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  • Everything you need to know about the 2026 PHS Philadelphia Flower Show

    Everything you need to know about the 2026 PHS Philadelphia Flower Show

    The iconic Philadelphia Flower Show returns Feb. 28-March 8, bringing a massive, immersive garden world blooming to life within the Convention Center. And more than ever, it promises to be historic.

    Pennsylvania Horticultural officials have billed the 2026 Flower Show as Philly’s first major event of its yearlong festivities planned for the 250th anniversary of America — as a celebration of the history of American gardening.

    The show’s theme, “Rooted: Origins of American Gardening,” honors the people, places, and traditions that have shaped gardening — and invites visitors to consider where their own gardening stories began. The 2026 show will debut a reimagined Marketplace shopping destination and expanded Artisan Row.

    America’s oldest flower show, which began in 1829, the internationally renowned event draws thousands to Center City each year, and represents the Horticultural Society’s biggest fundraiser, supporting its greening efforts across the city.

    Here’s what you need to know if you’re planning to attend.

    Location and schedule

    📍 Pennsylvania Convention Center: 1101 Arch St., Philadelphia, PA 19107

    📅 Feb. 28 to March 8

    ⏰ Hours:

    • Feb. 27: Noon — 4 p.m. Members only Preview
    • Feb. 28 — March 8, 2026
    • Open daily 10 a.m. — 8 p.m., until 6 p.m. on March 8
    A rendering of the 2026 Philadelphia Flower show is on display during a Jan. 14 news conference at Union Trust. The theme of this year’s flower show is called “Rooted: Origins of American Gardening.”

    Tickets and pricing

    Tickets are available online at tickets.phsonline.org and at the Convention Center. Online tickets are cheaper than those purchased at the door, and weekday tickets cost less than weekend tickets. Group discounts are offered to groups of 25 adults or more.

    Online pricing:

    • Adult:
    • Student (18-24 with valid student ID):
    • Children (5-17):
    • Twilight (after 4 p.m.):
    • Any-Day Flex Pass — $60, one-time, any day admission
    • Floral Fanatic Pass — $100 unlimited daily entry for entire run

    In-person pricing:

    • Adult:
    • Student (18-24 with valid student ID):
    • Children (5-17):
    • Twilight (after 4 p.m.):
    A participant creates pressed flower art following a Jan. 14 news conference at Union Trust for the unveiling of a first look at the 2026 Philadelphia Flower Show, “Rooted: Origins of American Gardening.”

    Top exhibits and attractions

    For a full list of exhibitors at this year’s Show, please visit phsonline.org.

    The Forest Floor: Flower Show Entrance Garden

    A sprawling, misty forest floor creation drawing on the diverse inspirations of American gardens, and featuring mossy stonework, Zen-like sculptural plantings, water displays, and crowned with a towering, twisting root structure.

    The American Landscape Showcase: Special exhibition celebrating America’s 250th anniversary.

    This year’s special exhibition celebrates the national milestone, also known as the Semiquincentennial, with four gardens highlighting how gardening has shaped communities and evolved over 250 years.

    First Bloom — Rooted in Memory

    Four acclaimed international florists — Gábor Nagy, Alex Segura, Chantal Post, and Conny van der Westerlaken — showcase the origin moments that sparked their passion for flowers.

    Design Gallery

    Presents floral arrangements crafted for themed challenges, highlighting skill, creativity, and artistic power.

    Hamilton Horticourt

    Each year, thousands of exhibitors compete in more than 900 classes or categories, ranging from horticulture and arrangement to design and photography. With no age limits, winners receive a “Blue Ribbon.” Competitive Class categories are on the show floor, including miniatures, pressed flowers, and specialty plants.

    Artisan Row

    The 2026 show features an expanded Artisan Row, where guests can work alongside nearly 40 vendors and craftspeople to create everything from fresh floral crowns to dried bouquets and terrariums and candles and jewelry and more.

    Marketplace

    A new highly visible, street-level Marketplace below the main exhibit halls, with more than 200 vendors offering a curated selection of live plants, florals, garden tools, decorative wares, and more.

    Potting Parties

    Create your own flower arrangements under the guidance of Tu Bloom, the official botanical artist for the Grammys. $20 per person (reserve at tickets.phsonline.org/events).

    Bloom Bar

    Visit the Bloom Bar or keep an eye out for the cart wandering the show floor to buy gorgeous premade floral crowns.

    Kids Cocoon

    Sponsored by Netflix House Philadelphia, a family-friendly space with reading nooks, craft and digging stations.

    Butterflies Live!

    Hundreds of native and exotic butterflies, including zebra longwings, morning cloaks, and bright blue morphos dance and paint the air with color in the iconic butterfly tent exhibit. Many are happy to land on visitors’ feeding sticks for nectar and sugar water.

    Know to Grow

    Speaker series featuring horticultural experts exploring topics including heirloom and early American gardens, native bees and pollinator habits, resilient ecological design, and the cultural histories that have shaped American gardening traditions.

    Plant People Place

    Interactive area where guests can connect with expert gardeners and industry specialists for advice and insight.

    Early Morning Tours

    Daily early-hour tours offer behind-the-scenes peeks and insights from exhibitors. Early morning photography sessions are also available.

    Family Frolic

    • March 1:10 a.m. — 3 p.m.

    Buy tickets for the March 1 show for a day designed for young families, with educational experiences, playful floral design, coloring, and more. Free with admission, recommended for all ages.

    Blossom & Breathe

    • March 4: 4 — 8 p.m.

    A celebration of beauty, well, and natural healing, including yoga classes, opportunities to work with wellness experts, and mediation. Purchase required for yoga class, all other activities are free with admission. Recommended for all ages.

    Fido Friday

    • March 6: 5 — 8 p.m.

    Bring your best four-legged friend to explore the florals. Proof of current rabies vaccination required.

    Flowers After Hours

    Folklore of the Forest

    • March 7: 8:30 — 11:30 p.m.

    The Flowers After Hours dance party transforms the show into an enchanted, fairytale forest setting with themed cocktails and dancing. Guests are encouraged to wear “fantasy-inspired attire,” planners said. Purchase required. Must be 21.

