Cherry Hill Sun

Tag: croft farms

  • Art show highlights local photographers

    Abigail Twiford/The Sun
    Winner Christine Bondi’s photo, “Firefall,” displayed the natural phenomenon of the Yosemite Firefall two weeks of the year. She accepted her award from Mayor Dave Fleisher at the Fall Into the Arts juried art show.

    One of the township’s annual traditions is the Fall Into the Arts juried art show at Croft Farms-Art Center. 

    The opening reception for the free display of work by local photographers was held on Nov. 3, and the gallery is open for viewing until Thursday. Pieces on display ranged in size, style and subject matter, including portraits, wildlife and natural landscapes, abandoned buildings and abstract images.

    Amy Bash is a member of the Cherry Hill Arts Board who has two of her own pieces on display. 

    “It’s really very dynamic, very colorful, and there’s a lot of talent,” she said. “It’s wonderful to be able to offer this platform as an exhibition for local artists.”

    The show received 185 submissions, with 72 pieces chosen. Photographers could submit up to three pieces each, with a $10 fee per submission that will help fund a scholarship for students at both of the township’s high schools to help them continue their arts education. 

    The opening reception enabled viewers to meet the photographers behind each of the pieces to learn about their inspiration and process. Three winners were chosen from the submissions and were displayed at the back of the gallery along with honorable mentions. Winners got a cash prize and honorable mention artists received a certificate to honor their achievements.

    Abigail Twiford/The Sun
    Winners and honorable mention photographers celebrate their wins with local officials and members of the Cherry Hill Arts Board.

    Mayor Dave Fleisher, Councilwoman Sangeeta Doshi and Assemblywoman Melinda Kane announced each of the winners and presented their certificates.

    “We’ve been doing this for many years, and I can tell you, this is maybe among the best that we have seen,” the mayor said of the exhibit. “The work is absolutely terrific.”

    Third-place winner Christine Bondi’s photo, “Firefall,” was a landscape showing the natural phenomenon of the Yosemite Firefall, when the sun two weeks of the year illuminates Horsetail Fall on El Capitan, making it appear to glow and look like fire.

    “It was the first time that I ever did solo travel …” Bondi recalled. “And so I almost didn’t go on the trip, because I was scared to death to travel by myself. But I survived, and I have the picture to prove it.”

    First-place winner Becky Lewis’ piece, “Ants on Parade,” is a demonstration of extreme macro photography, with the image of a flower as ants walk along the petals. Her process took several hours because she shot close-ups of each part of the flower to later be joined into one image, a technique known as macro stacking.

    “It’s a collection of like 500 pictures together to get every pedal in focus,” Lewis explained, “and then the ants kind of just magically appeared on that. And normally it would wreck the picture, but for whatever reason, the ants were in focus.

    “I can’t recreate it,” she added. “It’s one of a kind.”

    Lewis’ husband James Lewis also entered work into the show. One of his pieces, an image of a room in an abandoned building through an open door – called “Through the Doorway” – got an honorable mention.

    “I realized that there were stories to tell in these buildings,” he noted. “So I started to try and look for the story … A lot of it has to do with mourning. I lost a lot of family members, and it was kind of a way to express my feelings of grief, a process of working through it.” 

  • Harvest festival draws thousands to Croft Farm

    Cherry Hill hosted its harvest festival on Oct. 19 at Croft Farm, an annual tradition in the township that goes back at least two decades, when it was called the pumpkin festival.

    “Harvest Fest is one of Cherry Hill’s biggest and best events, drawing thousands each year,” said Mayor Dave Fleisher. “This (year) was no different, with perfect weather, food trucks, a beer garden, live entertainment, a petting zoo, pumpkins and over 75 vendors.” 

    Lewis Gorman of the Environmental Advisory Board explains the track identification game to one of the child attendees at the festival.

    At the entrance, large produce palettes full of pumpkins were available for the taking, a major feature of the festival. Music was provided by both a DJ and live musicians. An area for kids activities such as mini golf and Henna art was set aside behind some of the buildings on site, with a bubble machine placed at the entrance.

    Kylie Schimph was in charge of face painting, noting that the Philadelphia Eagles design she offered was particularly popular.

    “It was awesome,” she enthused about the festival. “We had a great time, we had a lot of people, lots of business, and I think the kids really enjoyed it.”

    Township police had their own booth adjacent to the kids section, where they gave out police-branded items and sold shirts to raise money for the Police Unity Tour. They also had a station inside one of the buildings to create ID cards for kids. 

    Officer Anthony Amato creates ID cards for children at the festival.

    The Cherry Hill Environmental Board had a set of displays and activities where families could sit and read books about nature and wildlife, and there were tables of information on the township’s trails and the local ecosystem.

