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1. NEW – Eight People Sight 34 Bird Species on Saturday Morning, April 13 Bird Walk; Next Walk is This Saturday, April 20
2. Mill Cove Earth Day at Smythe Park is This Saturday, April 20 press release with 3 photos and captions – REMINDER WITH NEW INFORMATION
3. Wellsboro is Competing to be Quarterfinalist in Independent We Stand’s 2019 America’s Main Streets Contest; Voting to End This Sunday, April 21
4. NEW – Wellsboro Rotary Club Laurel Festival Booster Dinner is Wednesday, April 24; Get Tickets by This Saturday, April 20
5. John McCutcheon Concert with Joe Crookston is Wednesday, April 24 press release with two photos and captions – REMINDER WITH NEW INFORMATION
6. NEW – Wellsboro Women’s Chorus to Celebrate 40th Anniversary with Concert featuring Wednesday Morning Musicales Chorus on Saturday, May 4
7. NEW – Rave On Concert is Saturday, May 4

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

EIGHT PEOPLE SIGHT 34 BIRDS ON APRIL 13 WALK; NEXT WALK IS THIS SATURDAY, APRIL 20

Tiadaghton Audubon Society members Gary Tyson and Rich Faber led the second Saturday morning birding walk at Hills Creek State Park at 111 Spillway Road in Charleston Township, about seven miles northeast of Wellsboro.

The walks are free and open to the public. They provide an opportunity to see the water and woodland birds that live in or migrate through the park. Coming up this Saturday, April 20 is the third bird walk. “We expect to see warblers arrive in full force, including new species we haven’t seen yet this year,” said Sean Minnick.

“Saturday, April 13 was an even nicer day than April 6,” Minnick said. “It was warm and sunny at 8 a.m. and throughout the walk. Four of us were Tiadaghton Audubon Society members and four were from the public. One of the women was a Wellsboro school teacher, another was from Troy and the third woman had not been on a bird walk in several years.

“The osprey is continuing to build its nest. We also saw a female northern cardinal sitting on her nest and a pair of black-capped chickadees making a nest in a hole in a dead tree,” said Minnick.

“In total, we saw 34 bird species during the April 13 walk, nine of them for the first time this year,” Minnick said. “The nine included the double-crested cormorant, broad-winged hawk, yellow-bellied sapsucker, northern flicker, northern rough-winged swallow, ruby-crowned kinglet, brown-headed cowbird and our first warblers of the season – the pine warbler and yellow-rumped warbler.” The other 25 bird species were identified on both the April 6 and 13 walks. All 34 species were also reported in 2018.”

Those on the April 13 walk saw three migratory bird species that had stopped in the park on their way from wintering in the Southeastern United States to their summer locations. They were: the double-crested cormorant, which summers in the Great Lakes Region of the U.S.A. and Canada; and the ring-necked duck and ruby-crowned kinglet, which summer in Canada.

“We also saw 20 bird species that live at Hills Creek year-round,” Minnick said. They included: the American crow, American goldfinch, American robin, bald eagle, black-capped chickadee, brown creeper, brown-headed cowbird, Canada goose, common merganser, dark-eyed junco, downy woodpecker, eastern bluebird, great blue heron, mallard, northern cardinal, northern flicker, red-breasted nuthatch, tufted titmouse, white-breasted nuthatch and wood duck.

Also identified on April 13 were 11 bird species that are spring, summer and/or fall residents at Hills Creek, including the broad-winged hawk, eastern phoebe, northern rough-winged swallow, osprey, pied-billed grebe, pine warbler, red-winged blackbird, song sparrow, tree swallow, yellow-bellied sapsucker and yellow-rumped warbler.

For the Saturday, April 20 bird walk meet at the park office at 111 Spillway Road, Wellsboro. The walk will begin promptly at 8 a.m. Registration is not required. Everyone is invited to participate, including first timers to experienced birders. Bring binoculars and cameras and wear weather-appropriate, subdued clothing and sturdy walking shoes. For those who do not own binoculars, the Tiadaghton Audubon Society has 20 pairs available for adults and children, ages 7 and up.

The walks are slow-paced and cover a limited distance. “They can last two hours depending on how many birds we are seeing,” said Minnick. Upcoming walks will be on Saturdays, April 27 and May 4, 11, 18 and 25.

