2005 Report – (1.4 mg PDF file)

Historic Kennett Square
Board of Directors
Thomas C. Swett – President
Apartments & Cottages at 316 S.Broad St.
Jennifer Abracht-Smith –V-President
Rigler & Perna
Jeff Yetter – Treasurer
Kennett House Bed & Breakfast
George Bennitt
Kennett Steak & Mushroom
Larry Bosley
LGB Properties
Ray Cornell
DNB First
JoAnn Fisher
Fox & Roach Realtors
Matt Grieco
Kuzo & Grieco Funeral Home
Kathi Lafferty
The Growing Tree/Mushroom Cap
Thomas Macaluso
Macaluso Rare & Fine Books
Jeff Norman
Jeffrey Norman Architects
Joseph G. Riper
Riley Riper Hollin & Colagreco
Ms. Linda Tice
Genesis HealthCare
Mr. Sean Walker
Key Real Estate
Mary Skrzat Hutchins
Executive Director
2006 Calendar of Events for Downtown Kennett Square
APRIL 7
OCTOBER 6
First Friday Art Stroll
First Friday Art Stroll
MAY 5
OCTOBER 7
First Friday Art Stroll
Kennett Square Brewfest
MAY 7
OCTOBER 23
Cinco de Mayo Fiesta
Scarecrow Competition
MAY 13
OCTOBER 25
Spring Plant Sale
Halloween Parade
MAY 19
NOVEMBER 3
Farmer’s Market Opens
First Friday Art Stroll
MAY 29
NOVEMBER 24
Memorial Day Parade
Holiday Downtown Open House
and Parade
JUNE 2
First Friday Art Stroll
JULY 7
First Friday Art Stroll
AUGUST 4
DECEMBER 1
First Friday Art Stroll
DECEMBER 3
Horse-drawn Carriage Rides
Murder Mystery Art Stroll
DECEMBER 10
SEPTEMBER 1
Annual Historic Holiday Home Tour
Horse-drawn Carriage Ride
First Friday Art Stroll
SEPTEMBER 9 & 10
Mushroom Festival
DECEMBER 17
Horse-drawn Carriage Ride
HISTORIC KENNETT SQUARE
2005 ANNUAL REPORT
TRANSFORMING
DOWNTOWN
KENNETT
Strolling the downtown streets, visitors saw a
lot of changes in 2005. Beginning in January,
Harrington’s Coffee Co. moved from State
Street to 109 S. Broad Street. The new digs for
Harrington’s are warm, cozy and welcoming.
In spring, Lynn Sinclair opened Sinclair’s
Sunrise Café and Tea Room at 127 E. State
Street. Sinclair’s is open for breakfast and
lunch 7-days a week. If you haven’t tried her
pancakes – what are you waiting for? They
are simply delicious.
The first art stroll in April saw the opening of
the newest Art Gallery in Kennett Square –
Longwood Art Gallery. Marge Kuhn and
Sheila Washington moved their gallery from
Route 1 to downtown Kennett and it is a
wonderful addition to the monthly art strolls.
In July, the downtown welcomed The Paper
Market at 106 W. State Street. Everyone who
knows Doug Harris, was happy to see him
back in Kennett Square. Doug and his wife,
Susan have a wonderful boutique of exquisite,
hand-made tools for social expression. A few
years back Doug was the coordinator for the
Kennett Square Revitalization Task Force.
In the fall, Challies Famous Grille opened at
104 W. State Street. The BYOB offers pizza,
sandwiches, paninis and specialties that
include baby back ribs and crab cakes. Be sure
to visit for a delicious lunch or dinner. Just in
time for the Mushroom Festival, the Senior
Center Bookstore – Resale Book Shoppe –
moved from 204 E. State Street to 113 S. Union
Street joining Macaluso Rare & Fine Books
and RLD Books – now that stretch of Union
Street is fondly called “Bookstore Row.”
In October we celebrated the opening of Don
and Carol Hope’s second store in downtown
Kennett – Stationery on State. The Hope’s
have the successful Equinox Jewelry and Gifts
and opened their stationery shop right across
the street at 117 W. State Street.
In October Bedbugzz. . . opened their doors
at 204 E. State Street. This fabulous shop
for infants and children is run by Kennett
Square residents Jen Augustine and Kathleen
Caccamo. This shop is full of hand-painted
whimsical furnishings for children and infants.
We rounded out 2005 with the opening of
Salon Allure in late November, just in time for
the holiday open house. Jack and Michelle
Panichi opened their second salon at 101 W.
