Tuesday, April 23, 2013
The children's play place launched its inaugural afternoon with a few free hours of play, and many Collingswood parents took advantage.
Collingswood's newest play place, Duck Duck Goose, kicked off its grand opening in the borough with several hours of free play last Friday evening. The children's playroom focuses on "sit-down" play that offers a low(er)-stress atmosphere for parents, said owners Katherine and Ato Swann. The pair opened the business in Merchantville as a way to earn a living while keeping tabs on their two daughters, and never looked back. Parents of infants, toddlers, and other young children bopped around the brightly colored room, dipping into boxes of toys and helping themselves to handfuls of snacks. For a sense of what the early hours of opening day held, check out the video above.
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
The Merchantville-based business is opening on Haddon Ave. in April. Community Development Coordinator Cass Duffey says it will fill a need parents have sought.
It’s officially official: Duck Duck Goose is coming to Collingswood. The business, which bills itself as a creative play center for children, will be shuttering its Merchantville location March 29, and moving into the corner property currently occupied by For Heaven’s Sake (the religious-themed gift and card shop is going out of business). Owner and Merchantville native Katherine Swann describes her business as a low-key play place for children, parents and grandparents. She wants Duck Duck Goose to be a place where “you can come in, relax, have a cup of coffee, chat with other parents, and you don’t have to be on top of [your children] all the time.” Swann and her husband, who have a 2- and a 6-year-old, said they wanted “to start a …
Monday, February 11, 2013
The garland's come down, and the summer dollars are months away. So what are borough businesses doing to drive traffic in the winter?
Look around your favorite Haddon Avenue shops these days, and you might be surprised at what’s in their inventories. It’s not that they’re carrying anything unusual. But they are carrying more and different items, sharing more products among themselves, and fitting out their displays with products from their neighbors. Like that mint green dress that perfectly matches the swing-arm lamp in the window of Dig This? Surprise, it’s from Frugal Resale (whose monthly ladies night is catered by neighbors at Casona and The Candy Jar). Picking up a bottle or two of olive oil at Blue Moon? You might also go home with a handmade dipping tray produced by local artist Eric Wolff. This kind of cross-promotion helps sustain the flow of business in the …
Monday, September 24, 2012
Meet 'The Knight's Dragon': the winning entrant in the Knight Park public art contest hosted by the borough of Collingswood.
After several months and more than 660,000 votes cast in the 2012 Reader’s Digest We Hear You America campaign, Collingswood will bear the fruits of its labors. The contest finished with Collingswood in 16th place, which meant the borough was awarded a $5,000 cash prize from Reader’s Digest (and also ruled out of the 2013 competition). Borough leaders decided to use the money to fund a public art installation in Knight Park, and held a contest this summer to solicit submissions. Despite initial plans to put the submissions up for a public vote, only six entrants submitted designs for the contest; of those, several were ruled out as impractical. “The Knight’s Dragon,” a three-piece, 16-foot-long sculpture was selected as the winner, and its…
Thursday, July 19, 2012
The downtown classic car expo returns Aug. 16.
Nobody likes a wet undercarriage, least of all the owners of the cars and motorcycles who display their shiny chrome rides on the main drag monthly for Cruise Night. That's why tonight's outdoor event is a no-go, said Collingswood Director of Community Development Cassandra Duffey. In all, she said, it's been a good year, weather-wise, for Cruise Night. Tonight's is the first in the monthly slate of exhibitions to be canned, and the second outdoor borough event this week. Cruise Night will return Thursday, Aug. 16.
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Check your Town Crier for the Blue and Gold card, which unlocks special shopping discounts for residents.
Collingswood residents should expect a passport to savings in the latest borough mailer today, as the town rolls out resident shopper discount cards. Each copy of the Town Crier's May 2012 edition will include a Blue & Gold card that provides incentives for Collingswood households to support their local businesses. Select vendors will be providing discounts on their services that will rotate on an individual basis. A full list of the current promotions is available on the borough website. The timing of the mailing is meant to rally foot traffic at Second Saturday tonight, says Community Development Director Cass Duffey. "We're hoping people take [the cards] right up to the avenue for Second Saturday," she says. The Blue & Gold cards are …
Monday, April 23, 2012
The restoration of the Knight Park plaque commemorating Collingswood's most famous native in town history has begun.