For updates and local birding information, visit tiadaghtonaudubon.blogspot.com or www.facebook.com/TiadaghtonAudubon/ or email tasmember@yahoo.com. For information about Hills Creek State Park, call the park office between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. weekdays at (570) 724-4246.

Photo by Sean Minnick
Sean Minnick took this photo of a female common merganser sitting on top of a wood duck nesting box at Hills Creek State Park during the Saturday, April 13 birding walk.

MILL COVE EARTH DAY AT SMYTHE PARK IS THIS SATURDAY, APRIL 20

This Saturday, April 20 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Smythe Park in Mansfield will be the Eighth Annual Mill Cove Earth Day sponsored by Repsol, Dominion and Mill Cove, Inc. Earth Day is free and open to the public and will be held rain or shine. Parking is free, too. No dogs or smoking are allowed in the park.

Due to severe flooding that left debris and mud in its wake, Mill Cove Earth Day cannot be held at the Mill Cove Environmental Area this year. Earth Day will return to Mill Cove in 2020.

At Smythe Park, there will be lots of hands-on activities and educational programs for people of all ages, toddlers to adults,” said Dr. David Flesch, who chairs Mill Cove Earth Day.

The free showstopper events will be zip line rides throughout the day, birds of prey demonstrations and at 1:30 p.m. Van Wagner of Danville, Pa., a singer/songwriter, historian and Pennsylvania logger and coal miner, presenting a free program on the history of coal mining in this area followed by a concert during which he will perform his original songs about the coal and lumbering eras. Wagner released his 24th CD “Recluse” in 2018.

Free trips on the zip line will provide an exhilarating way to view Earth Day activities. Riders who weigh more than 60 pounds and less than 250 pounds will climb the stairs, hook the harness to the zip line and take a quick, 100 to 110-foot trip from about 25 feet up in the air to the ground.

Cheri Heimbach and her son Jonathan of Lewisburg will do two educational falconry demonstrations, the first at 10:30 a.m. and the second at 12:15 p.m. featuring a barn owl, gyrfalcon, Harris’s hawk, eagle owl, peregrine falcon, aplomado falcon and a rescued screech owl. The birds will demonstrate their agility in capturing prey by chasing down lures and flying through hoops. Live prey is not used. Attendees will also learn about the role these birds play in maintaining the balance of nature.

There will be more than 50 vendors on-site with unique items and food for sale. Among the many things to see and do will be free archery demonstrations and archery target shooting with equipment provided free to use during the day; a hydrological model demonstration; planting trees in Smythe Park; and Kiddie Corner with free activities for toddlers to first graders. Guthrie Troy Community Hospital staff will be on-site with a simulator that will allow people to Stop the Bleed by applying direct pressure and a tourniquet to an injury. The Mountain Modelaires will fly small electric helicopters and quad copters and have a computer with an R/C flight simulator so people can try flying.

The GPS address for Smythe Park is 23 Dorsett Drive, Mansfield, PA 16933. The park’s main gate is on South Main Street (Business Route 15) in the borough. North Penn-Mansfield High School at 73 West Wellsboro Street (U.S. Route 6) is at one end of the park and the Warren L. Miller Elementary School at 1 Dorsett Drive is at the other.

For more information about Mill Cove Earth Day at Smythe Park and directions, visit www.millcoveinc.org.

Photo by John Eaton
Archery target shooting and demonstrations will be given free at Mill Cove Earth Day in Smythe Park in downtown Mansfield this Saturday, April 20. Archery equipment will be provided free to use.

Photo by Bob Brown
Van Wagner will perform some of the songs he has written about this area during Mill Cove Earth Day in Smythe Park in Mansfield this Saturday, April 20.

Photo by John Eaton
Frank Granelli (left) and Tom Chilson check out an electric helicopter at last year’s Mill Cove Earth Day. Weather and wind permitting, electric helicopters and small fixed wing aircraft will be flown this Saturday, April 20 during the event in Smythe Park.

WELLSBORO IS COMPETING TO BE QUARTERFINALIST IN INDEPENDENT WE STAND’S 2019 AMERICA’S MAIN STREETS CONTEST; VOTING TO END THIS SUNDAY, APRIL 21

Wellsboro, Pennsylvania is competing in the Independent We Stand 2019 America’s Main Streets contest. The grand prize is $25,000 in cash for downtown revitalization and “buying local” activities.

Voting for the top 25 quarterfinalists is now underway and will end at 11:59:59 p.m. this Sunday, April 21.

