Historic Kennett Square Board of Directors

Thomas C. Swett – PresidentApartments & Cottages at 316 S.Broad St.

Jennifer Abracht-Smith –V-President Rigler & Perna

Jeff Yetter – TreasurerKennett House Bed & Breakfast

George BennittKennett Steak & Mushroom

Larry BosleyLGB Properties

Ray CornellDNB First

JoAnn FisherFox & Roach Realtors

Matt GriecoKuzo & Grieco Funeral Home

Kathi LaffertyThe Growing Tree/Mushroom Cap

Thomas MacalusoMacaluso Rare & Fine Books

Jeff NormanJeffrey Norman Architects

Joseph G. RiperRiley Riper Hollin & Colagreco

Ms. Linda TiceGenesis HealthCare

Mr. Sean WalkerKey Real Estate

Mary Skrzat HutchinsExecutive Director

APRIL 7 First Friday Art Stroll

MAY 5

First Friday Art Stroll

MAY 7

Cinco de Mayo Fiesta

MAY 13

Spring Plant Sale

MAY 19Farmer’s Market Opens

MAY 29Memorial Day Parade

JUNE 2First Friday Art Stroll

JULY 7First Friday Art Stroll

AUGUST 4Murder Mystery Art Stroll

SEPTEMBER 1First Friday Art Stroll

SEPTEMBER 9 & 10Mushroom Festival

OCTOBER 6First Friday Art Stroll

OCTOBER 7Kennett Square Brewfest

OCTOBER 23Scarecrow Competition

OCTOBER 25

Halloween Parade

NOVEMBER 3

First Friday Art Stroll

NOVEMBER 24Holiday Downtown Open House

and Parade

DECEMBER 1First Friday Art Stroll

DECEMBER 3Horse-drawn Carriage Rides

DECEMBER 10Annual Historic Holiday Home Tour

Horse-drawn Carriage Ride

DECEMBER 17Horse-drawn Carriage Ride

2006 Calendar of Events for Downtown Kennett Square

Strolling the downtown streets, visitors saw alot of changes in 2005. Beginning in January,Harrington’s Coffee Co. moved from StateStreet to 109 S. Broad Street. The new digs forHarrington’s are warm, cozy and welcoming.In spring, Lynn Sinclair opened Sinclair’sSunrise Café and Tea Room at 127 E. StateStreet. Sinclair’s is open for breakfast andlunch 7-days a week. If you haven’t tried herpancakes – what are you waiting for? Theyare simply delicious.

The first art stroll in April saw the opening ofthe newest Art Gallery in Kennett Square –Longwood Art Gallery. Marge Kuhn andSheila Washington moved their gallery fromRoute 1 to downtown Kennett and it is awonderful addition to the monthly art strolls.

In July, the downtown welcomed The PaperMarket at 106 W. State Street. Everyone whoknows Doug Harris, was happy to see himback in Kennett Square. Doug and his wife,Susan have a wonderful boutique of exquisite,hand-made tools for social expression. A fewyears back Doug was the coordinator for theKennett Square Revitalization Task Force.

In the fall, Challies Famous Grille opened at104 W. State Street. The BYOB offers pizza,sandwiches, paninis and specialties thatinclude baby back ribs and crab cakes. Be sure

to visit for a delicious lunch or dinner. Just intime for the Mushroom Festival, the SeniorCenter Bookstore – Resale Book Shoppe –moved from 204 E. State Street to 113 S. UnionStreet joining Macaluso Rare & Fine Booksand RLD Books – now that stretch of UnionStreet is fondly called “Bookstore Row.”

In October we celebrated the opening of Donand Carol Hope’s second store in downtownKennett – Stationery on State. The Hope’shave the successful Equinox Jewelry and Giftsand opened their stationery shop right acrossthe street at 117 W. State Street.

In October Bedbugzz. . . opened their doorsat 204 E. State Street. This fabulous shopfor infants and children is run by KennettSquare residents Jen Augustine and KathleenCaccamo. This shop is full of hand-paintedwhimsical furnishings for children and infants.

We rounded out 2005 with the opening ofSalon Allure in late November, just in time forthe holiday open house. Jack and MichellePanichi opened their second salon at 101 W.State Street. They have a large retail sectionand are a full-service hair skin and nails salon.