    A young woman falls asleep during the lunch rush at Reading Terminal Market on June 11, 2025, in Philadelphia.

    Food & drinks

    In addition to the convention center’s Saxby’s Coffee and the Overlook Cafe, there are concession areas managed by Aramark serving light bites, snacks, and drinks on the show floor.

    Guests are encouraged to get their hand stamped before exiting the building, if they decide to take a short walk to some of Philadelphia’s famous food destinations.

    How to get to the Flower Show

    • 🚴 Bike: 19 minutes from South Philly, about 30 minutes from North or West Philadelphia.
    • 🚌 Bus: Take lines 4, 10, 11, 13, 16, 17, 21, 23, 27, 33, 34, 36, 38, 42, 44, 45, 47, 48, 61, 78, 124, and 125.
    • 🚇 Subway:
    • 🚉 Regional Rail:
    • SEPTA is running extra trains on these Regional Rail lines on Saturdays and Sundays during the show — March 1-2 and March 8-9:

    Where to park for the Philadelphia Flower Show

    The Convention Center recommends parking at one of the lots closest to the show that are run by ABM Parking, E-Z Park, iParkit Philadelphia, Park America, Parking Facility, Parkway Corp., or SP+ Parking.

    You can also park at a Philadelphia Parking Authority garage:

    • The Autopark at the Fashion District: 📍45 N. Ninth St., 💰 $35 for 24 hours, ⌚ 6 a.m. to midnight, 🚶‍♀️ three minutes.
    • The Autopark at Jefferson: 📍10th and Ludlow Streets, 💰 $36 for 24 hours, ⌚ 5 a.m. to 11 p.m., 🚶‍♀️ 10 minutes.
    • Parkade on Eighth: 📍801 Filbert St., 💰$32 for 24 hours, ⌚ 24/7, 🚶‍♀️ six minutes.
    • Gateway Parking Garage: 📍1540 Vine St., 💰 $16 for 1 hour, $30 for 24 hours, ⌚ 24/7, 🚶‍♀️ five minutes

    Where does the money for the PHS Flower Show go?

    Proceeds from the Flower Show go directly to the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society to disburse among its regional programming. This includes neighborhood programs, city tree-tending, low-cost gardening programs, water conservation, designing and maintaining public gardens, and more.

    For more information, visit phsonline.org/the-flower-show.

  • Dear Abby | Expectant mom wants to ensure her newborn will be safe

    DEAR ABBY: I am having a baby in five months. My doctor is recommending that anyone who visits the baby in the first three months be up to date on vaccines (Tdap, flu, COVID and RSV, if age 60-plus). We have decided to follow our doctor’s recommendations.

    Some of my family members are resistant to getting these vaccines and want us to consider other options, like testing and wearing a mask, which is not as safe. Also, it would be hard for younger kids to do — my niece is 3. Abby, we vaccinated our young children (3 and 5) at the time when our niece was born, as part of what my sister requested.

    I am already stressed about this situation and do not want to talk it to death with my family, and I have grown resentful because of it. In the past, I have set boundaries with my family, and most of them have not been understood or received well. Can you offer me some guidance?

    — EXPECTING IN WASHINGTON

    DEAR EXPECTING: I am happy to try. When your baby arrives, the responsibility for its welfare will rest mostly on you, the mother. Follow your doctor’s medical advice to protect your child. If family members don’t want to respect your wishes and do what they must to avoid endangering your baby (as you did for them), realize you can’t change their minds, and keep your distance for the first three months.

    ** ** **

    DEAR ABBY: For nearly five years, my adult daughter was a domestic violence victim. My husband and I have done everything to support her freedom and new path. However, during her journey, she claimed that I had been abusive to her as a child. I do not recall any action I took that could be considered abusive, nor does my husband or her siblings.

    I am finding it difficult to rationalize her recollection of events when she didn’t recognize her recent relationship was abusive. Anyhow, I’ve recommended individual and group therapy. However, I have not admitted to any abuse because it didn’t happen. We all feel she’s projecting her anger and resentment from this recent relationship onto me because I was honest from the beginning that I saw red flags. We had candid conversations about the offender prior to the separation. But she keeps defending him and blaming me for having inflicted pain and suffering on her.

    Please tell me what you suggest I do to resolve this situation, as it is destroying our family.

    — DUMBFOUNDED IN DELAWARE

    DEAR DUMBFOUNDED: Your daughter appears to be a troubled individual. I’m glad that you suggested therapy. The kind I would recommend would be family therapy, in which every member has a chance to air their “truths.” When someone in an abusive relationship attempts to deflect blame from their abuser onto someone else, they may be avoiding reality. A licensed psychotherapist could help put your daughter back on the right track.

  • Dear Abby | Unexpected guest in restroom leads to unfortunate incident

    DEAR ABBY: At a recent family gathering, my sister-in-law “Paula” asked my husband if she could use our bathroom. We have three in our home — one off the kitchen, one upstairs and one in our upstairs bedroom suite. Despite the fact that she and my husband both know of my incontinence problem, she asked him to use our bathroom “for privacy.”

    I had to run upstairs to use my bathroom. It was urgent. To my surprise, there she was using my bathroom. (We don’t even allow our children to use this bathroom.) Because I couldn’t make it to the toilet, I had a wetting accident. While I could have used any of the other bathrooms, I chose to use my own, expecting that it was vacant, knowing the other bathrooms were free for our guests.

    I was extremely upset with Paula. I yelled at her, and when she saw what had happened, she was extremely apologetic. Abby, Paula knows I have bladder control issues, yet she ignored it. My husband heard the commotion and hollered at me for yelling at his sister. Did I do wrong here? He has a hard time saying no to family, but jeepers, I needed a toilet! What should I have done?

    — GOTTA GO IN NEW JERSEY

    DEAR GOTTA GO: Incontinence can happen to anyone at any age. It isn’t just little old ladies. Between 24% and 45% of women have reported urinary incontinence, “the problem no one wants to discuss.” According to statistics from the National Institutes of Health approximately 13 million individuals were affected by urinary incontinence in 2024.

