It’s January, and that means one of Pennsylvania’s grandest spectacles is back again: the annual Farm Show butter sculpture.
Every year, in Harrisburg, a new 1,000-pound sculpture is unveiled to the public at the Farm Show Complex, a 1-million-square-foot event space that hosts the long-running show. Some years, the sculpture features mascots, like Gritty. This year’s sculpture is titled, “A Toast to Our Nation’s 250th Anniversary: Inspired by Founders. Grown by Farmers” in honor of America’s Semiquincentennial.
“The butter sculpture is a people-pleasing favorite every year at the Pennsylvania Farm Show,” Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding said in a news release. “In this America250 year, it takes on a deeper meaning reflecting how agriculture has been the roots of our nation’s growth and prosperity for 250 years, and how Pennsylvania farmers will continue to lead us forward.”
The completed butter sculpture crafted from 1,000 pounds of butter over 14 days by Jim Victor and Marie Pelton at the Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg, Pa., on Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025.
The show began on Friday and runs daily through Saturday. The butter sculpture, which has been part of the Farm Show for over half a century, is enclosed in a large, refrigerated case.
This year’s sculpture is a 1776 Philadelphia tableau, featuring Benjamin Franklin and the Founding Fathers at the signing of the Declaration of Independence, complete with a celebratory toast with milk. The Liberty Bell and Betsy Ross make an appearance, too.
Like most years, the butter sculpture was created by Conshohocken artists Jim Victor and Marie Pelton. They’ve worked with chocolate, cheese, and ice over their careers, but butter’s brought them the most acclaim.
The butter is often donated by large national producers like Land O Lakes or Keller’s, and no, it can’t be melted and drizzled on popcorn.
“It’s waste butter we get from plants,” Pelton told The Inquirer in 2020. ”It’s stuff that’s been extruded or cleaned out, or stuff that’s been damaged, or generally can’t be sold to the public.”
According to the Department of Agriculture, the Pennsylvania Farm Show is the largest indoor agricultural expo in the nation, featuring nearly 5,000 animals, 12,000-plus competitive entries from more than 4,600 competitors, plus more than 250 commercial exhibits, and hundreds of educational and entertaining events. Admission is free. Parking is $15 per vehicle. Farming, according to the Department of Agriculture, provides 593,000 Pennsylvania jobs and contributes $132.5 billion to the state’s economy each year.
Marie Pelton and Jim Victor with the mascot-themed butter sculpture they created for the 104th annual Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg in January 2020.
When a Scranton neighborhood group decided to honor Joe Biden with a “hometown hero” banner outside the 46th president’s childhood home recently, they expected a little bit of blowback.
But members of the Green Ridge Neighborhood Association say they’re dumbfounded by the number of complaints and even threats, both locally and abroad.
“Someone in Guam has been very vocal,” Roberta Jadick, the association’s secretary, said beneath the banner on North Washington Avenue on a recent snowy weekday.
“Hometown Heroes” banners first appeared in Harrisburg in 2006, according to the program’s website, and they’ve become ubiquitous in small-town and suburban Pennsylvania. Most appear as black-and-white photos of men and women in uniform, thousands of veterans honored in nearly every corner of the Commonwealth.
While most of the banners honor veterans, no rule prohibits municipalities, civic groups, or veterans’ groups from honoring others, said Laura Agostini, president of the Green Ridge group. Some towns have put up banners of high school athletes or law enforcement officials.
“I mean, teachers are heroes, aren’t they?” Jadick said.
The banner on North Washington Avenue near Biden Street depicts the former president in a suit, with the title “Commander in Chief, U.S. Armed Forces, 2021-2025″ written beneath it. Agostini said the group was aware that “Commander in Chief” was a civilian title.
A banner featuring former president Joe Biden as a “hometown hero” has sparked controversy in Scranton. The neighborhood group that put it up plans to vote on its future Monday after getting criticism from veterans.
Agostini said the initial blowback was political but that the issue “morphed” into a veterans’ issue.
“We never intended to portray him as a veteran,” Agostini said. “There’s only been 46 presidents in the United States, and each one had a hometown, and we thought this is a unique honor.”
A Dec. 21 Facebook post about the banner by the Green Ridge Neighborhood Association received nearly 250 comments, ranging from supportive to critical to crude.
“He’s an embarrassment!” one commenter wrote.
A similar controversy erupted in 2021, when a four-lane highway in Scranton was renamed President Joe Biden Expressway.
Biden was born in Scranton in 1942 and lived there on and off, and he repeatedly mentioned Scranton as a formative place. A plaque outside the home where Biden lived with his maternal grandfather, Ambrose Finnegan, said he moved out when he was 10 years old.
A Hometown Heroes banner honoring the Finnegans is just one light pole down from Biden’s. No one from the Hometown Heroes Banner Program returned requests for comment on Wednesday.
One local veteran, Andy Chomko, said he doesn’t have a problem with Biden being honored in Scranton, but his banner should not look like veterans’ banners.
“It’s a great thing that he lived here and had roots here,” Chomko said. “But the banner makes it look like he’s a veteran, and every one of those people on those other banners put their lives at risk for their country.”
Navy veteran Harold Nudelman told WNEP-16 that Biden “didn’t put his life on the line.”
“Don’t portray him as a veteran. He didn’t serve. He didn’t take that oath to serve as we did,” he told the news station.
Chomko, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan with the Army, believes the Green Ridge group should remove the banner and “rethink it.”
That could happen after Monday, the group will vote on the future of the banner at a public meeting.