According to contest rules, an individual who was at least 18 years old as of Feb. 25, 2019 can cast an online vote for Wellsboro once every 24 hours now through April 21 from his or her IP address by visiting www.mainstreetcontest.com, clicking on the Wellsboro Main Street photograph and then on “Vote.” Or, people can vote once a day by going to the Wellsboro Area Chamber of Commerce Facebook page or the From My Shelf Books Facebook page.

“During the inaugural contest in 2016, Wellsboro was named one of the top 10 semifinalists but did not win,” said Kevin Coolidge, a member of the Wellsboro Area Chamber of Commerce who with his wife, co-own From My Shelf Books, an independent bookstore in Wellsboro. Coolidge nominated Wellsboro for the 2016 contest as well as the 2017 contest and this year’s. “I am voting for Wellsboro to win $25,000 to invest in our downtown,” said Coolidge. “People can help Wellsboro by voting online every day.”

If Wellsboro is named one of the top 25 vote getters on Monday, April 22, people will be invited to help the town become one of the 10 semifinalists by voting daily online in the second round being held from 10 a.m. on Monday, April 29 to 11:59:59 p.m. on Sunday, May 26. The grand prize winner will be selected from the top 10 and told of the win on Sunday, June 2. The public announcement will be made on Monday, June 3.

The grand prize is a $25,000 check; a $1,000 certificate for STIHL equipment; Do it Best Corp. $500 shopping spree; PPG $500 shopping spree; $500 Nationwide Marketing Group shopping spree; Free One Day Downtown Assessment from Flip This Town, a special plaque ($100 value) and recognition on Independent We Stand social media channels and public relations outreach.

Initiated in 2016 by Independent We Stand, the national small business movement, the goal of this contest is to promote the importance and strong economic benefits of Main Streets and the small businesses that help them thrive and how communities can educate their neighbors about the many benefits of “buying local.”

For more information, contact the Wellsboro Area Chamber of Commerce at (570) 724-1926.

WELLSBORO ROTARY CLUB LAUREL FESTIVAL BOOSTER DINNER IS WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24; GET TICKETS BY THIS SATURDAY, APRIL 20

The Wellsboro Rotary Club Laurel Festival Booster Dinner is Wednesday, April 24 at 7 p.m. at the Penn Wells Hotel in Wellsboro. The deadline to register to attend is Saturday, April 20. The event is open to the public.

The evening will begin with a cash bar at 6 p.m. Tickets are $40 per person and are available at the Wellsboro Area Chamber of Commerce office at 114 Main Street in Wellsboro. All dinner proceeds will benefit the Pennsylvania State Laurel Festival.

During the booster dinner, Richard “Dick” Ford will be recognized posthumously with the Rotary International Paul Harris Fellows award for his community service and involvement. Ford was a member of the Wellsboro Rotary Club for 61 years. He served as president in 1963 and 1964. On April 1 of this year, he passed away at the age of 93 at UPMC Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hospital in Wellsboro.

“The Paul Harris Fellows award is the highest honor we can present to community members,” said Wellsboro Rotarian Jim Paxson, chair of the annual dinner. “It recognizes a person who exemplifies Rotary’s motto of service above self. Dick was first recognized with this award 26 years ago in 1993,” Paxson said.

A raffle is being held in conjunction with the booster dinner. Tickets are $1 for one or $5 for six and are available from any Rotary Club member or at the Wellsboro Area Chamber of Commerce office until April 24. The raffle prizes are: a $500 VISA card donated by Citizens and Northern Bank; a quarter side of beef donated by Hillstone Farms and Northwest Bank; and $300 in gas donated by Acorn Market. In addition, there will be door prizes and special drawings at the dinner.

For dinner tickets, raffle tickets or more information, call the Wellsboro Area Chamber of Commerce at (570) 724-1926.

Photo provided
Richard “Dick” Ford

JOHN MCCUTCHEON CONCERT WITH JOE CROOKSTON IS WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24

This coming Wednesday, April 24, at 7 p.m., John McCutcheon with special guest Joe Crookston will perform in the Deane Center’s Coolidge Theatre at 104 Main Street in Wellsboro.