    You were wrong to yell at your sister-in-law, who had been granted permission to use that bathroom, but it’s understandable given your distress and embarrassment. If you haven’t apologized to her, you should. Frankly, the person who deserved yelling at is your husband, who may never understand the “urgency” until he experiences it himself. (Many men do!)

    ** ** **

    DEAR ABBY: Three years ago, you printed a letter from a grandmother who was upset about having to raise her grandson because his parents lacked the desire to do so. I never forgot that letter. Long before it was published, my husband and I gained custody of our 7-year-old grandson, “Keith.” My husband and I were both retired and had been spending our winters in Florida. We gave up the Florida trips (willingly) to stay home and take care of our grandson.

    Keith had always spent a lot of time with us, but he was still upset that his parents had “given him away.” So, to keep busy, we joined karate, Boy Scouts, 4-H and school sports. It was one of the best times of my life. I learned new things and made new friends with grandmothers who were also raising grandchildren. Keith graduated from high school, found a good job, bought a house and recently married. We did OK! I hope “Like a Mom in South Carolina” (Nov. 3, 2022) is doing well, too.

    — GRATEFUL GRANDMA IN NEW YORK

    DEAR GRANDMA: Many grandparents today are raising their grandchildren, and many of them have success stories similar to your own. Congratulations on yours, and thank you for sharing.

  • The great Philly chicken-bone invasion | Weekly report card

    The great Philly chicken-bone invasion | Weekly report card

    Philly’s unofficial sidewalk buffet: C

    There are two architects of Philadelphia’s chicken-bone temple. One has whiskers. The other has hands.

    Curious Philly asked why there were so many chicken bones on the streets of our city. Turns out it’s a whole circle of life testament to gross urban living. Rats rip into trash bags, raccoons drag leftovers into the street, and yes, sometimes humans just … drop them.

    Somewhere in Philly, a squirrel is dragging a drumstick across a crosswalk like it just led the Mummers Parade down Broad. A raccoon is performing minor surgery on a Hefty bag. And a rat is simply responding to the opportunity. Philadelphia is the eighth-rattiest city in America (which feels relevant here), and twice-weekly trash pickup means an extra day of opportunity. A ripped bag on the curb is an open invitation.

    Meanwhile, dog owners are performing full-contact tug-of-war in the middle of the Gayborhood because their shih tzu refuses to give up a chicken bone that is just as likely to choke them to death.

    So please, put a tight lid on the trash cans. Until then, the sidewalk wing night continues.

    Homer (Dan Castellaneta) eats a cheesesteak in South Philly in an upcoming episode of ‘The Simpsons.’

    Michael Vick Reparation Park: A

    It took 800 episodes for The Simpsons to finally visit Philadelphia.

    They covered the obvious beats. Rocky, Wawa, cheesesteaks, the whole “wooder” universe. That’s low-hanging fruit.

    But tucked into the background of the episode was a joke that wasn’t obvious, wasn’t tourist-friendly, and absolutely wasn’t generic: a fictional dog park called Michael Vick Reparation Park, “the best dog park in the world.” That’s a deep-cut, morally messy, and very-Philly sports memory.

    Vick arrived here after serving prison time for running a dogfighting ring. His signing split the fan base and forced years of uncomfortable conversations about redemption, talent, and how much winning smooths things over. He rebuilt his career in Eagles green. Some fans forgave, while others never did. The tension is the punchline.

    It works because it’s The Simpsons. And it lands because this episode wasn’t written by someone skimming Wikipedia. It was written by Christine Nangle, Oxford Circle-raised, Penn-educated, and still passionately Philly. You don’t make that joke unless you remember how complicated that era was.

    The episode even found space to include a nod to the late Dan McQuade in the Roots concert scene. Blink and you’d miss it, but it’s a tribute that meant something if you knew.

    So the moral of the story is anyone can animate the Liberty Bell. It takes a local to slip in a joke that sharp and trust the audience to understand it.

    Bruce Springsteen and Max Weinberg performing during the Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band 2024 World Tour at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia on Wednesday, August 21, 2024.

    Bruce in May… indoors?: D

    Bruce Springsteen is coming back to Philadelphia in May. May!

    As in, windows-open, water-ice-in-hand, skyline-glowing, baseball-season May.

    And instead of Citizens Bank Park, where he played two summers ago under actual sky, the “Land of Hope and Dreams” tour is landing at Xfinity Mobile Arena.

    Indoors.

    This is not anti-arena slander, but May in Philadelphia is outdoor concert weather. It’s built for a ballpark.

    The tour includes 19 arena dates and one baseball stadium finale in Washington. Which makes it feel even more criminal that Philly — a city that will scream every word to “Born to Run” — is getting the indoor version.

    (We’ll still go, obviously.)

    A car slams into the edge of a large pothole on the 700 block of South 4th Street in Philadelphia on Wednesday, March 12, 2025.

    Pothole season officially begins: F

    The snow is melting, which means two things in Philadelphia. People are wearing shorts in 42 degrees and the roads are about to betray us.

    As the ice pulls back, the damage reveals itself. Broad Street suddenly looks like it survived a minor asteroid shower. A harmless bump from January is now a cavity. That thin crack you ignored all winter? Now you slow down for it instinctively.

    You can tell the season has arrived by the driving alone. Traffic doesn’t flow in straight lines anymore, it zigzags. Group texts start circulating with hyper-specific intersection warnings. A single traffic cone materializes in the middle of the street and quietly becomes semi-permanent infrastructure.

    Some craters get patched fast. Others linger long enough to earn neighborhood lore. “Turn left at the one that swallowed the Camry.”

    Samantha DiMarco, a popcorn vendor at Citizen Bank Park sells popcorn by balancing the box on her Tuesday, September 20, 2022

    Citizens Bank Park without Sam the Popcorn Girl: F

    The Phillies will still play. The popcorn will still be sold.

    But one of the ballpark’s most recognizable faces won’t be in the aisles for most of the season.

    Sam the Popcorn Girl is a minor celebrity at Citizen’s Bank Park, balancing popcorn on her head, popping up on Phanavision, and playfully sparring with Mets fans.

    Over the last decade, she’s become an essential part of the atmosphere at the ballpark. Sure, she’s not on the roster, but she was part of the team. And this summer, she’ll be working on a Carnival cruise ship instead.