“I would say the vast majority of people support it or really don’t care,” Agostini said. “I don’t take any of this lightly, though, and while we were hoping it would be dying down, we’ll have an open discussion about it.”
Jadick said the banner was never meant to divide the public even more than it is.
“If Trump was from here, he’d have a banner up after he was out of office,” she said. “This is where Joe Biden is from. Those are his uncles on the other banner.”
A banner featuring former president Joe Biden as a “hometown hero” has sparked controversy in Scranton. The neighborhood group that put it up plans to vote on its future Monday after getting criticism from veterans.
Whenever Christian F. Martin IV hears a Martin guitar, whether it’s the timeworn piece Willie Nelson’s nearly strummed a hole through, or a customer nervously picking a D-300 that looks like fine art and costs $300,000, he beams with pride. Like a father.
Martin is the executive chairman of C.F. Martin & Co., the sixth generation of Martins to create arguably the world’s most-renowned acoustic guitars out of Nazareth, Northampton County. Founded in New York City in 1833 by German luthier Christian Frederick Martin, the company moved to Nazareth in 1839 and has crafted 3 million guitars, all of them intertwined with the family tree.
So when Martin took his daughter to a Post Malone concert in 2020 and watched the artist play a Martin, he smiled from afar. Later, when Malone dragged — yes, dragged — what appeared to be the same guitar across the stage, Martin’s heart dropped.
“I’m freaking out,” Martin said. “I’m looking at my wife, and she’s looking at me like ‘I don’t know.’”
Martin was still processing the trauma of a 145-year-old Martin guitar being smashed in the 2015 Quentin Tarantino film The Hateful Eight. So when Malone smashed the guitar onstage and poured a beer on it, Martin’s heart broke into small pieces, too.
“I need to leave,” he told his wife.
Luckily, before Martin could flee the concert in Hershey to process the trauma, he was told the smashed guitar was a prop, not a Martin.
That’s how seriously Martin, and its devotees, takes guitars. On a recent fall weekday in the Nazareth headquarters, tourists were lining up before the building opened for tours, taking selfies. Inside, guitars that belonged to Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain and Hank Williams, two of thousands of artists who played Martins, sat in glass cases.
(Later that day, Martin flew to London to give a special presentation about the Martin D-18 Cobain played during Nirvana’s famed Unplugged set in 1993.)
“I’ve always just gravitated toward playing Martins,” said Delaware County musician Devon Gilfillian. “When I first started playing, that was just always the goal. The tone is just so perfect and warm. Plus, it’s from Pennsylvania.”
Mike Nelson inspects a guitar frame at C.F. Martin & Co.
Martin said guitar sales booms are usually tied to specific cultural moments or trends in popular music. Folk music in the 1960s, for example, or the popularity of MTV’s iconic Unplugged series that featured Nirvana, Eric Clapton, Alice in Chains, and countless others.
Today, Martin is still feeling the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, when many workers were forced to stay home and went looking for something to do. The company is producing approximately 500 guitars per day in Nazareth and a plant in Navojoa, Mexico.
“We’re on a bit of a roll,” Martin said.
“I think it’s important to show people this is where a Martin guitar is made and this is what it takes to make a Martin guitar,” he said. “For many guitar players, coming to the Martin factory is like going to mecca.”
Inside, the factory floor is divided into sections, an assembly line of sorts, with some specialists focusing on fretboards, others on the necks. Some were spraying lacquers, with ventilation masks on, while other lucky employees — musicians themselves — do sound checks, strumming chords for tone. Few guitars are rejected.
The factory is both high and low tech, with robotic arms meticulously sanding bodies while workers use ancient woodworking tools to shape some parts.
That level of specialization, Martin said, makes Martin’s craftsmen the best in the business.
“You’ll see what it takes,” he said. “You’ll see why we’re the best.”
Most Martin guitars are made with various timbers, including a slew of different spruces, along with rarer mahogany and rosewood.
All businesses change, subject to the whims of markets and greater global issues. While the overall design of a guitar hasn’t changed all that much over the centuries, newer and different materials may be in the pipeline, due to issues with climate change and deforestation. The tropical hardwoods grow slowly and are under threat.
Temperate hardwoods like maple and walnut are more abundant, and the company is exploring them, Martin said. The use of alternate materials might be possible, but they would all fall under the same standard: the guitar would need to sound like a Martin.
“We would not use a material that doesn’t work,” he said.
Martin has committed to reforestation projects in Costa Rica and the Republic of the Congo. Martin’s sustainable Biosphere III, with a polar bear design by company artist Robert Goetzl, benefits Polar Bears International and retails for $2,399.
Gregory Jasman strings a guitar. The list of musicians who play Martins could fill a music hall of fame.
Goetzl has been responsible for most of Martin’s “playable art,” and he cherishes the idea that his art will make art.
“It is art, and it could be hung on a wall, but that would kind of be a shame,” he said on the factory floor, holding a guitar featuring owls and the northern lights. “It’s not cheap. It’s a very real instrument with a beautiful design.”
On this weekday, a buyer had come to Martin to possibly purchase a guitar worth more than a quarter-million dollars.
The list of musicians who play Martin is endless, enough to fill a music hall of fame — Nelson and his famous “Trigger,” Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Ed Sheeran, Joni Mitchell, and so many others.
Thomas Ripsam, president and CEO, at the C.F. Martin assembly line.
“We are very intentional about who we want to work with,” said Thomas Ripsam, who assumed the role of CEO in 2021. ”We don’t really pay artists for playing our guitars, so we are looking for artists who have a sincere connection.”
One of them is Billy Strings, a popular, Nashville-based guitarist who combines bluegrass, rock, and even metal.