Crookston will open the concert and perform for the first 30 minutes. Based in Ithaca, N.Y., this folk singer and songwriter is also a master storyteller in song. His tunes have a way of cutting through the outside noise and right to the core of a person’s soul and consciousness. A multi-instrumentalist, his mastery of guitar, clawhammer banjo, fiddle, mandolin and accordion fuses both contemporary and traditional elements. An engaging live performer, Crookston delivers energy and well-written story songs. His music is deeply rooted in the grand celebration of life, death, ancestry and the interconnectedness of us all.

McCutcheon is a singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, storyteller, author and social and labor activist. He has been at the forefront of American folk music since the late 1970s. Currently, he is on tour with his latest CD, “To Everyone in All the World: A Celebration of Pete Seeger” released on Jan. 11 of this year, the 100th birthday year of his friend and mentor. Born in 1919, Seeger passed away in 2014 at the age of 94.

In Wellsboro, McCutcheon will sing some of his originals along with songs composed by others, like Seeger’s “If I Had a Hammer”, “Turn, Turn, Turn” or “Guantanamera” while accompanying himself on many different instruments, such as the banjo, guitar, 12-string guitar, piano, hammered and mountain dulcimer, fiddle, jaw harp and autoharp. McCutcheon is also known for sharing personal stories with the audience between songs as well as responding to audience requests to perform tunes by other folk artists, such as Bob Dylan.

McCutcheon was eleven years old when his mother insisted they watch the news reports about the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, the historic 1963 event during which Martin Luther King, Jr., gave his “I Have a Dream” speech and Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, and Peter Paul and Mary helped cement the relationship between mainstream folksingers and the civil rights movement. “That’s where I discovered folk music,” McCutcheon said.

His next discovery was Pete Seeger. He didn’t know anything about Seeger until he bought his album, “We Shall Overcome,” recorded live at Carnegie Hall in 1963. It was filled with iconic songs from the civil rights movement. “I’d never heard a live concert recording before and I certainly had never heard an audience like that,” McCutcheon said. “It has shaped how I think concerts can and often should be: It’s a conversation, a trip you take together.” In the 55 years since, McCutcheon has released dozens of albums and performed in countless venues sharing a musical conversation with his audience.

This concert is BYOB. Audience members can bring their favorite beverages and snacks and reserve a table at no extra charge. Tickets are $22. For tickets and a table, call (570) 724-6220 or visit deanecenter.com.

Photo by Irene Young
John McCutcheon is surrounded by the many different instruments he plays during his concerts.

Photo by Neale Eckstein
Joe Crookston will open the April 24 concert.

WELLSBORO WOMEN’S CHORUS TO CELEBRATE 40TH ANNIVERSARY WITH CONCERT FEATURING WEDNESDAY MORNING MUSICALES CHORUS ON SATURDAY, MAY 4

At 7 p.m. on Saturday, May 4, the members of the Wellsboro Women’s Chorus will celebrate their 40th anniversary during “Then Sings My Soul,” their annual spring concert at the United Methodist Church at 36 Main Street in Wellsboro. Special guest will be the Wednesday Morning Musicales Chorus.

All former Wellsboro Women’s Chorus members are invited to the May 4 concert to participate in the 40th anniversary celebration and join in singing “What Would I Do Without My Music.” Those who want to participate are asked to contact Diana Frazier at 570-439-0923 or Suzanne Niles at 570-439-0186 for more information.

The two choruses will sing 17 different tunes incorporating musical styles from gospel to Broadway, inspirational, pop songs and contemporary.

Opening the concert will be the 43 members of the Wellsboro Women’s Chorus directed by Suzanne Niles and accompanied by Judy
Smithgall. They will sing “Great Is The Lord” by Michael and Deborah Smith, arranged by Ed Lojeski; “Bless The Lord” by Jonas Myrin and Matt Redman, arranged by Heather Sorenson; “The Prayer” by Carole Sager and David Foster, arranged by Michael Lawrence; “Then Sings My Soul” by Stuart Hine with choral setting by Mary McDonald; “What Would I Do Without My Music” by Harry Middlebrooks and Bruce Belland, arranged by Ed Lojeski; and “Praise His Holy Name” by Keith Hampton.

The 27 members of the Wednesday Morning Musicales directed by Diana Frazier and accompanied by Marian Miller will sing the following: “Once Upon a Time” by Lee Adams and Charles Strouse, arranged by Steve Zegree; “It’s De-Lovely” by Cole Porter, arranged by Jay Althouse; “The Phantom Of The Opera,” a medley by Andrew Lloyd Webber, arranged by Ed Lojeski; “The Impossible Dream” by Joe Darion and Mitch Leigh, arranged by Mark Hayes; and “You Make Me Feel So Young” by Mack Gordon and Josef Myron.