Call it Collingswood's Highway to Healing—Michael Landon is almost back on public display. His plaque, that is. As promised by Mayor James Maley, spring has sprung, and Michael Landon is making his return to Knight Park. The circuitous journey of the displaced memorial honoring a man who is arguably Collingswood's most famous native will be drawing to a conclusion soon. On Monday afternoon, a three-man crew prepared a new foundation for the bronze memorial, which was donated by former Collingswood resident Abbe Effron. The concrete is poured at this hour, but the plaque cannot be installed until later in the afternoon because the rain made the base too wet. "We'll be releasing some official news this week," said Cassandra Duffey, borough …
39.919338
-75.082132
The Knight Park
713 Atlantic Ave, Collingswood, NJ
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1777526
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Thursday, March 8, 2012
Without citing specifics, Cass Duffey, borough director of community development, said owner-submitted plans for remediation of the properties will address previously cited violations, "and in many cases, improvements are already underway."
The following is a press release from the Borough of Collingswood: Rental revocation hearings scheduled for Thursday evening for two residential complexes with multiple code violations have been postponed due to plans submitted by property owners for remedying the violations and proper maintenance. Owners of Princess Anne Apartments at Dwight Avenue and the White Horse Pike and a complex at 1025 Collings Ave have presented the Borough with written plans that address several violations that prompted the Borough to start rental license revocation proceedings last year. “This is progress,” said Collingswood Mayor Jim Maley. “We need to see that the violations are fixed promptly and that the property owners have a realistic plan to address …
39.91689
-75.08745
Dwight Ave & White Horse Pike, Collingswood, NJ
/articles/property-revocation-hearings-postponed
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39.909139
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1025 Collings Ave, Collingswood, NJ
/articles/property-revocation-hearings-postponed
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Friday, March 2, 2012
A dedicated community clicked more than a half-million times to boost Collingswood into the #16 spot and a $5,000 cash prize.
At the conclusion of the four-month Reader's Digest We Hear You America contest, Collingswood stood among ten $5,000 prize winners. Thanks to some late campaigning that culminated in a Tuesday-night community vote party, Collingswood rose from 20th to 16th place in the sweepstakes, cementing a cash-prize finish at the 11:59 pm deadline March 1. For Cass Duffey, Collingswood director of community development, the money was secondary to the sense of civic engagement the contest provided. "The $5000 is a terrific bonus, but this is just as much about town pride--and the people here really have pride in this place," she said. "We got to meet so many great people over the course of this campaign and I wish I could thank everyone personally." …
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Just like the old saying goes, "When you need to get something done, throw a BYOB party with live jazz and donated food."
The endgame was in sight Tuesday as borough residents worked in shifts to propel Collingswood into a cash prize-winning spot in the Reader’s Digest “We Hear You America” sweepstakes. A Monday night Stay-at-Home vote party helped cut the deficit leading up to the townwide Get Out the Vote party Tuesday. The infectious energy fueled a 56,000-vote day in which volunteers make up lots of ground on the field. Residents like Kieth Monahan and Charlie Sarkioglu, both of who had voted in the Monday Stay-at-Home party, were on hand Tuesday to finish the job against 18th-place Richville, NY. Cass Duffey, Collingswood director of community development, said that catching up to the impoverished, 300-resident, rural community had been difficult. “They’…
39.91579
-75.07029
Collingswood Community Center
30 W Collings Ave, Collingswood, NJ
/articles/townwide-push-propels-collingswood-into-cash-contention-with-two-days-to-go
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Frances
3:37 pm on Wednesday, March 20, 2013
I am so delighted to have such a place to come into the community! more ›