    It’s temporary, and she promises she’ll be back. But this is Philadelphia. We’ve seen how this goes. First it’s a cruise contract. Next thing you know, the bullpen collapses in June.

    Remove one of the ballpark’s regulars and suddenly everything feels off, and it’s way too early to be testing the baseball gods.

    Booking the Shore before the snow melts: A-

    There are still snowbanks clinging to street corners in Philadelphia.

    And yet Margate agents are fielding multiple rental calls before lunchtime.

    Fourteen weeks from Memorial Day, the Jersey Shore scramble is already underway. Not casually. Urgently.

    Last year, people waited, booking shorter stays and trying to read the market. This year, they’re locking in weeks while there’s still salt on the sidewalk.

    The Shore has always been a seasonal reset button. But booking it in February (before anyone has even vacuumed the sand out of last year’s trunk) feels like a quiet shift.

    After a few summers of sticker shock, people are now less afraid of being priced out then they are of being too late.

    Soon we’ll be arguing over beach tags and debating Avalon vs. Sea Isle. Soon someone will be panic-buying Wawa hoagies on the Parkway.

    We thought it was still winter. But summer, apparently, starts when the snow is still melting.

  • Has Wawa’s food changed too much?

    Has Wawa’s food changed too much?

    This week’s question is… Has Wawa’s food changed too much?

    Stephanie Farr, Features Columnist

    In my 19 years here I’ve found that Wawa has remained a consistent standard in my life, both in terms of quality and in terms of how often I eat it. I don’t think anyone would argue that it’s the best food in a very foodie town, but it’s never let me down.

    Tommy Rowan, Programming Editor

    Wawa lost something when they took out the meat slicers and stopped having bread delivered. In the early 2000s, at least to me, the sandwiches tasted fresher. It still had the spirit of a deli. Now it’s just like Subway. Which, hey, fine in a pinch. But I’m not going out of my way to stop anymore.

    Jenn Ladd, Deputy Food Editor

    I am a Montco native, so Wawa was a big part of my teenage years. Like most kids in this area, I thought of it as sort of a third space in high school — have many fond memories of sitting in or around my car or a friend’s car in Wawa parking lots in Flourtown, Wynnewood, Ocean City — and then when I went to college in Baltimore, that tether remained.

    I’d drive 25 minutes each way from the northern edge of Baltimore City to a Wawa in like Parkville, Md., or something. I’d get gas, coffee, and a breaded chicken sandwich or the protein snack pack (grapes, cheese, crackers). Often, I’d round up the other Philly-area kids and we’d all go together at like 11 p.m. on a weeknight. It was a ritual.

    All of that is to say, I once held deep-seated affection for Wawa.

    The Wawa at the corner of 34th and Market Street near Drexel University will be closing in Philadelphia, on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026.

    But it has lost that spot in the past three or four years.

    I used to commence each long-distance road trip with a Wawa breakfast hoagie — the scrambled eggs used to be so rich that you really didn’t need cheese because they were that good and plentiful; the sausage was really flavorful; the portion so abundant that you could drive for hours without feeling the need for a snack. The last time I got a breakfast sandwich from Wawa, I gotta tell you, it was sad.

    I was sad.

    Stephanie Farr

    A road trip still doesn’t start for me until I get a Wawa Sizzli — croissant, egg, turkey sausage, and cheese — and I’ve never been disappointed. That being said, I recently got a breakfast sandwich at the flagship Wawa at Sixth and Market and that one came with scrambled eggs and it was a mess! I much prefer the egg mold.

    What has gone downhill for you guys?

    A worker assembles breakfast Sizzlis during the grand opening on Sept. 19, 2024, of the first Wawa in Central Pennsylvania — solid Sheetz territory — in the Dauphin County borough of Middletown.

    Jenn Ladd

    I’ve noticed that the portions have gotten kinda puny for the custom-ordered stuff, which was my jam for years. And now I think you’re better off with the grab-and-go things — the Sizzlis.

    I think Wawa putting so much focus on the “Super Wawa” format and then constantly “innovating” with the food menu has really been its downfall. Like, just keep it simple.

    Tommy Rowan

    I still think about the old Buffalo Blue Breaded Chicken Sandwich. It was a robust and crispy chicken patty. And it was slathered in that bright orange buffalo-blue cheese sauce that brought the heat and the tang. It was unmistakable and worth the price of admission. And it came on a fresh kaiser roll, to boot.

    They have introduced new lines of chicken sandwiches in recent years, but they’re not the same.

    Jenn Ladd

    I used to love those chicken sandwiches. They had my heart over a hoagie almost every time.

    A worker at the Wawa at Sixth and Chestnut Streets wraps a turkey hoagie with provolone cheese and lettuce and tomato for Wawa Welcome America Hoagie Day in 2020.

    Stephanie Farr

    I’ve actually never tried one of their chicken sandwiches, but I am mad they took the spicy cherry pepper relish off the menu. That is a GOAT hoagie topping.

    Personally, I like Wawa’s soups, particularly the chicken noodle and tomato bisque. I’m sure they come out of a bag, but they taste pretty good, and it’s not something you find at similar places, like Sheetz.

    Jenn Ladd

    [shudder at the thought of bagged soup]

    Stephanie Farr

    As I assumed you would, foodie. lol. It doesn’t bother me, but my standards are pretty low.

    Evan Weiss, Deputy Features Editor

    If you all could tell Wawa to change two things back, what would they be?

    Stephanie Farr

    Just give me back my spicy cherry pepper relish for the love of all that is holy please! Also, they better never get rid of the garlic aioli. Get that on a hoagie and bring it into a public place and everyone will ask you what smells so good. (It’s happened to me in the newsroom!)

    Tommy Rowan

    Bring back the slicers and the fresh bread. It would make a huge difference.

    Jenn Ladd

    I’d have them remember their roots as opposed to coming up with novelties and/or trying to compete with other convenience store chains on selection. (See Wawa pizza, a repeated failure.) They used to have great sandwiches and snacks. I’ll forever cherish the memory of a boss in Baltimore putting a Wawa pretzel on my desk because she had been in the Philly area earlier in the day. It was like a little love note from home. They’ve gotten too corporate, so I basically just treat it like a gas station now.

