HOLeY Jeans is a labor of love for Heise. She started the choir years ago when the young music educator returned from college as a singing group for her younger sister and her friends. 

Since then she has educated hundreds of young singers and entertained thousands of area folks with her young singers, who show up at events across the region several times a year.

She not only helps youth sing in a positive atmosphere, Heise encourages them to be announcers and student directors to gain stage presence and confidence. This also helps bring up the next generation of local performers as well as folks who will take their talents to others.

The show titled "Through the Years" will begin at 3 p.m. Sunday, April 3 at the Barrow-Civic Theatre in Franklin. The group, which typically holds a simple audition in the late summer, is always looking for young people who love to sing to be a part of their fun. They also accept donations for scholarship funds to help youth even further.
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Ticket information can be found at barrowtheatre.org/tickets. Seating is $10 or $13.

With prom season around the corner volunteers at the Grace United Methodist Church in Rocky Grove are creating a little shop full of hundreds of stylish gowns and accessories. Creating a fairytale night is an entire ministry for this group.

For nearly a decade now, a back room of the church has been storing gowns in order to help folks who don't have or want to spend $100 to $600 on a dress they will likely only wear once. The Blessed Dress Ministry serves the community by giving these gently used dresses away for free.

On Wednesday night, a half-dozen volunteers gathered to rummage through hundreds of gowns checking on sizes and determining if they were in need of some spot cleaning or discarding. They found a few that had perhaps already spent all the magic one dress could have on someone else's fairytale night. They even found a man's suit somehow in the mix. Some got the Magic Eraser treatment.

They seemed to have fun as they picked through them, often stopping to hold one to admire it further. "These are gorgeous dresses," said Hazel Kean who is chairing the committee this year.

From goofy to sleek to "too short for anyone to wear," they have just about any style of gown one could imagine. 
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"If someone wants to be a princess, [this is the dress]," said Sarah DeLong who has volunteered for a few years. 

Since the start of the program, they have helped around 200 girls attend their prom dressed to the nines. Each year they serve between 20 and 40 girls. "Usually more come on Thursday, maybe around 20," said DeLong who added that they see around 10 more on Saturday.

​Kean said that because of COVID they didn't advertise this year outside of Venango County but said these gowns are for whoever needs one.

According to promgirl.com this year's fashions - sequins are in. They should be worn head to toe the website explained.
Embroidered gowns are also a smart fashion statement, especially with a rhinestone embellishment. The website also thinks boldly featuring your back will be a head-turner statement as well as one-shoulder dresses that give an asymmetrical look.

​And yes all of these styles and more can be found crammed onto the racks in this church.

"Ooof, that is poofy," joked DeLong as she pulled one dress out to inspect.

​There are two chances to peruse the many dresses - Thursday (tonight) from 7 to 9 p.m. and Saturday from 2 to 4 p.m. The church is located at 350 Front Street, Franklin. For more information, you can call them at 814-432-8664 or visit them on Facebook. ​

Kean said that they are always accepting new donations and that often girls will bring the dresses back when they are done so someone else can enjoy the gown in the future. She said anyone with an old gown they no longer want and is still in good shape can contact the church.

A 92-year tradition returns to live stage after two years. In 2020 the student's hard work preparing for the show was tossed under the bus when COVID-19 forced the state of Pennsylvania to close down public schools. "We had to cancel it the night of the show," said Steve Johnston who has been involved with the production for 30 some odd years. Last year they did a virtual performance.

​"It wasn't the same," he said

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Johnston said the musical variety format stems from it's origins based on old live radio broadcasts. "The name stuck and has become a local legend ever since," he said.

Tickets will be available at the door for $5.

There were 20 teenagers from the Venango County in the chorus and 18 from Crawford County. To be eligible for the regional choir, students must be in 10th through 12th grade and also sing in District 2 or District 3 choir earlier this school year.

Venango County
Cranberry - Jonathan Love (Tenor II), Emily Mong (Alto I), Trevor Olson (Bass I), Jacob Schultz (Tenor I), Alyssa Wright (Tenor I), Madison Wright (Alto II) and Micah Wry (Bass II). 
Franklin - Silas Adams (Bass I), Josie Fish (Alto I), Sydney May (Soprano I), Makenna Reavis (Alto II), Alyssa Shick ( Soprano II) and Grace Turk (Alto II).
Oil City - Hannah Krug (Alto I), Matthew Myers (Alto II), Mason Stephens (Tenor I) and Alexandra Webster (Soprano I).
Rocky Grove - Dustin McMullen (Brass II) and Logan Swartz (Bass I). 
Venango Catholic - Cheyanne Rudder (Alto II).