“When you think of the word guitar, I think of a Martin D-28,” Strings said in a promotional video for guitars that the company designed for him. “It’s so American. It’s like baseball or something.”
An A-frame guitar adorns the museum entrance Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025, at C. F. Martin & Co. Inc. in Nazareth, Pa.
Soon, the distinct smells of the Pennsylvania Farm Show will waft through Harrisburg, everything from manure to hay to the ubiquitous milkshakes.
The shakes, sold by the Pennsylvania Dairymen’s Association, are a Farm Show tradition, along with looking at the enormous butter sculpture and watching live calf births.
Kaitlyn Groff from Lancaster is visiting a kiss a cow with a Highland cattle at the Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg, Thursday, January 9, 2025.
Traditionally, the flavors are vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry, but this year, to celebrate America’s 250th birthday, the shakes are getting patriotic. The “America250Pa Milkshake flight” will now be red, white, and blue thanks to the addition of blue raspberry.
The farm show is the country’s largest indoor agricultural exhibition, and it starts on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, with the massive food court opening on Friday, January 9th. You can get mushroom burgers from Chester County and baked sweet potatoes douses in butter and cinnamon.
Pennsylvania is second nationally in the number of dairy farms with 465,000 head of cattle on 4,850 farms. The state’s dairy industry provides 47,000 jobs across the Commonwealth and generates $11.8 billion in annual revenue.
Attendees visit the the PA Dairymen’s Association milkshake booth at the Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg Jan. 10, 2022.
The silence in the Himalayan Institute’s shrine redefines silence, quiet enough to hear your heartbeat, to pick up a whisper from across the room, and, perhaps most importantly, to feel every breath, in and out, while you meditate.
The institute, founded in 1972, moved into the massive, former seminary on 400 hilly, forested acres in Honesdale, Wayne County, in 1977, a time when yoga was still a niche practice. For more than 50 years, the institute has been offering yoga training, spirituality, meditation, and holistic health practices, along with getaways and retreats.
“It’s for anyone, for any creed, religion, sex, or gender,” said Greg Capitolo, a California native who became the institute’s president after attending retreats there. “There’s really no religious affiliation at all.”
As yoga exploded in popularity and modern meditation apps abound, the Himalayan Institute has seen growing interest worldwide. It hasn’t hurt that downtown Honesdale has seen its own popularity grow over the last decade as Philadelphia and New York City residents look for properties and business opportunities outside of traditional urban escapes, like upstate New York.
“I like to sat this is the best-kept secret in Wayne County,” Capitolo said. “I hope we become less of a secret to the people here. ”
The Inquirer went to Honesdale during a frigid weekend last December and confirmed it: even in single-digit temps, the town’s gift shops, bakeries, buzz-worthy restaurants, art galleries, and book stores were alive with tourists and locals up and down Main Street.
Afterward, several readers mention the Himalayan Institute as a “must-visit.”
The Himalayan Institute, In Honesdale, Pa.
On a Monday in late November, the main, dormlike building was abuzz with “residents” who were doing volunteer work in the kitchen for access to classes, yoga training, and other programs the institute offers. Capitolo said the institute can house up to 80 residents, who commit to staying for a year as part of the $800 per month “Residential Service Program.”
Meals are vegetarian, and on this afternoon, lunch was beet subzi and kimchari. The Himalayan Institute follows Ayurvedic principles, which discuss balance and digestion, among other things.
“The Ayurvedic system says you should eat your biggest meal around lunchtime, when the sun’s at its highest, point, because your digestion will be optimally ready to break down food,” Capitolo said.
There’s also a gift shop and a trail network at the Institute, along with a popular Wellness Center that offers several types of massage, including hot stone. One of the Wellness Center’s most popular offerings is an Ayurvedic therapy known as Shirodhara Treatment, which includes “streaming warm oil onto the forehead to clear and calm the mind.”
The Himalayan Institute, In Honesdale, Pa.
The simplest structure and offering at the Himalayan Institute may be the Sri Vidya Shrine, a simple, domed building that sits behind the former seminary on the campus. The shrine is the twin of the Sri Vidya Shrine at the Himalayan Institute’s Khajuraho campus in central India, and its meditation hall is not so simple: that unique silence was part of the design.
The shrine’s meditation hall is referred to as the mandapa, literally “the canopy for seekers to gather.”
Capitolo sat silently in the hall for several minutes, hands folded, focusing on his breath. He, too, was a seeker, leaving a lucrative job in Silicon Valley to head east to Honesdale, before it was hip.
“I was happy and seemingly had everything I needed,” he said outside the shrine. “But something was missing. This place satisfied what was missing.”
Philadelphia nearly experienced its own nightmare before Christmas this year, with the closure of the Center City Macy’s and the iconic, beloved holiday light show.
Capitalism can’t stop Christmas traditions, though. The light show is back, and across the region, people are buying Christmas trees, prepping for Hanukkah, and preparing for Kwanzaa events this week.
One simple way to get in the spirit? Visit one of the many holiday light shows, from neighborly displays to events steeped in decades of history and nostalgia.
Philadelphia and its suburbs offer plenty of options. Here are some of the best.
The decades-old holiday tradition is back at Center City’s shuttered Macy’s, with a new name and, possibly, an entirely better experience. With more than 100,000 LED lights, the Wanamaker Light Show remains free to the public. What makes the Wanamaker Building so magical is the melodies booming throughout the cathedral-like department store from the century-old organ, one of the largest in the world. Enjoy the massive light show beginning on Black Friday. The show operates Wednesday to Sunday from noon to 8 p.m., through Dec. 11. Starting Dec. 12, there are daily shows from noon to 8 p.m. The final day for the show is Christmas Eve, from noon to 4 p.m.