    A slice of Wawa cheese pizza at Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia in 2023.

    Stephanie Farr

    I was talking to someone about Wawa last week, after covering the first Sheetz opening in Montco, and they said while Sheetz may have more food offerings, Wawa will still remain supreme in the Philly region because: “We’re loyal and it has nothing to do with quality.”

    Honestly, I think that’s one of the reasons I love Philly so much. Tommy and Jenn, are you bucking that trend, have you forsaken your Wawa loyalty?

    Jenn Ladd

    I don’t believe in blind allegiance.

    But also, I don’t think we should just keep giving money to an entity that doesn’t seem to be minding the quality of what it’s putting out to customers.

    Just because we are fond of it.

    Stephanie Farr

    So I take it you’re not a Phillies or Flyers fan, either?

    Jenn Ladd

    Ahahaha, well I’m not giving them any money, that’s true.

    Tommy Rowan

    Hahaha. I will always have a special place in my heart for Wawa. And I hope it comes back around. I’m going to be thinking of that chicken sandwich for the rest of the week now.

    Jenn Ladd

    I won’t even get into how Wawa has betrayed Philadelphia proper, but that’s another reason I’m loathe to be blindly loyal to them.

    I’d love for Wawa to make a quality comeback, too, truth be told, but I don’t know that I’d realize that without this conversation.

    Have a question of your own? Or an opinion? Email us at eweiss@inquirer.com.

  • Spring blossoms, biscuits, and Blue Ridge views in Charlottesville, Va. | Field Trip

    Spring blossoms, biscuits, and Blue Ridge views in Charlottesville, Va. | Field Trip

    Nestled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Charlottesville is ready for spring. The season there comes a little earlier than ours — cherry blossoms popping, birds trilling — so those planning a March getaway should consider the Virginian city, where the weather is often mild enough to spend serious time outside. Rails and walking paths wind like shoelaces through downtown and into the surrounding countryside. As a university town, C’ville is also packed with arts, music, shopping, and dining, and Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello estate sits just on the outskirts of town, high on a hill.

    Get your history, get your biscuits. Start the car.

    Fuel: Oakhurst Cafe

    The first stop in town, Oakhurst Cafe, announces you’ve arrived in the South with a house-baked buttermilk biscuits layered with country ham, apple butter and mustard. There’s also strawberry shortcake French toast, sweet potato hash with chorizo and fresh-fried beignets, served in a sunny room whose generous windows make the tangerine walls and hardwood floors gleam.

    📍 1616 Jefferson Park Ave, Charlottesville, Va. 22903

    Stay: Graduate Charlottesville

    Charlottesville is a college town, with the University of Virginia’s idyllic and historic campus right downtown. Lean into it and stay at the Graduate, a newer property from the collegiate-themed brand under the Hilton umbrella. Opened in 2015, the hotel is still super fresh, with a game room, scenic rooftop, and rooms dressed in soothing blue walls, Cavalier-print curtains, and bolster pillows embroidered with “Wah-hoo-wa,” the university’s sports cheer.

    📍 1309 W. Main St., Charlottesville, Va. 22903

    Stroll: Downtown Mall

    A short walk from the Graduate, Charlottesville’s pedestrian Downtown Mall offers a solid orientation to the city’s commercial core. Visit shops like C’Ville Arts, a co-op gallery representing over 50 Virginia artists, or catch a show at the historic Paramount Theater, which opened in 1931, closed in 1974, and reopened after a $17-million restoration in 2004. When the biscuit craving returns, hit Miller’s Downtown for lunch. It’s famous for the Charlottesville Nasty chicken biscuit, but the pimento-cheese BLT is the actual move.

    📍 East Main Street, between Second Street NW and Ninth Street NE, Charlottesville, Va.

    Visit: Monticello

    Whether you think history is a snooze or can quote Hamilton from memory — “Thomas Jefferson’s coming home!”— Monticello is must-visit. Set on 2,500 bucolic acres, the estate features multiple exhibits inside, outside, and even beneath the mansion, with thoughtful attention paid to the enslaved people who worked Jefferson’s plantation, including Sally Hemings, with whom he fathered six children.

    📍 1050 Monticello Loop, Charlottesville, Va. 22902

    Walk: Saunders-Monticello Trail

    Beyond the landscaped gardens of Monticello proper, the fairytale woods and meadows of the estate beg for exploring. The Saunders-Monticello Trail is an easy lift for all activity levels, with a maximum 5% incline and two miles of wheelchair-accessible paved paths and boardwalks winding through forest and over ravines. Stop at Carter Overlook for panoramic views of Charlottesville and the Blue Ridge Mountains.

    📍 Parking: 503 Thomas Jefferson Pkwy., Charlottesville, Va. 22902

    Drink: Blenheim Vineyards

    Dave Matthews Band got its start in Charlottesville, gigging at Miller’s on the mall and other stages around town. Though the singer now lives in Seattle, he maintains a strong connection to Virginia. One touchpoint is his winery, Blenheim Vineyards, situated on 32 acres of rolling chartreuse hills stitched with sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, and albarino vines. Giant windows in the wood-clad A-frame frame the landscape during guided tastings of five wines (just $25). Consider this your predinner drinks.

    📍 31 Blenheim Farm, Charlottesville, Va. 22902

    Dine: Smyrna

    Back downtown, Smyrna’s oysters with ramp mignonette, hamachi crudo with anise-compressed melon, and manti dumplings dabbed with garlic yogurt earned chef Tarik Sengul a semifinalist nod from the James Beard Foundation this year. You’ll have to wait till April to find out if he advances to the finalist round of the awards — making right now an ideal time to check this sharp Aegean restaurant out for yourself.

    📍 707 W. Main St., Charlottesville, Va. 22903

  • Dear Abby | Widow discovers late husband’s life was full of secrets

    DEAR ABBY: My late husband was ill for six years. He experienced some dementia. He wasn’t able to work, and our life together changed a lot. I focused on supporting him through his decline until he eventually ended his own life.