Crawford County
Cambridge Springs - Caroline Adolphson (Alto I) and Olivia Martinez (Soprano I).
Cochranton - Spencer Freysinger (Bass I), Kristen McGarvey (Soprano II), Alison Merritt (Soprano I) and Kyran Miller (Alto I).
CASH - Pasquale Mattera (Bass II) and Nathaniel Turner (Bass I).
Maplewood - Zack Leonhart (Bass II).
Meadville - Cooper Breckenridge (Tenor I), Melanie Cosdon (Alto II), Emma Landefeld (Soprano II), Silas Lashbrook (Tenor II), Ella White (Alto II) and Conner Zimmerman (Bass II).
Titusville - Alexis Banner (Alto II), Lance Enright (Bass I) and Madison Wakefield (Alto II). 

NOTE: Adding more than just her vocal talents to the chorus, Franklin's Grace Turk also designed the keepsake program that was handed out to guests and participants.

Well, that was nice. We got a taste of spring, but only enough to wet our whistles. Now the rest of our bodies will get wet over the next couple of days... and cold too. Temps are expected to dip down into the teens again with highs only in the 20s and 30s for a few days. But it is spring and this is northwest Pennsylvania, so it is just par for the course.



Check out Total Coverage, a business by our old friend Marlene Jenkins who dedicates herself to positivity and helping folks have a long healthy outlook on life. Visit her Facebook page for tips and inspirations. She is great supporter of Eight & 322 and community involvement.

A few snarky social media posts circling around for a few months have been calling for Oil City to declare it's Christmas tree a Valentine's Day tree, then a St. Patrick's Day tree and today the shout out was for it to be an Easter tree.

This weathered ole tree is looking pretty spent by many accounts. Below the dropped lights is a carpet of fallen needles. A bird or two appear to have taken up residence by building nests. It appears it is time the ole gal comes down.

One of the architects of getting the Rotary Club to put up the annual Town Square tree, David Wagner said  in a comment on a post earlier today that the evergreen is coming down Sunday around 12:30 p.m In the message, he also welcomed  volunteers to help.

​So no Christmas in July this year... at least not with this tree.

Dustin Mattocks is always thinking differently about advertising and how to give back The owner of Village Auto in Franklin has been giving thousands of dollars back to his customers and putting into the community. 

​His business is selling cars and trucks, but his focus is always on people.

He has gotten involved with fundraiser after fundraiser and created a few of his own. A few years back he made a business decision to not spend as much money on big time advertising to help him sell vehicles. He instead began enlisting the help of his customers and community to spread the word through social media. By localizing everything and asking people to keep sharing their posts the created a modern version of good old fashioned networking.

It paid off and he has decided to thank his customers over and over again by giving back a lot of cash. Editor's note, we did a story in 2020 about his first fun giveaway.

Since he is always thinking beyond just his business he wanted to reach out and help even more people So, this year he decided that the high cost of gas warranted giving away some gas cards. He also realized the cost of food is going up as well and thought about other ways he could help people "fill up." 

He set aside a grand and began by getting ten $50 gas cards for Sheets and seven Giant Eagle gift cards. He then partnered with his friends at Linda Lou's for three more gift cards.

All he asks is folks enter by liking or otherwise engaging with the Village Auto Facebook page and then send a private message with the words CONTEST, the year you were born and what the price of gas was when you were born. "So it might take a little research," he said in a Facebook live post on Monday morning.

Mattocks emphasized that you don't even have to be a former customer to enter. He said he will do a drawing next Tuesday and the folks who are picked will get their choice of gift certificates as they are available.

Editors example: If I were to enter, I have already like Village Auto's page, so  all I would have to do is hit the message button, type CONTEST and then 1966. In February of 1966 the price of regular gas was around .30 to .31 cents. 

To read more about Village Auto's philanthropy please take a moment to read this story from a little over a year ago.
​http://8and322.weebly.com/eight--322/sometimes-it-takes-a-village

The retail association joins forces with whatever downtown activities are being planned, providing help with extra activities for the folks visiting Franklin. They create fun business-related scavenger hunts and  giveaways. They also host their own fun activities, like the Witch Walk. Held around Halloween, the event brought a cosplay atmosphere to Liberty Street with warlocks and witches going in and out of stores often lugging bags of purchases.

They have also created, expanded and modernized their Retail Gift Certificate Program, which allow folks to use their cards in numerous stores and restaurants in Franklin. "This has been very successful," said Jess Carroll, the outgoing association director who led the efforts in the last three years. 