The Wellsboro Women’s Chorus, directed by Diana Frazier and accompanied by Judy Smithgall, will then sing: “One Fine Day” by Gerry Goffin and Carole King, arranged by Mac Huff; “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” by Gerry Goffin and Carol King, arranged by Mark Brymer; “It’s Too Late” by Toni Stern and Carole King, arranged by Roger Emerson; “You’ve Got a Friend” by Carole King, arranged by Mac Huff; “Dancing Queen” from “Mamma Mia!” by Benn Andersson, Stig Anderson and Bjorn Ulvaeus, arranged by Alan Billingsley; and “Celebration.” arranged by Kirby Shaw.

For the finale, the two choruses, directed by Diana Frazier with piano accompaniment by Marian Miller, will join in singing “Lift Every Voice and Sing” by James Weldon Johnson and J. Rosamund Johnson with the choral setting by Allen Pote.

A good will offering will be taken at the door.

“We welcome new members,” Frazier said. The Wellsboro Women’s Chorus rehearses Thursday nights at the Deane Center for the Performing Arts and the Wednesday Morning Musicales on Wednesday mornings at the Gmeiner Art and Cultural Center, both in Wellsboro. Anyone who has a desire to sing and an interest in joining either group is invited to contact Diana Frazier at (570) 439-0923.

Photo by John Eaton
Wellsboro Women’s Chorus members (shown) are celebrating their 40th anniversary this year.

RAVE ON CONCERT IS SATURDAY, MAY 4

On Saturday, May 4 at 7:30 p.m., Rave On, a three-member New Jersey-based band known for performing the music of Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison, Elvis Presley, Ricky Nelson and other legends of early rock and roll, will take the stage in the Coolidge Theatre at the Deane Center for the Performing Arts at 104 Main Street in Wellsboro.

Buddy Holly and J. I. Allison founded the Crickets band in Lubbock, Texas in 1957. The hits that Holly wrote or co-wrote and either performed solo or with the Crickets have influenced virtually every major rock and roll performer in the United States and abroad from Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan to the Rolling Stones and the Beatles, whose name was Crickets-inspired,” according to the band’s biography on the Crickets website.

Rave On will perform some of Holly’s hits, such as “Peggy Sue,” “That’ll Be The Day,” “Not Fade Away,” ” Maybe Baby,” “Oh Boy” and “It’s So Easy To Fall In Love.” All are rock classics and considered primary lessons in how rock music should be written, played and enjoyed.

Also on Rave On’s set list are other songs like Roy Orbison’s “Pretty Woman,” “Only The Lonely,” “Crying” and “Running Scared” along with the Everly Brothers “Wake Up Little Susie” and Don McLean’s “American Pie.” McLean wrote the song in 1971 in tribute to Holly. Only 22 years old, Holly had chartered a single-engine airplane to fly from Clear Water, Iowa to Fargo, North Dakota to avoid traveling by bus in the midst of the Winter Dance Party tour. The plane crashed into an Iowa cornfield just after takeoff on Feb. 3, 1959 killing Holly, Ritchie Valens, The Big Bopper and the pilot.

Rave On includes lead vocalist Chris Roselle on guitar and backing vocalists Pete Farley on bass guitar and Don Guinta on drums. The group has performed throughout New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania. This is the second time they will be on stage in Wellsboro. The first was on April 22, 2017.

“I love the music of Buddy Holly and Roy Orbison and no one was performing their songs,” Roselle said. “That’s when I came up with the idea to form a band and contacted Don via Facebook. We had attended high school together years earlier in New Jersey.” In November of 2009, Rave On became a reality. This November, the threesome will begin their tenth year together. “We have proven that early rock and roll music is timeless and continues to appeal to people of all ages,” Roselle said.

Because this is a BYOB event, concertgoers are encouraged to bring their own favorite beverages and snacks. Tickets are $20 and free for children 12 and under accompanied by an adult. To reserve a table and for tickets, call (570) 724-6220 or visit www.deanecenter.com.

Photo provided
Shown are the members of Rave On (from left to right) backing vocalists Don Guinta on drums and Pete Farley on bass guitar and lead vocalist Chris Roselle on guitar.