lake and the education programs, partnerships and projects that invite new users to fish in them.

Hills Creek is a 137-acre man-made lake with excellent fishing for warmwater species, such as largemouth and smallmouth bass, yellow perch, bluegill and crappie. Lyman Run is a 45-acre man-made coldwater lake noted for its excellent trout fishing. Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission stocks Lyman Run Lake with rainbow and palomino trout throughout the fishing season.

For more information, call (570) 662-2167 or email whitesgordonsetters@gmail.com.

Photo by John Eaton
Park Manager Ben Stone

PERFORMANCES OF HAMILTON-GIBSON’S PRODUCTION OF “STRAY CATS” ARE OCT. 9, 10, 11, 16, 17 & 18

The final scene is a fitting end to the collection of musically influenced monologues that portray the life stories of different men using a unique blend of humor and sadness in Hamilton-Gibson’s production of “Stray Cats.”

The play ends with a story of community. Three men played by Rob Kathcart, Ryan Dalton and Thomas Putnam stop what they are doing to engage with a street saxophone player, Wellsboro’s Dave Driskell in “Jaguar Jesus.” Caught up by the saxophonist’s passion and skill, these men – all from different backgrounds and at different places in their lives – are drawn to him. Through his playing, the saxophonist is able to weave a connection between them and to people throughout the whole city whether they are aware of it or not.

“This is exactly what the sax and Dave’s playing do throughout the entire show,” said Putnam. “Dave opens the show and then connects each life story by playing between monologues, weaving the music through each of their desperate but often humorous lives and connecting the monologues together.”

“Alone, But Not Lonely” is the first monologue. Tom played by Putnam “shares” at a twelve-step support group on Valentine’s day. “Good-bye Jack” features Dalton as a kid who works at the drive-thru window at Jack-in-the-Box. The night they take the clown away he realizes he’s “just another little drive-thru guy in orange and brown, alone on the graveyard shift.” “Jocko The Clown,” portrayed by Kathcart, is backstage at a moment of crisis and suffers from extreme “mime block.” In “The Poem Writer,” Putnam plays a man, who, after having a little too much to drink, delivers a bitter, funny, self-loathing, self-aggrandizing speech to the Poem Writers Guild. Kathcart is an aging TV weatherman who has been kicked off the air for politically incorrect statements. His farewell apology skids into a near breakdown in “Ol’ Gator.” “Diary of a Voyeur” chronicles a writer played by Dalton who, instead of meeting his deadlines, spends months obsessing and writing about a couple in a window across his courtyard.

Performances will be at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 9 and 10 and 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 11 in the Warehouse Theatre at 3 Central Avenue in Wellsboro and on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 16 and 17 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 18 at 2:30 p.m.

Tickets are $14 for adults and $6 for youth, 18 and under. Also available are FlexPasses for $60. No tickets are sold at the door. They have to be ordered in advance and prepaid online at hgp.booktix.com or by calling the HG office at (570) 724-2079 with credit card information.

Seating is limited. Reserved seats allow HG to meet pandemic social distancing protocols. All audience members are asked to wear masks and have their temperatures taken upon entering the building.

Photo by John Eaton
All four men in Hamilton-Gibson’s production of “Stray Cats” are featured in the last scene. They are: (from left to right) Thomas Putnam, Ryan Dalton, Dave Driskell playing the saxophone and Rob Kathcart.

MASTER STORYTELLER JONATHAN KRUK TO PRESENT FREE GHOSTLY TALES FOR YOUTH, 8 AND OLDER AND ADULTS AT NOON ON SATURDAY, OCT. 10

Master storyteller Jonathan Kruk will give a live, one-hour theatrical performance with a behind-the-scenes look at the history of the ghostly tales in Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” at noon on Saturday, Oct. 10. This show is free and open to the public thanks to sponsors Xtreme Internet and Indigo Wireless.

“The Legends of ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’ — The Haunted History of the Headless Horseman and Sleepy Hollow’s Ghosts'” is recommended for adults and children, ages 8 and older.

Kruk will present his show outdoors on the outdoor stage on the Central Avenue side of the Deane Center for the Performing Arts at 104 Main Street in Wellsboro. The audience is welcome to bring lawn chairs and/or blankets and sit on the grass in front of the outdoor stage or on Central Avenue, which will be closed to traffic between Main Street and the Warehouse Theatre to provide space for social distancing.