HISTORIC KENNETT SQUARE 2005 ANNUAL REPORT

TRANSFORMING DOWNTOWN KENNETT

The major fundraiser for Historic Kennett Square, TheKennett Brewfest, won the Best Event award from thePennsylvania Downtown Center in honor of Main Street’s25th anniversary. This year the brewfest attracted the mostpeople – over 1,900. It poured down rain the day of thebrewfest but still people kept coming and having a greattime. It earned the organization about $32,000. TheBrewfest uses about 50 volunteers from the communityand attracts visitors from the mid-Atlantic region; NewEngland and this year we had six people attend fromCanada. The Brewfest Committee is led by past presidentof Historic Kennett Square and current board member JeffNorman.

We launched our redesigned Website (below) – that waspaid for with a grant from the Chester County Conference& Visitor’s Bureau. The Website receives over 10,000unique visitors a month. Among other things, the Websitehas a complete calendar of events that lists all events forthe entire Kennett area. It also has a section on boroughbusinesses and member businesses have a photo, and if

they have one, a link to their Website. Our Website is usedas a resource for both Kennett residents and tourists.Board Treasurer and member Jeff Yetter led the Websiteeffort and continues to oversee the updates and changes.

Historic Kennett Square launched an monthly emailnewsletter in June of 2005 to communicate with our partnersand supporters. It includes color pictures and lets readersknow what is happening in downtown Kennett Square.Currently the newsletter is emailed to more than 1,600people but that number continues to grow. As part of ourcommunication outreach, Board President Tom Swett,Treasurer Jeff Yetter and the Main Street Manager havemade a concerted effort to collect email addresses to addto our database. Diane Plummer the part-time HistoricKennett Square employee is responsible for continuallyupdating the database.

Historic Kennett Square committees were also reorganizedand the new structure and members meant increasedregular attendance at meetings. George Bennitt chairs thePromotions Committee/Merchants Committee that meetsthe second Friday of every month at 8:30 am; Larry Bosleychairs the Economic Development Committee that meetsthe third Wednesday of every month; Jeff Norman chairsthe Design Committee that meets as needed; and theExecutive Committee/Organization Committee meets thesecond Tuesday of every month at 8:30 am.

Tom Swett was installed as the new board president inDecember, 2004 and that initiated many new organizationpolicies and procedures for Historic Kennett Square. Tomand the Executive Committee continually looked for newboard members and we had three new members join thethis year – bringing the total number of board members to15. The new board members brought fresh ideas and energy

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

www.historickennettsquare.com

HISTORIC KENNETT SQUARE INCOME AND EXPENSES

INCOME 2005 2006

Events $ 21,943 $ 24,383Brewfest $ 66,250 $ 51,067Membership/Contribution $ 13,075 $ 12,700Grants $ 90,500 $ 92,350MLK Breakfast $ 17,380 $ 37,245106 W. State St. Rents $ 40,499 $ 45,420Miscellaneous $ 65 $ 512

Total Income $ 249,712 $ 263,677

EXPENSES

Events $ 21,275 $ 28,160Brewfest $ 34,918 $ 31,557Membership $ 841 $ 0Facade Grants $ 16,631 $ 28,102MLK Breakfast $ 22,576 $ 27,214106 W. State Street $ 28,873 $ 18,478General & Administration $ 79,467 $ 69,718Advertising & Internet $ 26,485 $ 31,903

Total Expenses $ 231,065 $ 235,133

Net Income $ 18,647 $ 28,545

1. Buy goods and services from localdowntown businesses.

2. Attend downtown community celebrations.

3. Eat at a downtown restaurant atleast once a week.

4. Support efforts to keep the downtown clean.

5. Perform as many weekend errandsand activities downtown as you can.

6. Walk – don’t drive – to really seewhat your downtown has to offer;Check out the historic architecture.

7. Volunteer with youth on activitiesthat benefit the downtown.

8. Take your friends downtown withyou to shop, dine or play.

9. Participate in community discussiongroups on the future of downtown.

10. Help start a Main Street Programor invest time volunteering if onealready exists in your downtown.

Provided by Pennsylvania Downtown Center.

Ten ways you can helpimprove downtown

to the organization. They are as follows: Ray Cornell, manager of theKennett Square branch of the Chester County Bank DNB First; Matt Griecoowner of several funeral homes in southern Chester County including, Kuzo& Grieco in Kennett Square; and Joe Riper local attorney who specializesin municipal law and development. The Main Street Manager meetsweekly with the board president to go over all downtown issues.

Over 110,000 people visited Kennett Square for one of our specialevents, including the weekly Farmer’s Market on Friday afternoons fromMay through October; First Friday Art Strolls held on the first Friday ofevery month from April through December; the Mushroom Festival inSeptember; the Kennett Brewfest in October; the Halloween Parade; theTree Lighting and Holiday Parade; and the Candlelight Home Tour.