    “We’re just illustrating here that two of our trails are designated as National Recreation trails, yeah, which is kind of a big deal,” explained Lewis Gorman, chair of the township’s Environmental Advisory Committee.  “There’s probably less than 10 in the entire state.” 

    Two games were available that asked kids and adults to identify wildlife by images and animal tracks. Taxidermied animals, antlers, bones, skins and three-dimensional casts of tracks were also on display. 

    “I like getting the adults involved,” Gorman noted. “They learn stuff with a message that all these animals live around here. So get out on the trails, get in contact with nature, and try to find the animals. If you can’t find the animals themselves, sometimes you can find their tracks.” 

    The area furthest from the event entrance featured a food court with vendors serving everything from apple cider donuts to dumplings, while the Mechanical Brewery truck sold beer and seltzers. 

    “I’m proud to bring people of all ages and backgrounds together, and to see record-breaking attendance at so many of our events,” the mayor commented. “It’s a testament to our community’s desire to connect and come together.” 

    A large section of the festival was set aside for local businesses, organizations and vendors who sold desserts and snacks like macarons and vodka-infused cotton candy, as well as handmade crafts. One of the businesses was the mobile bookstore Austen’s Shelf, where township resident Kiera McFadden-Roan stopped to peruse the available selection.

    “It was lots of fun,” she observed of the event. “It was a nice mix of free activities and paid activities, a really nice afternoon.”

  • ‘Sense of community’ at township food fest

    Photos by Abigail Twiford
    Residents take seats at the Al Fresco Affair food truck festival at Croft Farms. Ten vendors provided food from lemonade to lobster.

    The township wrapped up its summer season on Aug. 28 with an Al Fresco Affair food truck festival at Croft Farms that drew about 500 people.

    The event included community groups, local businesses, residents and township officials who enjoyed food from 10 vendors selling everything from popsicles and spring rolls, lemonade to lobster. Attendees over 21 also had access to a beer garden.

    Live music was provided by music duo Aaron Hehl and John Dutton, who both played acoustic guitar and sang a mix of cover songs and original works. 

    Musical duo John Dutton (left) and Aaron Hehl perform a mix of cover and original songs at the festival.

    Tables and chairs were set up in the middle of the Croft Farm lawn, so festival guests could eat comfortably and listen to the music. Others opted to bring their own camping chairs or blankets.

    Township, county and state leaders also made appearances, some mingling with constituents and eating ice pops. 

    “I’ll tell you, there’s a lot of good stuff to eat, that’s for sure,” said Councilman Daniel DiRenzo Jr. “It’s very nice running into all these people on a social side of things. You feel comfortable.

    “That’s what Croft Farms does, it makes you feel comfortable.”

    Mayor Dave Fleisher was also on hand and took the stage to address the community.

    “We are seeing record-breaking attendance at all of our events here,” he noted, “and we’re thrilled that you are supporting it and thrilled it has been a terrific summer coming together, (with) lots more in the fall.”

    “It’s been a wonderful event,” Councilwoman Jill Hulnick observed of the festival. “We have hundreds of people out here, and we’re glad that Cherry Hill can come out and celebrate as a community.”

    Congressman Donald Norcross also made an appearance, walking the grounds before speaking to the crowd.

    “It’s great to see everybody out …” he said. “I enjoy what Cherry Hill does for a sense of community. This is what makes Cherry Hill great … It’s like a great neighborhood. We lived here for 10 years, and my kids started school here. It’s a great place to raise a family.

    “So let’s give it up for Cherry Hill.”

  • ‘A piece of the action’ caring for trails

    Photos by Abigail Twiford
    Cherry Hill Environmental Board members and volunteers gathered recently before making trail improvements at Croft Farm parklands.

    For 32 years, the American Hiking Society has held its annual National Trails Day across the country as a day of service for community pathways by participants who use and appreciate them and to promote conservation and hiking.

    Though the day is usually acknowledged on the first Saturday of June, the Cherry Hill Environmental Board moved its event to the afternoon of the first Sunday so as not to interfere with anyone’s weekend religious services.

    Lewis Gorman is a member of the board.

    “To have trails, you need to have trails made, improved and maintained,” he said. “And that’s one of the functions of National Trails Day. Another is to promote trails like, ‘Hey, they’re out there.’ Many people don’t know.”

    Gorman also explained that one of the main reasons for township trails is to help users connect with pathways for which they are more likely to care.

    “Our work is more than just managing the trail, it’s managing the habitats,” he noted. “Because we’re the environmental board and we’re interested in preserving the entire environment.” 

    The board has hosted volunteers at the Croft Farm parklands to participate in projects that maintain trail quality and the surrounding ecosystem. They include trail erosion control; trash pickup; and improvements like sign replacement, promotion of vegetation growth and invasive species control.