Dressed in 1790s period clothing, Kruk will tell how the Headless Horseman really lost his head along with the origin stories about the ghost of Tragical Major André, the Wailing Woman in White and other spirits surrounding this mythical figure. He brings these ghostly characters to life using varied voices, accents, gestures and audience participation.

“This program is family friendly with tales that are spooky but not scary or gory. It is also for adults, including ghost and history buffs,” Kruk said. “Some of the stories are about the German soldiers that fought with the British Army during the American Revolutionary War.”

Selected “Best Storyteller in New York’s Hudson Valley,” Kruk has been featured on NBC’s The Today Show, CBS Sunday Morning, ABC’s Good Morning America, The Travel Channel, and the BBC. He has eight award-winning recordings, and is the author of two books, “Legends and Lore of Sleepy Hollow and the Hudson Valley,” and “Legends and Lore of the Hudson Highlands.”

For more information, visit deanecenter.com, email office@deanecenter.com, or call (570) 724-6220.

Photo by Rudolf Von Dommele
Jonathan Kruk (shown) hurls the pumpkin head as he shares the tale of the Headless Horseman from “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” during a solo performance in Sleepy Hollow, New York.

FREE OUTDOOR CONCERT WITH MAMA CORN IS SATURDAY AFTERNOON, OCT, 10 AT 3 P.M.

Mama Corn, known for its vocal harmonies, fiery picking and lively stage show, will perform Saturday, Oct. 10 at 3 p.m. on the outdoor stage on the Central Avenue side of the Deane Center for the Performing Arts at 104 Main Street in Wellsboro. The concert is free and open to the public. Donations are appreciated.

Based in Altoona, Pa. the band is a mainstay on the mid-Atlantic bluegrass festival circuit. Members include co-founders Jeremy Nelson of Hollidaysburg on banjo and mandolin, Bruce Forr of Duncansville on guitar, John Stevens of Bellwood on dobro and harmonica, and Bryan Homan of Bellefonte on upright bass.

This band played its first gig in April of 2007 and is now its 13th year. “We had to cancel all of our scheduled public shows in the spring and summer due to COVID-19,” said Nelson. “We have been performing at a lot of private parties. The outdoor concert at the Deane Center will be our first public appearance in 2020,” he said.

“We play everything from Bill Monroe, Pink Floyd and the Bee Gees to Flatt and Scruggs and Crosby Stills and Nash,” said Nelson. “Our bread and butter is our original music. We have three studio CDs and all three are heavy on our original music. We are all multi-instrumentalists and singer-songwriters known for our quirky, onstage antics, and fun-loving attitude. At this point in our careers, we pretty much play whatever makes us happy. We read the crowd, throw out our set list and go with the flow. The fun we have on stage is infectious and soon the audience is joining in.”

The audience will hear recognizable tunes such as “Fox on the Run”; “Driving My Life Away”; “Helplessly Hoping”, “Foggy Mountain Breakdown”, “Fearless” and “End of the Line” along with the band’s original fan favorites, such as “About a Minute Ago”, “Shenandoah Mountain Tops”, “Someday Knock on Wood” and “The Hanging of Alfred Andrews.”

Their music has been met with superb reviews by such respected industry outlets as Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine, the Bluegrass Preservation Society, and the Pennsylvania Musician Magazine. Mama Corn has also performed at some of the most prestigious venues in the country such as The Historic Wheeling Jamboree, Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival and the Rochester International Jazz Festival, to name a few.

The audience is welcome to bring lawn chairs and/or blankets and sit on the grass in front of the outdoor stage or on Central Avenue, which will be closed to traffic between Main Street and the Warehouse Theatre to provide space for social distancing.

For more information, visit deanecenter.com, email office@deanecenter.com, or call (570) 724-6220.

Photo provided
Mama Corn includes (from left) John Stevens, Bruce Forr, Jeremy Nelson and Bryan Homan.

REGISTER NOW FOR SATURDAY, OCT. 24 NRA BASIC PISTOL CLASS

The National Rifle Association Basic Pistol Class is being offered from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 24 at the pistol range at the Lambs Creek Sportsman’s Club at 339 Sportsman’s Club Road, Mansfield, Pa. The class is open to novice and experienced pistol shooters and owners.

