Hi
Everyone!...welcome to Out and About in Home Page Country. It occurred to
Mr. Kennedy and me that maybe those of you who live some distance away from Home
Page Country might be eager for some occasional little "Back Home" bits of news
for your reading pleasure. This feature will run occasionally on Tuesdays along
with Where Are They Now, On Their way, Mom and Pop businesses, etc. If you like
the feature and have suggestions or requests for things you'd like to read about,
just let me know. I'll grab my camera, my pencil and notebook and do my best to
get the "scoop" for you. So without further ado...shall we?
 |
White
Christmas in the works? First snowfall of the
season as seen on Sunday at
a Vintondale-area farm. |
Oh,
the weather outside is frightful!... Over the weekend winter arrived with
a vengeance in Home Page Country causing hazardous driving conditions and school
cancellations on Monday. But the bright side? We Home Page Country residents won't
be "Dreaming of a White Christmas"...we'll most likely be having one.
 |
On
hand to pose for a photo and show off that new Frazier fir are George (left) and
Tim Tatarko from Twin Rocks. |
'Tis
the season...Home Page Country is gearing up for Christmas and the local tree
farms are buzzing with activity. Mike Cocho of Cocho's Evergreen Nurseries, Inc.,
on Cardiff Road gave me a tour of his barn where this year's cut evergreen trees
are waiting to be taken home and decorated. Mike says the cutting of the trees
begins mid-November for shipping to Baltimore; Washington, D.C., and Pittsburgh.
Balled trees are available too. No...the needles haven't fallen off, these trees
are dug with their roots intact and shipped with the root ball wrapped in burlap
for planting outdoors after the holidays are gone. Mike says he annually ships
approximately 120 semi-truckloads of the balled trees to Massachusetts, Michigan,
New Jersey, Virginia, North Carolina, and even as far away as Colorado. According
to Mike, the average Christmas tree is 6-8 ft. tall, with Frazier and Douglas
firs being the most popular with a few Scotch pines thrown in. The Frazier fir,
a tree that resembles a Blue Spruce but has a softer feel to the branches, has
become one of the favorites. Another interesting tree is a Concolor fir. It's
a long-needled tree that emits the aroma of citrus fruit. As luck would have it,
two local tree shoppers were available for a photo.
The
Nanty Glo Beautification Committee has been busy decorating the business district
for the holidays. The bridge that spans the Blacklick Creek is decorated with
green wreathes, each sporting a bright red bow. The gazebo on Chestnut Street
is strung with white lights which add a holiday mood to the little Gazebo Park.
The parklett next to the Library is a Toy Land of wooden soldiers, decorated trees,
and a wooden sleigh and deer. Committee president Barb Leidy hinted to me about
a special "surprise" for this year's decorations. It seems our hard-working Beautification
Committee has garnered a government grant that enabled them to purchase several
lighted snowflakes of the type that decorate so many downtown business districts
for the holidays. All that needs to be done is the individual pole wiring and
Nanty Glo will be "a-glo" (pardon the pun) for the holidays. Well done, Folks!
The good folks
at the Niner Diner have informed me they have several thousand dollars worth
of new toys they plan to donate to local churches for distribution to those in
need this holiday season. "I want to keep it local," said the owner of the Niner
Diner. "Nanty Glo has been good to us...we want to pay back a little."
The
Journal office was the location of an impromptu casual meeting of some
Historical Society members (including yours truly) on Friday afternoon. According
to society board member John Dropcho and his lovely wife Helena, the local Historical
Society's holiday crystal mug sale is going full-blast with several NTAMHS members
gathering at the Library this past week to wrap for shipping the mugs purchased
by out-of-towners. They still have mugs for sale (hint...hint), and don't forget,
the Life in the Valley CD is still
available.
Big
doins' and sounds of the season were happening Thursday evening December 9,
as St. John Vianney Roman Catholic Church in Mundys Corner hosted the Festival
of Choirs, the annual Christmas program presented by the Conemaugh Valley Area
Ministerium Association. According to Bill Martin, our hard-working Nanty Glo
Journal editor, the sight and sounds of the concert made up of choirs from
the participating churches was "something to behold." The churches participating
in the two-hour musical presentation were: Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church,
St. John the Baptist Orthodox Church, and Mt. Sinai Baptist Church, all of Conemaugh;
Summit Chapel United Methodist Church, Wesley Chapel; the combined parishes of
SS. Gregory and Barnabas Parish, Bon Air and Daisy Town, and, of course, St. John
Vianney Roman Catholic Church. After the musical presentation, everyone gathered
in the church social hall to enjoy some holiday sugar plums in the way of homemade
cookies and beverages. I'm sorry I missed this very special holiday event, but
as Mr. Martin suggested: "Ya gotta read the paper...Bimbo." I shall from now on,
Bill...I shall. And there's always next year!
And
on a somber note, Home Page Country has suffered the loss of two of its young
people through tragic circumstances. Remington "Remmy" Rose, 15, Vintondale (Buffington
Township), and Nicholas Kotelnicki, 18, of Ebensburg but with ties to Nanty Glo,
both passed away on December 5th. The Nanty Glo Home Page extends our sincerest
condolences to their grieving families and friends.