According to Visit Philadelphia, the Wanamaker Building will undergo renovations after the holidays, and the light show may be on hiatus for several years.
🕒 Through Dec. 24, daily, various times, 💵 Free, 📍1300 Market St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19107, 🌐 visitphilly.com
The Miracle on South 13th Street block party filled with Christmas lights and decorations in South Philadelphia, on Saturday, Nov. 27, 2021.
Nothing spreads holiday spirit more than neighbors coming together to remind us what it’s all about. Since the ‘90s, residents of the 1600 block of South 13th Street in East Passyunk have transformed their street into a Christmas light show so spectacular that Peco must see a spike in usage. The show opens with a block party on Nov. 29 from 5 to 9 p.m. with face painting, balloon art, and a 6 p.m. special guest from the North Pole.
🕒 Through Jan. 1, daily, 5 to 10 p.m., 💵 Free, 📍 1700 S. 13th St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19148, 📷 @themiracleonsouth13thstreet
It was opening night for Winter in Franklin Square featuring the Electrical Spectacle Light Show presented by PECO.
Celebrate the holidays in Franklin Square, a park older than the Declaration of Independence, where each year the Electrical Spectacle Holiday Light Show illuminates the plaza along with classic Christmas songs. The event includes mini golf, street curling, and seasonal sweet treats and cocktails at Frosty’s Fireside Winter Pop-Up Bar.
🕒 Through Feb. 23, various times, 💵 Free, 📍200 N. Sixth St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19106, 🌐 historicphiladelphia.org
A man watches a dancing Santa with a similar body language in the lobby of the Comcast Technology Center during a Dec. 15, 2023, holiday video presentation.
Philly’s telecommunications giant has two immersive attractions again this year. Each day, the Comcast Holiday Spectacular at the Comcast Center wows visitors with light shows at the top of every hour. Inside the Comcast Technology Center, which is right around the corner, theDreamWorks’ Shrek’s Festive Flightreturns. The show tells the story of Shrek, Donkey, and Gingy’s journey from Philadelphia to the North Pole Bakery.
🕒 Through Jan. 2, daily, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., 💵 Free, 📍1701 JFK Blvd., Philadelphia, Pa. 19103, 🌐 comcastcentercampus.com
This regional credit union gives back during the holidays with a 400,000-light display accompanied by 40-foot Christmas trees, hundreds of wreaths, and more. Stroll through American Heritage’s campus, where you can snap family photos, enjoy the displays, and take in the winter night air. The events begin on Nov. 29.
🕒 Through Jan. 1, daily at dusk, 💵 Free, 📍2060 Red Lion Rd., Philadelphia, Pa. 19115, 🌐 americanheritagecu.org
Philadelphia Zoo’s nature-inspired holiday tradition, LumiNature, returns for its sixth season of whimsical wildlife scenes come to light.
Philadelphia Zoo’s nature-inspired holiday tradition, LumiNature, returns for its sixth season of whimsical wildlife scenes come to light. Guests are invited to take a spin on the brand new Philly Zoo Pherris Wheel, a 110-foot-tall ride with breathtaking views of the city skyline, grab a drink with Santa inside his warm, cozy lodge, bring their old zoo key (or treat themselves to a new one) to turn on the magic at select displays, play and dance with roaming animal characters, and take in more than a million twinkling lights with family and friends. Guests should note the zoo’s animals will be sleeping in their indoor homes.
Bucks County’s all-in-one holiday shopping experience and attraction is back to bring smiles to all who visit. The Colonial-style Peddler’s Village is adorned with thousands of lights among the dozens of shops and restaurants connected by brick walkways. The annual gingerbread displays will feature 125 creations, and the tunnel of lights is the Instagrammable photo of the season.
🕒 Through Jan. 18, Monday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sunday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., 💵 Free, 📍100 Peddlers Village, Lahaska, Pa. 18931, 🌐 peddlersvillage.com
Clark Griswold would be proud of his estranged West Chester relatives’ over-the-top holiday display. Known as the West Chester Griswolds, this family covers their home and property with thousands of LED lights, glowing figurines, nativity scenes, and, if you’re lucky, a glimpse of Santa Claus peeking from a window. Each year, they turn their dazzling display into a charitable effort, raising $400 for the Hearing Loss Association of America in 2023. Don’t forget to tune your car radio to 87.9 FM to enjoy the synchronized light-and-music show. This year, donations are going to LaMancha Animal Rescue in Coatesville.
🕒 Through Dec. 28, Monday to Thursday, 4:45 to 9:45 p.m.; Friday to Sunday, 4:45 to 10:15 p.m., 💵 Free, 📍304 Dutton Mill Rd., West Chester, Pa. 19380, 🌐 westchestergriswolds.com
The Harnishfegers on Colonial Drive transform their Bucks County home into Danny DeVito’s from Deck the Halls, equipped with Pixel technology to sync holiday music to the thousands of LED lights and a projector that displays animations across the house. So bright, you could swear satellites can see it from space. Donations will go to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s toy drive.
🕒 Through Jan. 1, daily, 5 to 10 p.m., 💵 Free, 📍155 Colonial Dr., Langhorne, Pa. 19047, 🌐 facebook.com/ColonialLights
Herr’s, the nationwide snack brand headquartered in Philly’s backyard of Chester County, invites families and friends to enjoy a free drive-through holiday lights show. More than 600,000 lights are on display throughout the company’s corporate campus. Visitors should stay in their cars at all times while driving through the show.