    After his death, I discovered several secrets. He hadn’t been honest about his medical condition, possibly out of shame or because he wanted to protect us from the seriousness. There were also secrets about his family he may have been ashamed about. He also changed his estate plan without telling me. These secrets and betrayals show he wasn’t thinking about the impact of his death upon me, and they have made me question my beliefs about our marriage.

    I know his decisions weren’t about my worth — they were about his fear, shame, illness and preoccupation with other family issues. But I can’t tell any of this to people because I want to preserve our adult children’s love and respect for their father. Also, I don’t want to deal with other people trying to understand this crazy situation. This feels so unfair, and I may never be able to trust again. Do you have any advice?

    — KEEPING SECRETS IN NEW ENGLAND

    DEAR KEEPING: Please accept my sympathy for the loss of your husband. From what you have written, it seems the problems in your marriage started with the family secrets in addition to your husband’s increasing dementia. My advice is to put an end to all of those secrets now. Telling your children the truth should not make them lose respect for their late father. Whether the people in whom you choose to confide will understand is beside the point.

    What’s most important is that you free yourself from the prison of lies in which you find yourself and talk with a mental health professional if it will help you better understand how to move forward.

    ** ** **

    DEAR ABBY: My family is American, through and through. We had some European ancestors back in the Ellis Island days, but we’ve been here for generations and identify only loosely with our European heritage. That being said, my husband and I were discussing names for our future children, and I mentioned that I would love to have a son named after my great-grandfather. His name was Jacques, but it was always pronounced like “Jack.”

    If I used the name, I would want to spell it the same way to honor him, but I’d feel weird pronouncing it with a French accent when I don’t identify as French, nor do I have an accent. Is it OK to use the French spelling of a name and then pronounce it in an Americanized way?

    — PLANNING AHEAD IN SOUTH CAROLINA

    DEAR PLANNING: You are the parent, and you can call your son whatever you wish. Jacques will be his formal name if you choose to use it on his birth certificate, but he can use “Jack” if he wishes. When he starts school, don’t forget to communicate to his teachers and the administrators how his name is pronounced.

  • Dear Abby | Fifty years later, former couple again cross paths

    DEAR ABBY: I met “Bobbie” when we were in college in the early 1970s. We fell in love, got married, and stayed together for seven years. Things changed; our divorce was amicable. We went on to successful professional lives and happy second marriages. We stayed in touch over the years, mostly through holiday cards.

    A few years ago, I started getting emails from Bobbie about things and ideas we shared together. She lost her husband earlier this year, and I lost my wife about the same time. I stopped by to see her last summer during a visit with some other friends, and we had a nice visit over brunch. She looked good.

    Would I be crazy to see if I could rekindle our relationship after 50 years? She lives a long way away now, but I’ve thought several times about moving back to the area where I grew up. It’s clear we still share the ideals of our youth, and I’ll admit I’ve always had a soft spot for her. I don’t have much to offer these days, but I get kind of lonely.

    — LOOKING BACK IN WYOMING

    DEAR LOOKING BACK: I don’t think it would be crazy at all to explore rekindling your relationship with her, but please take your time. If you want to move back to the area where you grew up, keep that issue separate from the romance. It would be unfortunate if you relocated, things didn’t work out as you hoped, you had given up all of your social contacts and you had to start completely over solo.

    ** ** **

    DEAR ABBY: My son married my daughter’s best friend, “Kayla.” I have loved this young lady since she was a little girl. When Kayla became part of the family, I was overjoyed.

    Kayla and my son now have had a baby, and I am not allowed to see the child. The only people who get to see the baby are Kayla’s mother and her mother’s family. Kayla’s parents are divorced, so her father doesn’t see his grandchild often either, but it’s far more often than my husband and I do. I wrote a text to my son. It wasn’t a nice one, but please remember I haven’t been able to see my grandchild.

    I don’t know what to do. I’m heartbroken. I did tell them I was sorry and I shouldn’t have written what I did, but they still keep me at arm’s length. In addition, they have just announced that I’m going to be a grandmother again.

    I’m not overjoyed about the news, knowing what it’s been like with this first child. I’m sure it will be more of the same with the new baby. I love my grandchildren and their parents, but I’m tired of being the bad guy. Advice?

    — KEPT AWAY IN TENNESSEE

    DEAR KEPT AWAY: It is not unusual for new mothers to gravitate toward their own mothers after the birth of a child. Why do I suspect there may be more to this estrangement than one nasty text written to your son? I wish you had mentioned what may have caused a rift between you and Kayla, whom you say you have loved since she was a little girl.

    Because apologizing to your son and daughter-in-law was not enough to assuage their anger, you are finally going to have to accept that this regrettable situation is one you cannot change on your own.

  • Murray Wolf, Avalon’s legendary beach patrol captain, has died at 87

    Murray Wolf, Avalon’s legendary beach patrol captain, has died at 87

    Murray Wolf, 87, of Avalon, the legendary no-nonsense beach patrol captain whose half-century reign inspired and guided generations of lifeguards, while aggravating some famous and not-so-famous beachgoers along the way, died Monday, Feb. 16, at AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center in Atlantic City following a stroke.

    “He was probably the most loyal person I’ve known in my life,” said his wife of 43 years, Vicki Wolf. “Anybody who came into contact with him, he made them a better person, no question about it.”

    Murray Wolf was captain of the Avalon Beach Patrol for more than a half-century and spent 65 years on the patrol. “He had the highest of standards,” said John Glomb, who served under him for decades.

    “He had the highest of standards,“ said John Glomb, who served under him for decades. ”When the conditions were not favorable, he drove around the beaches and made sure the guards were on top of their bathers, making sure that nobody was in harm’s way.

    “He had a record where in his 65 years, there was never a drowning. That’s a record that is absolutely spectacular.”

    Not everyone appreciated Mr. Wolf’s brand of beach enforcement. In 1999, he famously tangled with then-WIP sports radio personality Angelo Cataldi over a beach tag, showing him no mercy.

    Cataldi endlessly railed about it on air, and never truly got over it, saying in 2016, as Wolf entered his 61st year on the beach patrol, “I do harbor ill will toward Murray Wolf, and I always will.” Cataldi did not respond to an email following news of Mr. Wolf’s passing.