Businesses beyond just retail see the value in the program too. The Franklin Insurance Agency, which is located on the outskirts of the main downtown scene, gave a several thousand dollar donation to the gift certificate program to cover the costs in running the program. This was a savings for participating businesses.
 
"This is an exceptional donation and it makes participation in the gift card program free for members," Taylor said in a recent social media post. "Having a local business that is committed to helping other local small business partners in this way is just amazing... [this] kind of partner makes us remember how lucky we are to operate in downtown Franklin."

The association's main purpose is to keep a consistent and vibrant promotion of the downtown. They recently enlisted the help of an outside group to promote the association's 84 member businesses on social media with rotating daily posts. "People have commented that they are happy with the increased sharing in Facebook," Taylor said. "Marketing is a priority for our organization."​

This year marks the 50th year of the association as far as anyone can tell. Dianne McCall is credited by both Jennifer and Jess for being a visionary ahead of her time in leading the organization for many years. They haven't yet planned anything special for this anniversary, but Taylor said it will be discussed in an upcoming meeting.
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"Franklin has the advantage of a well-planned, main thoroughfare that looks quaint," Taylor said. She credits networking and supporting each other as the key to a vibrant downtown business community.

"You can open your doors and sit inside, but your business will be more successful if you go to mixers and meet the other owners and make sure the larger community feels like you want to be there. I like to think that [the Retail Association] helps with that," she said. "The more we can work together, the stronger the whole downtown remains."

And successful businesses seem to spur new ventures. It wasn't long after Bossa Nova closed and cleared out that a new coffee shop started getting ready. In the meantime, Coffee in Between filled a void by opening even as they were trying to finish renovations. ​

And work along 13th Street to improve facades and bring in new businesses expands on what Liberty Street has been doing for years. A new flower shop will open soon adding another service to the Franklin retail community. 

"No one wants an empty building, so it is in everyone’s best interest to support our fellow businesses by sending customers their way and understanding what they sell or provide. Once you get people downtown for any reason - a festival, a promotion, to eat - they are more likely to notice other businesses," she said.

Taylor also speaks highly of the city itself putting necessary resources to improve the attractiveness to businesses. She credits the city's marketing and events coordinator Ronnie Beith for her tireless promotion of downtown.
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"[It all] circles around to keeping the downtown a thriving place that has a stronger tax base. All of it works together." Taylor said.

And one character named Rebecca Nurse has an interesting way of condemning the out of control youth of the time with "... they will run the devil bow-legged keeping up with they mischief..." ​

And a lot of chaos.

And a lot of finger pointing.

Sound familiar?

When Miller wrote this play in the 1950s, it was a commentary about McCarthyism. But there certainly can be comparisons drawn with the divisive rhetoric of our times.

Hess, with producers Hannah Faraone and Jennifer Fox, have put together a strong cast of local performers for this powerful adaptation.

See more photos from Monday's first night of dress rehearsal and tech week at https://sayerrich.zenfolio.com/p455537339.

The Venango County Democrats held a signature event Sunday morning in Oil City. Their goal was to help candidates for state and local offices collect the signatures they need to be on the primary ballot this May. 

Though candidates like Josh Shapiro fo governor were represented, the candidates in attendance were Rick Telez running against congressman Glenn Thompson, Dan Pastore hoping to upend congressman Mike Kelly, Brian Sims who hopes to fill John Fetterman's Carhart sweatshirt in the Lt. Governor's chair and Fetterman himself who hoping to fill the seat being vacated by republican Senator Pat Toomey.

"Turnout was great," said John Kluck who headed the event. Though republicans have a strong hold on Venango County, the candidates and Kluck know the importance of every vote. "When the elections are close, Venango County will definitely be important," Kluck said.

Though the event garnered over 100 signatures for Shapiro alone, Kluck said door to door canvassing will get underway this week. The Pennsylvania primary will be May 17. 

A member of the local herd of does crosses paths with the Applegate herd. Clem and Kyle stare down a doe.

​The stare-down ended when Clem encroached on the deer's comfort zone.

That's just the nature of things round here!

Rocky Grove High School's annual musical returns after a COVID year off with a down under the sea tale about saving the world with science amid a doom and gloom, and at times greedy society. "The SpongeBob  Musical" is a colorful romp with plenty of toe tappers and tunes that will be stuck in your head for days.

The show opens tonight with a 7 p.m. performance and continues Friday and Saturday with two more shows also at 7 p.m. Tickets will be available at the door: $6 for students and $8 for adults.

Below are more photos from Wednesday evening's dress rehearsal. More photos can be viewed at:
https://sayerrich.zenfolio.com/p308204298