Participants will learn how to safely handle and shoot a pistol, as well as how to clean and store a firearm. Other topics to be discussed are: pistol mechanisms and operation, building pistol shooting skills, and pistol selection and use. Instructor is Marilyn Jones.

A shooter can bring his or her own pistol or revolver for the class or borrow a .22 pistol for the day. Those who borrow a pistol should bring 100 rounds of .22 long rifle ammunition. Those who bring their own pistol or revolver are asked to bring 100 rounds of ammunition for their guns.

The fee for this eight-hour course is $50 per person to cover the handbook, handouts, lunch and water or Gatorade to drink. The class is limited to 12 men and women. Only seven spaces remain.

To register or for answers to questions about this class or to borrow a pistol for the day and/or eye and ear protection, contact Jones at (570) 549-2794 or by email at jones_mk@yahoo.com.

“LIFESPAN OF A FACT” CAST MEMBERS ARE NAMED

Director Jessie Thompson of Middlebury Center has announced the names of the actors she cast in “The Lifespan of a Fact.”

Cody Losinger is Jim, the young fact-checker; Gabe Hakvaag is John, the seasoned writer; and Lilace Guignard is Emily, the magazine publisher. All three are from Wellsboro.

The play opened on Broadway on Oct. 18, 2018. It is based on “The Lifespan of a Fact,” a book published in 2012 and co-written by John D’Agata and Jim Fingal about their real-life experiences as an author and fact-checker.

“The subject matter is timely. That’s what drew me to this play,” Thompson said.

“In August, I submitted it to the Hamilton-Gibson Artistic Planning Committee for consideration after the decision was made against doing ‘Silent Sky’ this November.” After getting the committee’s OK, Thompson held auditions in mid-September and selected the cast.

“While it sounds like this might be a political play, it isn’t,” said Thompson. “It’s a conflict between a seasoned writer and his newly graduated from Harvard fact-checker. The writer’s essay is about a young man who committed suicide. John wants this man’s death to impact his readers so he adjusts words and changes facts to heighten that impact. Jim, his fact-checker, sees things differently. He feels this is a serious subject and that John shouldn’t be playing around with the truth,” she said.

“In the final scene, the audience learns the writer; fact-checker and publisher can’t come up with the right answer. There is recognition that the weight of this young man’s death is in the way John wrote it and has the impact he intended. So there is value in his type of creative writing. The fact-checker on the other hand wants only true facts included,” said Thompson.

“I think this play shows that not everything is black and white. The tricky thing is that the writer is not a journalist. He is an essayist but his story is going to appear in a journalistic magazine and therefore should be truthful. Neither Jim nor John changes their viewpoints and both have merit. It’s up to the publisher to decide whether to print the essay or not,” she said.

“The writing in this play is smart and the characters are great. There is a lot to laugh at even though there is a tragic side to this play, too,”

Thompson describes John as a salty, well-seasoned, intimidating guy who is also sensitive and articulate and has a dry sense of humor. “He has been a successful writer for many years and doesn’t like to be told what to do. The actor who plays John has to be willing to go to emotional places and Gabe can do that as he showed in his audition,” she said.

Cody Losinger plays Jim who is really intelligent and although brand new to fact-checking is willing to stand his ground and stick to his points. “Cody brought all those elements to his character during his audition,” said Thompson.

Emily played by Lilace is an executive who stands on her own two feet, says what she thinks and is not afraid to speak her mind. She has to get these two guys to cooperate and is comfortable stepping into those shoes.

“Lilace and Gabe are both writers and familiar with what goes on in these types of relationships so they both bring that experience to their roles,” she said.

“I took a long break from acting after being in a theater company in Los Angeles. We did new plays that had just been written that year or the year before or were premiers. I get excited about offering shows like that,” said Thompson.
“I’m relatively new to directing. I’ve done a few things but this is my first main stage production,” she said.

Performances of “The Lifespan of a Fact” will be at 7:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, Nov. 6 and 7 and 13 and 14 and at 2:30 p.m. on Sundays, Nov. 8 and 15 in the Warehouse Theatre in Wellsboro.

Tickets are $14 for adults and $6 for youth, 18 and under. Also available are FlexPasses for $60. No tickets are sold at the door. They have to be ordered in advance and prepaid online at hgp.booktix.com or by calling the HG office at (570) 724-2079 with credit card information.

Photo provided
Jessie Thompson