    Mr. Wolf brushed off the Cataldi encounter like he did most of his encounters on the beach, a place he patrolled with military precision, complete with nightly wave-offs, stand by stand, from his jeep. Rules were meant to be enforced. But he could laugh about it, even if Cataldi couldn’t.

    There was also Frank Wilson, formerly of Chester County, who sued Avalon in 2001 and won $175,000, driven arguably mad after being repeatedly whistled out of the water when he tried to swim after 5 p.m. “We have the right to protect our bathers,” Mr. Wolf said at the time.

    Murray Wolf, shown here rowing with his son Tyler during his final year on the Avalon Beach Patrol.

    Within the ranks of his family — wife Vicki; sons Matthew, Erich, and Tyler; and his 10-year-old black Lab, Ruger — Mr. Wolf’s loyalty, kindness, and appreciation for Avalon’s simple pleasures were deeply admired.

    The same was true for the ranks of lifeguards, wrestling teams, his Pleasantville school district physical education classes, and the multiple championship South Jersey beach patrol teams he coached in Avalon with the utmost of pride.

    Mr. Wolf rode his bike around Avalon almost to the end and walked Ruger in the deepest of snows.

    Murray Wolf, longtime captain of the Avalon Beach Patrol, taking a break from preseason preparations at age 77 to watch his son coach his baseball team.

    “He was happy to sit home and watch the football game, sit on the couch, yell at the dog for running in and out,” his wife said. “He loved his Avalon. There wasn’t one time we rode over the bridge into town when he didn’t say, ‘Oh, that was the best decision I made, moving to Avalon.’ He was just a content man, satisfied.”

    In his 61st season, Avalon’s Capt. Murray Wolf still rules the beach

    His blunt style could rub some the wrong way. Vicki Wolf, who met her husband at the Princeton, Avalon’s iconic bar, spotting at first his muscular arms, she recalled, said she always knew when someone in town had had an uncomfortable encounter with Mr. Wolf when they would veer away from her in the supermarket.

    He led his patrols through a pandemic, hurricanes, and new technology: He vowed to fire any guard caught with a cell phone on the stand. “It says Lifeguard on Duty,” he said in 2016. “It’s a duty.”

    “There was nothing phony about him,” Vicki Wolf said. “He was never one to take low blows about him. Not everybody liked him. He had enemies, but they respected him.”

    “He took a lot of pride in Avalon doing well — that was in everything Murray did,” Glomb said. “He ran a tight ship. He ran a tight beach.”

    In the offseason, Mr. Wolf coached championship wrestling teams and was a physical education teacher in the Pleasantville school district for 50 years. His son Matt took his place as Avalon beach patrol captain in 2021 and also coaches wrestling in Middle Township.

    Murray Wolf, longtime captain of the Avalon Beach Patrol pictured here in 2016 with some of his lifeguards at the patrol’s headquarters. ED HILLE / Staff Photographer

    Matt Wolf said his father suffered a stroke on Nov. 11 and was hospitalized until his Feb. 16 death. It seemed to so many that he might live forever, given his lifelong physical fitness and vigor, the devotion to his routines of bike riding and dog walking through town.

    “I think people saw him as very serious when he was in that public spotlight,” Matt Wolf said. “He had a great sense of humor. He didn’t need to be out with a bunch of people. He was happy to be home with his family.”

    Capt Murray Wolf in his 61st year on the beach

    The generations of guards who worked under him paid tribute to Capt. Wolf following his passing. “It was an honor to work with The Captain — there’s nobody quite like him,” Ryan Finnegan wrote on Facebook. “He taught his guards countless life lessons over the decades. Thousands of lives were saved because of him. The beaches in heaven are much safer now! Rest easy Capt.”

    Murray Wolf was captain of the Avalon Beach Patrol for more than a half-century and spent 65 years on the patrol. “He had the highest of standards,” said John Glomb, who served under him for decades.

    George Murray Wolf III was born Aug. 16, 1938, in Philadelphia to Elizabeth Gerhard and George Murray Wolf II and was raised on the Main Line. He and his family vacationed in Avalon from the time he was a child.

    He graduated from Conestoga High School and, after briefly working in a steel mill, Mr. Wolf attended Western State College in Gunnison, Colo., where he competed in wrestling and won a team national championship. He graduated with a degree in physical education and later earned a master’s in educational administration from Rider University.

    Mr. Wolf spent more than 50 years teaching physical education in Pleasantville. As head wrestling coach, he led the Pleasantville High School Greyhounds to the 1974 District 32 Championship. “He loved his job working with students and his colleagues at Leeds Avenue School,” his son wrote in the family obituary.

    Avalon Beach patrol chief Matt Wolf (center) with his parents Vicki and Murray at the 2024 South Jersey Lifeguard Championships in Brigantine.

    Mr. Wolf served as captain of the Avalon Beach patrol from 1967 to 2020 and served a total of 65 years on the patrol. His teams, competing in the storied lifeguard races every summer, won nine South Jersey Lifeguard Championships, and Mr. Wolf had the joy of coaching his sons in winning boats.

    Mr. Wolf and his wife were fixtures at their sons’ football, wrestling, baseball, and track and field games and meets, when their sons were competitors and, later, when their sons became coaches themselves.

    Ventnor’s retired beach patrol chief Stan Bergman, himself a legendary chief and coach, has called Mr. Wolf “a warrior.” “He’s battle-tested,” Bergman said in a 2016 interview. “They have a tough beach.”

    Murray Wolf was captain of the Avalon Beach Patrol for more than a half-century and spent 65 years on the patrol. “He had the highest of standards,” said John Glomb, who served under him for decades. He took great pride in his teams winning the South Jersey Lifeguard Championships.

    “He was a very staunch competitor,” said Ed Schneider, chief of Wildwood’s beach patrol and also a wrestling coach. “I was always nervous going up against his teams. He commanded a presence around him. He made people push themselves to be the best.”

    After Matt Wolf took his place as captain of the patrol, he would include his dad as much as possible, taking him in the jeep along the beach. Murray Wolf always attended the lifeguard races, talking to the guards about the David J. Kerr Memorial Races, a competition he began in 1984 to honor a guard who died of cancer.

    In his final weeks, when the family came into his hospital room, his wife said, he would look for his boys, and “always blow a kiss and say, ‘I love you.’”