Visit Rose Tree Park anytime during the holiday season for a serene nighttime stroll among brightly colored illuminated trees. On Dec. 5, Dec. 7-8, and Dec. 14-15, enjoy food trucks, vendor markets, and live entertainment with Delco Fare and Flair Nights. Friendly, leashed dogs are welcome.
🕒 Through Jan. 4, daily, 5 to 10 p.m., 💵 Free, 📍1671 N. Providence Rd., Media, Pa. 19063, 🌐 delcopa.gov
Manayunk businesses are bringing the holiday cheer with more than 80,000 lights lining Main Street — and some friendly rivalry in the annual Manayunk Gets Lit Competition. Stroll through the hillside neighborhood to enjoy festive food, drink, and shopping while casting your votes for the Best Overall, Most Lit, and Most Creative light displays. Participants will also be entered for a chance to win a $200 Manayunk shopping spree. The lights shine daily, but for an extra festive experience, hop aboard the free Jolly Trolley for tours of the displays Thursday through Saturday, now through Dec. 20.
In Philadelphia’s historic district, December is a nonstop holiday celebration with street events, holiday shopping, menorah lighting, light shows, and more. On the Old City District’s website at oldcitydistrict.org is a full schedule of events to attend. Don’t miss the Historic Holiday Tree at the Betsy Ross House.
🕒 Through Jan. 1, various dates and times, 💵 Free to $100-plus depending on event, 📍239 Arch St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19106, 🌐 oldcitydistrict.org
The trek to Sicklerville, Camden County, is worth it for this award-winning mile-long drive-through holiday light show, marketplace, and Ferris wheel. Glow at Washington Township is one of the largest light displays in the region with 8 million animated lights synced to music playing through the car radio, and it’s perhaps the most costly starting at $40 per car.
🕒 Through Jan. 26, daily, Sunday to Thursday, 5 to 9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 5 to 10 p.m., 💵 $50-$75 per vehicle, 📍217 Berlin-Cross Keys Rd., Sicklerville, N.J. 08081, 🌐 visitglow.com
In West Chester, live music, markets, Santa Claus, and a professional gingerbread competition are happening on the weekends. Free to the public, each weekend will feature different events among the illuminated streets and businesses of West Chester. Find a schedule of events and promotions at greaterwestchester.com.
🕒 Through Jan. 1, various times, 💵 Free, 📍137 N. High St., West Chester, Pa. 19380, 🌐 greaterwestchester.com
MONTOURSVILLE, Pa. — The rocky shores of Loyalsock Creek looked a bit drab to the untrained eye on a blustery, overcast November afternoon.
There were browns and grays, along with flurries of yellow and orange leaves across the turbid water when the wind whipped through the trees.
Sierra Weir, an artist from Pittsburgh, stepped gingerly across the mud and rocks. When she got to the water’s edge, Weir saw the landscape in a completely different way.
“It’s not as visually stunning as synthetic colors, but I would say the depth and variation within one tiny spectra is so much deeper,” she said. “I’ve gained such an appreciation for all the different ways brown can be brown.”
Sierra Weir of Pittsburgh was an artist-in residency of the Susquehanna River Watershed.
Weir, who has a background in biochemistry, is a pigment artist and community outreach coordinator for Three Rivers Waterkeeper, a nonprofit organization in Pittsburgh that advocates and protects the Monongahela, Allegheny, and Ohio rivers.
In June, the Pennsylvania Environmental Council, selected Weir and two others for its new artist-in-residency program, “Reflections through Art: Inclusive Access on Water Trails in the Susquehanna Basin.”
“It’s a new way to get people to engage with the environment,” Weir said.
Painter Spencer Verney of Coatesville was also chosen as a resident by the PEC. He focuses on preserved lands and protected waterways in historic settings. Meg Lemieur of Port Richmond was chosen to illustrate a map for the Swatara Creek Watershed.
“My art celebrates the diversity and amazing features of the natural world,” Lemieur told The Inquirer. “I’m definitely drawn to all the living animals, including animals of the watershed like turtles, owls, and gophers, but lately I’ve been getting more into flora and understanding plants.“
Tali MacArthur, a senior program manager for the PEC, said the residency program was created as another way to get the public involved in watershed conservation.
“There are people who don’t really see themselves as scientists or fishermen, but maybe they see themselves as artists, as musicians, or visual learners,” MacArthur said. “I’ve kind of been chasing this approach for some time now.”
The residency program was funded by the National Park Service’s Chesapeake Gateways Grant Program and the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Community Conservation Partnership Program.
When Weir was in college, in Ohio, she spent a year studying the pigments of Betta fish and contributed a sculpture based on the majesty of jeweled beetles. She’s also created various paintings made with natural pigments like goldenrod, black walnut, and pokeberry, which fade quickly.
“It’s in opposition to synthetic pigments, which are made from petrochemicals, and I do a lot of work to reduce pollutants,” she said. “This was a natural fit.”
Sierra Weir of Pittsburgh was an artist-in-residency of the Susquehanna River Watershed. She’s pictured along Loyalsock Creek in Montoursville.
Weir, 28, said her goal of combining art and waterways was to help people hone their “noticing skills” and provide new ways to engage with the environment and, perhaps, repair broken connections to the natural world.
“What I do is help people notice the relationship between water, earth, plants, and themselves and how inherently connected we are to this place,” Weir said. “We’re made of this same stuff, biologically and chemically.”
Sierra Weir of Pittsburgh was an artist-in-residency of the Susquehanna River Watershed.
When a western diamondback rattlesnake sinks its fangs into your hand, and it swells up like a purplish water balloon for days in a Texas hospital, it might be a sign for a career change.