State Street. They have a large retail section
and are a full-service hair skin and nails salon.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
The major fundraiser for Historic Kennett Square, The
Kennett Brewfest, won the Best Event award from the
Pennsylvania Downtown Center in honor of Main Street’s
25th anniversary. This year the brewfest attracted the most
people – over 1,900. It poured down rain the day of the
brewfest but still people kept coming and having a great
time. It earned the organization about $32,000. The
Brewfest uses about 50 volunteers from the community
and attracts visitors from the mid-Atlantic region; New
England and this year we had six people attend from
Canada. The Brewfest Committee is led by past president
of Historic Kennett Square and current board member Jeff
Norman.
We launched our redesigned Website (below) – that was
paid for with a grant from the Chester County Conference
& Visitor’s Bureau. The Website receives over 10,000
unique visitors a month. Among other things, the Website
has a complete calendar of events that lists all events for
the entire Kennett area. It also has a section on borough
businesses and member businesses have a photo, and if
they have one, a link to their Website. Our Website is used
as a resource for both Kennett residents and tourists.
Board Treasurer and member Jeff Yetter led the Website
effort and continues to oversee the updates and changes.
Historic Kennett Square launched an monthly email
newsletter in June of 2005 to communicate with our partners
and supporters. It includes color pictures and lets readers
know what is happening in downtown Kennett Square.
Currently the newsletter is emailed to more than 1,600
people but that number continues to grow. As part of our
communication outreach, Board President Tom Swett,
Treasurer Jeff Yetter and the Main Street Manager have
made a concerted effort to collect email addresses to add
to our database. Diane Plummer the part-time Historic
Kennett Square employee is responsible for continually
updating the database.
Historic Kennett Square committees were also reorganized
and the new structure and members meant increased
regular attendance at meetings. George Bennitt chairs the
Promotions Committee/Merchants Committee that meets
the second Friday of every month at 8:30 am; Larry Bosley
chairs the Economic Development Committee that meets
the third Wednesday of every month; Jeff Norman chairs
the Design Committee that meets as needed; and the
Executive Committee/Organization Committee meets the
second Tuesday of every month at 8:30 am.
www.historickennettsquare.com
Tom Swett was installed as the new board president in
December, 2004 and that initiated many new organization
policies and procedures for Historic Kennett Square. Tom
and the Executive Committee continually looked for new
board members and we had three new members join the
this year – bringing the total number of board members to
15. The new board members brought fresh ideas and energy
Ten ways you can help
improve downtown
1. Buy goods and services from local
downtown businesses.
2. Attend downtown community
celebrations.
3. Eat at a downtown restaurant at
least once a week.
4. Support efforts to keep the
downtown clean.
5. Perform as many weekend errands
and activities downtown as you can.
6. Walk – don’t drive – to really see
what your downtown has to offer;
Check out the historic architecture.
to the organization. They are as follows: Ray Cornell, manager of the
Kennett Square branch of the Chester County Bank DNB First; Matt Grieco
owner of several funeral homes in southern Chester County including, Kuzo
& Grieco in Kennett Square; and Joe Riper local attorney who specializes
in municipal law and development. The Main Street Manager meets
weekly with the board president to go over all downtown issues.
7. Volunteer with youth on activities
that benefit the downtown.
Over 110,000 people visited Kennett Square for one of our special
events, including the weekly Farmer’s Market on Friday afternoons from
May through October; First Friday Art Strolls held on the first Friday of
every month from April through December; the Mushroom Festival in
September; the Kennett Brewfest in October; the Halloween Parade; the
Tree Lighting and Holiday Parade; and the Candlelight Home Tour.
9. Participate in community discussion
groups on the future of downtown.
8. Take your friends downtown with
you to shop, dine or play.
10. Help start a Main Street Program
or invest time volunteering if one
already exists in your downtown.
Provided by Pennsylvania Downtown Center.
HISTORIC KENNETT SQUARE INCOME AND EXPENSES
INCOME
2005
2006
Events
Brewfest
Membership/Contribution
Grants
MLK Breakfast
106 W. State St. Rents
Miscellaneous
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
21,943
66,250
13,075
90,500
17,380
40,499
65
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
24,383
51,067
12,700
92,350
37,245
45,420
512
Total Income
$ 249,712
$
263,677
Events
Brewfest
Membership
Facade Grants
MLK Breakfast
106 W. State Street
General & Administration
Advertising & Internet
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
21,275
34,918
841
16,631
22,576
28,873
79,467
26,485
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
28,160
31,557
0
28,102
27,214
18,478
69,718
31,903
Total Expenses
$ 231,065
$
235,133
Net Income
$
$
28,545
EXPENSES
18,647