    “Every night I would get home, the dog would go sit on the deck and look down the street,” Vicki Wolf said. “It broke my heart. He was looking for Murray.”

    In addition to his wife and their three sons, he is survived by another son, George Murray IV, and a sister. A son, Michael, died earlier.

    Services will be at noon Friday, Feb. 27, at our Savior Lutheran Church, 9212 Third Ave., Stone Harbor, N.J. Visitation will be 10 to 11:45 a.m.

    Donations may be made to the Middle Township Wrestling Program or the Helen L. Diller Vacation Home for Blind Children.

    Murray Wolf was devoted to his three black labs, including Ruger.
  • In a Facebook Marketplace and Depop world, Philly Craigslist still endures

    In a Facebook Marketplace and Depop world, Philly Craigslist still endures

    Every morning, Julie Parlade, a 34-year-old stylist, wakes up and does what most millennials do. She reaches for her phone and checks her apps. Instagram, Gmail, maybe the news. Then she checks one more: Craigslist.

    Yes, that Craigslist. The classified advertisement website that was popular in the early aughts and 2010s. She checks it later in the day, too, pretty much whenever she has downtime. “It’s so automatic for me,” said Parlade, who lives in Springfield, Delaware County. “I have an obsession.”

    Parlade mostly sticks to the free section, where she has scored everything from a pair of Frye boots in perfect condition to an entire set of Le Creuset cookware. Half of her house is furnished from the Craigslist free section: the claw-foot tub in the bathroom, the subway tile in the kitchen, the mid-century modern furniture in the living room.

    She started using Craigslist around 2010, first for jobs and apartments, and never really stopped. Today, it’s still her go-to source for secondhand items, despite the rise of other online marketplaces like Depop and Facebook Marketplace.

    “Everyone uses Craigslist,” Parlade said, “so I feel like I’m able to get better things. It’s a much broader net.”

    Does everyone still use Craigslist? Maybe not everyone, but more people than you might think. Despite its reputation as a digital relic, Craigslist draws more than 105 million monthly users, making it the 38th most popular website in the United States, according to internet data analytics company SimilarWeb.

    And in Philadelphia, the site remains a daily resource for people seeking work, housing, materials, and other necessities.

    University of Pennsylvania professor Jessa Lingel, 42, who interviewed hundreds of Craigslist users in Philadelphia for her book An Internet for the People: The Politics and Promise of Craigslist, says the platform functions as a kind of parallel infrastructure to more polished platforms, particularly for people with fewer financial resources.

    “Craigslist still has a role to play for a lot of Philadelphians who are just trying to live their everyday lives,” Lingel said.

    Access to affordability

    That role shows up most clearly in the kinds of jobs and housing that still circulate through Craigslist. Lingel, who lives in North Philadelphia, said many of the users she interviewed relied on the site to find warehousing shifts, construction work, and short-term gigs paying around $20 an hour — work that rarely surfaces on platforms like LinkedIn or Indeed because “those other platforms haven’t called those folks in,” she said.

    The same pattern holds for housing. Affordable apartments and private rooms for rent still appear regularly on Craigslist, posted by college students seeking temporary roommates or by landlords unwilling to pay higher listing fees. As one of Lingel’s interviewees put it, the cheap housing is on Craigslist, not Redfin. He called Craigslist the “poor people’s internet,” Lingel said.

    Craigslist does not release detailed user data, so there’s no way to know how many Philadelphians still rely on the site. But, Lingel said, given that Philadelphia is the second-poorest big city in the country, it would not be surprising if the ”poor people’s internet” remained especially relevant here. “Craigslist is gritty,” Lingel said, “and so is Philly.”

    Privacy protection and net nostalgia

    For some Philadelphians, the appeal of Craigslist isn’t affordability so much as how little of themselves it asks for in return. Unlike newer marketplaces that tether buying and selling to social profiles, Craigslist allows users to remain largely invisible — no profile photos, no friend networks, no algorithm stitching transactions back to a personal identity.

    It hearkens back to a simpler time on the internet, and, according to Lingel, holds special appeal for young tech skeptics who “are more ideologically attached to Craigslist.” .

    “The comparison that I think of is children of the ’80s going to ’50s-themed diners and getting really into Lindy Hop. It’s like, ‘Oh, this is a vision of the internet that I want to have experienced but have not.’”

    That simplicity is precisely what draws people like Raquel Glassman, a cofounder of a local kombucha company from Port Richmond, who mostly uses Craigslist to give things away. When she’s decluttering, she’ll box up items, leave them on the sidewalk with a handwritten “Free” sign, snap a photo, and post it online. “It’s always gone within the day,” she said.

    If Glassman, 31, is going to sell an item, she likes that she can do it anonymously on Craigslist. Facebook Marketplace is more efficient, she says, but it’s not a great place to go if you don’t want your aunt to know that you’re getting rid of the “ugly lamp” she gave you. “She’ll see it on my Facebook because we’re friends,” Glassman said. “You put that on Craigslist if you want to sell that.”

    IRL effects

    But the funny thing about Craigslist is that while it lets you be a stranger online, it forces you to be your full self in real life, and some people prefer that. According to Lingel, hobbyists such as musicians and car enthusiasts are among the most active Craigslist users.

    Indeed, two of the most popular “For Sale” subcategories on Philly Craigslist are auto parts and instruments — both of which benefit from face-to-face transactions. They allow sellers to avoid shipping costs and allow buyers to inspect their purchases.

    As Michael Lesco, a 33-year-old musician and marijuana dispensary manager said, “If I’m going to put $300 into something, I want to meet you in person and put the money in your hand.”

    Like Parlade, Lesco also makes good use of Craigslist’s free section. Last summer, he used it to get mulch and brick for the garden he was building in the abandoned lot next to his house in West Philly. The project could’ve easily cost $5,000. Instead, he and his wife did it for less than the cost of their West Philly Tool Library membership.

    “We could not have done it without Craigslist,” Lesco said.

    Parlade’s most recent Craigslist score was also construction-related: free drywall from a contractor. “We’re going to use it to fix my dad’s house,” she said. Craigslist, she added, is “almost like a service.”