But Clyde Peeling, who was born in Muncy, Lycoming County, in 1942, had already been bitten by the proverbial bug long before the rattlesnake bit him while he was stationed in Texas with the Air Force. Peeling, 83, still loved snakes, despite that close call, and went on to become the reptile king of Pennsylvania.
“I’ve pretty much known what I wanted to do with my life since I was 14,” Peeling said recently, from his beloved zoo near Williamsport.
A snake-necked turtle is shown in an aquarium at Clyde Peeling’s Reptiland in Allenwood, Pa., on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025.
It wouldn’t be the last time he’d be bitten, either, in a career that has spanned more than half a century.
“Let’s see, once by a copperhead, a viper, and four other rattlesnakes. I don’t say that with any bravado,” Peeling said. “That was a very serious bite.”
Today, Clyde Peeling’s Reptiland is home to enormous Komodo dragons with uncanny eyes, poisonous Gila monsters, anacondas thicker than most thighs, and Aldabra tortoises that can live up to 150 years.
“Some of these tortoises were just five pounds when we got them,” he said, in their hot enclosure.
Today, the tortoises look like boulders.
Clyde Peeling, 83, talks about his experiences at his reptile zoo, Clyde Peeling’s Reptiland.
Reptiland opened on US-15 in Allenwood, Union County, in 1976. It joined an American tradition of roadside attractions ushered in by the post-World War II auto boom and the urge to hit the highway.
U.S. Route 15 bisects Pennsylvania, from the Maryland border, north to New York, passing through Williamsport and Harrisburg. Still, Peeling said it was far from bustling back then.
“I remember sitting there hoping one car would pass by. I was too egotistical to think I’d made a mistake, but I had a lot of naysayers,” he recalled.
In the timeless tradition of late-night television, Peeling has brought wild animals to visit Conan O’Brien, Jay Leno, Jon Stewart, and others.
Reptile parks, serpentariums, and alligator farms dot the American landscape. Peeling wanted to elevate Reptiland beyond those hokey roadside shacks.
In 1986, his facility received a key and difficult-to-obtain accreditation by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums and it’s held that status ever since. Peeling said the inspection process, which takes place every five years, is grueling and every facet of the business is scrutinized, everything from record keeping, to veterinary care, aesthetics, and visitor services.
“We would have been accredited in 1985, but we were hit by a tornado that nearly flattened us,” he said.
Over the decades, Peeling expanded with a parakeet-feeding aviary and a large, outdoor dinosaur exhibit. More renovations are in the works, too. If you’d like parakeets to land on your head, you’ll have a blast. The park hosts a “Wino & Dinos” event outdoors, during the summer, for adults only.
At Clyde Peeling’s Reptiland, life-size animated dinosaurs give visitors a perspective on life in the Mesozoic Era.
Peeling, with his sons, has visited, lectured, and collected in dozens of countries.
“That skull is from a crocodile in Borneo,” he said in his office.
Peeling’s son Chad, a right-hand man in the family business, died from brain cancer in 2019. Peeling himself fought non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Tornadoes have damaged the property, and the COVID-19 pandemic has hurt, too.
Peeling hasn’t guided a trip since his son died but won’t rule out doing it one more time.
It's been 30 years since I've been back to Clyde Peeling's Reptiland in Union County and I wish I had come back sooner. Thanks for having us, Clyde! pic.twitter.com/5RKP9AbuWM
Philadelphia will host its largest marathon yet this year, as about 15,000 runners take on the 26.2-mile race through the city’s scenic and historic neighborhoods.
The Philadelphia Marathon Weekend runs Nov. 21-23 and includes a half marathon (13.1 miles) and an 8K race. The first marathon was held in 1994 with just 1,500 participants; this year, organizers expect roughly 30,000 athletes across all races.
With that many runners and spectators, expect road closures, parking restrictions, and heavy traffic.
“We want to make sure people give themselves ample time to get there,” said race director Kathleen Titus. “We have new security screenings that will speed things up, but if you’re waiting until 15 minutes before the race, you might be standing in a line for about an hour.”
Runners on Walnut Street in Center City during the 2024 Philadelphia Marathon on Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024.
Titus said the marathon has a new website and updated app. The app allows runners to schedule packet-pickup times at the expo to cut down on lines, track live race results, and receive weather and safety alerts.
Race start times and locations for the Philadelphia Marathon
All races follow the same course layout as in previous years and — except for the Nemours Children’s Run — start at 22nd Street and Benjamin Franklin Parkway, near the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The Nemours Children’s Run begins at Von Colln Memorial Field, 2276 Pennsylvania Ave., adjacent to Eakins Oval.
Each race follows a unique route, with the marathon and half-marathon winding through Center City, Chinatown, Old City, Queen Village, Rittenhouse, and University City, with significant portions covering Fairmount Park, Kelly Drive, and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
The Expo is filled with vendors showcasing apparel, shoes, gear, free product samples, and educational booths on health and fitness. Friday and Saturday bring a speaker series to the Expo and meet-and-greets with some of the country’s top runners. On Friday evening, there will be activities for children.
For spectators of the Philadelphia Marathon
Spectators are welcome to line the race routes to cheer on runners but will be restricted from the starting lines and in secure running areas until after 8 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday to ensure smooth race starts.
Large umbrellas, coolers, and animals (except ADA service dogs) are not allowed. The marathon also discourages bringing large blankets, backpacks, or cameras.
William Loevner of Pittsburgh is embraced by his wife, Emma Loevner, after finishing first in the mens in the 2024 Philadelphia Marathon on Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024.