    The volunteers at Croft Farm on June 1 were split into three groups led by members of the board. Gorman led one of them as they replaced broken and damaged trail signage and spread compost around the banks of a fishing pier recently built on the lake. The compost would stimulate native plant growth along the lake banks and the trail; much of the natural vegetation was lost when the pier was built.

    Gorman showed the group how to load wheelbarrows with compost by laying them on their side against the pile and sweeping the compost in, saving time and labor. He also emphasized that since people who use the trails feel connected to them, the crew sent to clean up trash instead headed to nearby roads to keep trash from blowing onto the pathways.

    Lewis Gorman demonstrates how to quickly and efficiently fill a wheelbarrow with compost at Croft Farm.

    “If you maintain the trail, you’ll care about it …” Gorman maintained. “So that’s what this is, to try to develop a core of volunteers that care about trails and nature, and by getting your hands dirty, you have a piece of that action.” 

    The third crew was sent to repair areas of the trails that had eroded from rain and exposed tree roots.

    “People don’t want to walk on roots, and so they walk in further,” Gorman pointed out. “And then, the trail grows from 4 feet to 5 feet to 6 feet to 10 feet to 12 feet … We want them to be sustainable, and that’s part of sustainability. Otherwise, we’ve destroyed an extra 6 feet of nature that we didn’t need to because they’re walking on it. Once you walk on it, then it kills the vegetation.”

    The trails at Croft Farm were lined with timbers secured in place with pieces of rebar. They were filled with fine stone and tamped in place, then topped with a material called stone dust to create a smooth walking surface. Other volunteer projects included clearing downed trees from the paths and removing invasive species like English ivy, a type of vine that climbs up trees and renders them unable to breathe, causing their death.

    “There’s some habitat management going on, some invasive species removal,” Gorman concluded. “Sign, directional and surface improvement. So that’s the kind of things we do to maintain the trail areas and all the natural areas.”

  • Art blooms at Croft Farm juried exhibit

    Cherry Hill’s annual Art Blooms Juried Art Exhibit opened at Croft Farms Arts Center on May 6, welcoming artists, their friends and family and the community.

    The exhibit’s pieces – displayed on the center’s wall – are comprised of painting, drawings and mixed media presented by the Cherry Hill Arts Board. 

    Artists were invited to enter up to three pieces each, for a fee of $10 each. The money benefits the Juried Photography Exhibit, which provides funding for the Gaye Pino Scholarship Award to students pursuing art, music and theater at the township high schools. 

    This year’s Cherry Hill East scholarship winner is theater student Madeleine Pierlott; West’s winner is Julian Dappolone, also a theater student. 

    Photos by Abigail Twiford/The Sun
    Cherry Hill East theater student Madeleine Pierlott accepted her scholarship award at the exhibit on May 6.

    A total of 67 pieces were chosen out of 137 submissions. Winning work for first, second and third place were on display at the back of the exhibit and labeled with their ranks.

    Gwynn Di Pilla was the overall winner for her piece, “Simpler Times,” a watercolor painting depicting a vintage sign for a soda fountain that reads “Waltz Rexall.”

    Gwynn Di Pilla stands next to Mayor Dave Fleisher with her exhibit award, a painting she calls “Simpler Times.”

    Di Pilla recalled seeing the Rexall sign on a visit to Maine. 

    “We went by it a couple times, and waited for the light to be just right, snapped the photograph and worked from there,” she recounted. “I specialize in watercolor, and I actually have quite a few students in the show.” 

    Second place for the exhibit went to Peter Ehlinger for his watercolor piece, “Butterflies and Bamboo,” which depicts a variety of colorful butterflies in a bamboo frame. Third place was awarded to James Frankovich for his pen and ink drawing, “Roadrunner.” It depicts a stylized person driving a car with an angry expression. 

    Next to the three winners were a collection of honorable mentions arranged on the same wall of the center. Jeff Chorney had multiple pieces in the show; his piece, “Let’s Communicate,” showed multiple teenagers in a group texting on their phones.

    “Just getting into this show is in itself an accomplishment,” Chorney acknowledged. “The award is just being, having your piece accepted.” 

    Mayor Dave Fleisher was in attendance to celebrate the exhibit opening and observe what he described as record-breaking attendance. 

    “I think people are excited to be together, and we continue to give people the opportunity to participate and to be part of a broader community,” he observed. “And people are really embracing it.” 

    Each of the exhibit winners and those with an honorable mention accepted a certificate from the mayor in front of their pieces. Winners also received monetary prizes. Residents from throughout the township filtered in and out during the event.

    “I’d like to say township is defined by geographic boundaries,” Fleisher said, “but a community is defined by events like this evening.”

    The exhibit continues through Thursday.