Road closures
All-weekend closures
Saturday, Nov. 22, through 5 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 23
Benjamin Franklin Parkway (all lanes) between 22nd Street and Eakins Oval
Kelly Drive (inbound) closed at 25th Street, with local traffic permitted to Anne d’Harnoncourt Drive
Spring Garden Street Bridge and MLK Drive (inbound) traffic detoured onto 24th Street
Spring Garden Street
Saturday, Nov. 22
2 a.m. closures
2000—2400 Benjamin Franklin Parkway (inner and setup areas as posted)
Spring Garden Street, from Pennsylvania Avenue to Benjamin Franklin Parkway
23rd Street, from Pennsylvania Avenue to Benjamin Franklin Parkway
22nd Street, from Winter Street to Park Towne Place (local access to Park Towne Place maintained)
21st Street, from Pennsylvania Avenue to Winter Street
4 a.m. closures
Interstate 676 off-ramp at 22nd Street (westbound)
Interstate 76 off-ramp at Spring Garden Street (eastbound)
6 a.m. closures
17th Street, from Arch Street to Vine Street
18th Street, from Arch Street to Callowhill Street
19th Street, from Arch Street to Callowhill Street
20th Street, from Arch Street to Callowhill Street
21st Street, from Arch Street to Spring Garden Street
22nd Street, from Arch Street to Spring Garden Street
Benjamin Franklin Parkway, from 16th Street to 20th Street
Market Street, from Sixth Street to 16th Street
Chestnut Street, from Fifth Street to Eighth Street
Sixth Street, from Market Street to Chestnut Street
Fifth Street, from Chestnut Street to Race Street
South Penn Square
Juniper Street, from Chestnut Street to Market Street
John F. Kennedy Boulevard, from Juniper Street to 17th Street
15th Street, from Race Street to Chestnut Street
16th Street, from Chestnut Street to Race Street
Race Street, from Sixth Street to Columbus Boulevard
Columbus Boulevard (southbound lanes), from Vine Street to Washington Avenue
Interstate 95 southbound off-ramp at Washington Avenue
Washington Avenue, from Columbus Boulevard to Front Street
Front Street, from Washington Avenue to South Street
South Street, from Front Street to Seventh Street
Sixth Street, from Bainbridge Street to Locust Street
Lombard Street, from Fifth Street to Broad Street
13th Street, from Bainbridge Street to Chestnut Street
Walnut Street, from 12th Street to 34th Street
34th Street, from Chestnut Street to Girard Avenue
Spring Garden Street, from 32nd Street to 34th Street
Girard Avenue, from 33rd Street to 38th Street
33rd Street, from Girard Avenue to Cecil B. Moore Avenue
Reservoir Drive, from 33rd Street to Diamond Drive
Mt. Pleasant Drive
Fountain Green Drive
Kelly Drive
Access and reopening
Local access for residents and businesses will be maintained at police-controlled points.
Access to the Philadelphia Museum of Art will be available via Spring Garden Street (Bridge and Tunnel) to Anne d’Harnoncourt Drive.
Police will allow traffic through intersections when possible, depending on runner flow.
All streets (except Eakins Oval and the Parkway) are scheduled to reopen by 2 p.m. Saturday; many Center City roads will reopen earlier as they are cleared and serviced.
Sunday, Nov. 23
As part of enhanced security for the AACR Philadelphia Marathon, “No Parking” regulations will be strictly enforced. Vehicles on the race route will be relocated beginning at 1 a.m. Sunday.
2 a.m. closures
2000—2400 Benjamin Franklin Parkway
Spring Garden Street, from Pennsylvania Avenue to Benjamin Franklin Parkway
23rd Street, from Pennsylvania Avenue to Benjamin Franklin Parkway
22nd Street, from Winter Street to Park Towne Place (local access maintained)
21st Street, from Pennsylvania Avenue to Winter Street
4 a.m. closures
Interstate 676 off-ramp at 22nd Street (westbound)
Interstate 76 off-ramp at Spring Garden Street (eastbound)
6 a.m. closures
17th Street, from Arch Street to Vine Street
18th Street, from Arch Street to Callowhill Street
19th Street, from Arch Street to Callowhill Street
20th Street, from Arch Street to Callowhill Street
21st Street, from Arch Street to Spring Garden Street
22nd Street, from Arch Street to Spring Garden Street
Benjamin Franklin Parkway, from 16th Street to 20th Street
Arch Street, from Third Street to 16th Street
Fourth Street, from Arch Street to Vine Street
Race Street, from Sixth Street to Columbus Boulevard
Columbus Boulevard (southbound lanes), from Vine Street to Washington Avenue
Interstate 95 southbound off-ramp at Washington Avenue
Washington Avenue, from Columbus Boulevard to Front Street
Front Street, from Washington Avenue to South Street
South Street, from Front Street to Seventh Street
Sixth Street, from Bainbridge Street to Market Street
Chestnut Street, from Sixth Street to 15th Street
15th Street, from Chestnut Street to Walnut Street
Walnut Street, from Broad Street to 34th Street
34th Street, from Chestnut Street to Girard Avenue
Lansdowne Drive, from Girard Avenue to South Concourse Drive
South Concourse Drive, from Lansdowne Drive to West Memorial Hall Drive
East Memorial Hall Drive, from South Concourse Drive to Avenue of the Republic
Avenue of the Republic, from East Memorial Hall Drive to Catholic Fountain
Belmont Avenue, from Montgomery Drive to Parkside Avenue
States Drive, from Lansdowne Drive to Girard Avenue
Girard Avenue Bridge, from Lansdowne Drive to 33rd Street
33rd Street, from Girard Avenue to Reservoir Drive
Reservoir Drive, from 33rd Street to Edgley Drive
Edgley Drive, from Reservoir Drive to Fountain Green Drive
Fountain Green Drive, from Edgley Drive to Kelly Drive
Kelly Drive
Falls Bridge
Ridge Avenue, from Schoolhouse Lane to Manayunk Avenue
Main Street (Manayunk), from Ridge Avenue to Conarroe Street
Access and reopening
Local access for residents and businesses will be maintained at police-controlled points.
Access to the Philadelphia Museum of Art will be available via Spring Garden Street (Bridge and Tunnel) to Anne d’Harnoncourt Drive.
Expect delays at crossings along the course; police will allow traffic through when possible.
All streets (except Eakins Oval and the Parkway) are scheduled to reopen by 3 p.m. Sunday; many Center City roads will reopen earlier as they are cleared and serviced.
Transportation to the races
🚌 Bus
Lines 7, 32, 38, 43, 48, and 49 drop riders within a two-minute walk from the Art Museum. But, due to the race, there will most likely be detours. Check SEPTA’s system status for the latest schedules.
The race’s starting line is within a 10-minute ride from the City Hall area and subway stop and other locations. Check the map of Indego bike share stations to rent bikes and return them at a station near the Art Museum.
16th & Race St. (Sheraton Hotel), Standard Parking, (215) 196-0293
1815 JFK Boulevard, Central Parking System, (215) 568-8030 (Entrance on 1850 Cuthbert St.)
1901 JFK Boulevard, Central Parking System, (215) 557-3821 (Entrance on 19th Street)
1700 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, the Windsor Suites, (215) 569-0899
36 S. 19th St., Central Parking System, (215) 561-1187
Where does the money go?
Revenue earned and money raised from the Philadelphia Marathon goes to various charities and nonprofits, including local ones like B Inspired Philadelphia and the Mazzoni Center.
Naomi Peker (left) and Srivki Weisberg (right) jump to celebrate their finish in the 2024 Philadelphia Marathon on Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. They run with a club in Suffern, N.Y., and this was Peker’s first marathon.
Awards & prize money
Monetary prizes range from $225 to $10,000 depending on the race, with the Philadelphia Marathon’s Elite Division being the most competitive.
In the opinion piece, television journalist Alan Sepinwall, a New Jersey native who went to Penn, says show creator Brad Ingelsby — who grew up in Chester County — “transports us to a downtrodden stretch of rural America where a guy like Robbie has to resort to stealing from drug dealers in order to make ends meet.”
Downtrodden? Parts of it, perhaps. But I mean Villanova University, Swarthmore, and Haverford are in Delco, along with Neumann University, where the show filmed some scenes.
Statistically, there’s really no argument to support that Delco is rural. It had 54 working farms in 2022, according to the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau. Chester County had 1,558 and Lancaster County, where in Task, the Dark Hearts dabbled in meth sales, had 4,680. Knowing the trends well, all of those numbers are surely down today. According to the Center for Rural Pennsylvania, none of Delco’s 49 municipalities are considered rural based on population density.
Delco’s not much different from Philadelphia’s other ring counties on both sides of the Delaware: mostly suburban, with some more urban, post-industrial areas mixed in, along with a ton of strip malls, golf courses, and islands of great affluence. I grew up in a middle-class Camden County “pike town.” I know the vibes. I’ve known Robbies and Jaysons. I still see them at Wawa or read their obituaries. I’ve had beers with outlaw bikers and I’ve been threatened by them.
I’m also uniquely qualified to talk about rural issues because that’s what I’ve covered at The Inquirer for close to a decade. I’ve written about deer urine farmers, counties with one traffic light, the difficulties of getting cell coverage, a decent workout, and even delivering pizza up mountain roads.
I see the Times used the word “rural” to describe the show in a prior photo cutline too. It isn’t the only news outlet to call the show’s setting rural, either.
Sam (Ben Doherty) in “Task.”
To be fair, Ingelsby did present Delaware County as more rural than it is and the characters travel to a cabin. The quarry played a big role in the show, a sacred space for Robbie if you will, though one quarry in the show is 85 miles north, in the Lehigh Valley. Another is in French Creek State Park. In the piece, the author described the quarry as a “hot spot” and, perhaps, evidence of how little the area had. I grew up playing in an elaborate, questionable fort built atop a marshy, tidal creek behind an industrial park near my house. I get it.
The characters in Task reminded me of the 2013 film Out of the Furnace, a crime drama set in post-industrial Western Pennsylvania. I just learned, while writing this, that Ingelsby co-wrote the script.
I’ve covered the kind of places you’d see in Task: not quite rural or urban or even suburban, the in-between towns haunted by better days. Many of those towns lost vital industries, the ticket to a nice middle-class life, and nothing filled the void. In Delco, that dream’s still possible. A lot of those Dark Hearts could have good-paying union jobs.
A historic set of stairs in Shamokin, Pa.
I just wrote about Shamokin, a hardscrabble, former coal town fit for Task. It became the butt of jokes after a news clip of locals mourning their burned-out Dunkin’ Donuts went viral.
I go back to Shamokin time and time again for stories, but also because my great-grandparents are buried there in a mountain cemetery.
I think Sepinwall was getting at something beyond statistics and density studies. Ingelsby, he wrote, takes viewers “somewhere other than their own reality to see the stories of people with whom they might identify.”
Like Ingelsby, I’d like to think I’m offering readers a chance to better understand a place they’ve never been and flex their empathy.
