Conestoga Valley
National
Day townlively.com
MARCH 15, 2023
SERVING THE LOCAL COMMUNITIES SINCE 1954
VOL LIX • NO 12
Look Inside
Swap meet to aid Steps to Success BY ANN MEAD ASH
early a decade ago, Tait Harbaugh, better known as Papa Tater, comedian, magician, and entertainer for people of all ages, had an idea. Having watched his fellow entertainers and experienced his own overload of purchasing magic tricks when he first began performing, Papa Tater thought that maybe a swap meet would be a great way to make some of his extra inventory disappear and help support Steps to Success, a nonprofit Christian preschool and day care service directed by his wife, Michelle Harbaugh. The event was so successful over the years that what Papa Tater believes to be the seventh Entertainers’ Swap Meet will be held at Zion Lutheran Church, 18 Quarry Road, Leola, on Saturday, March 25, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. More than 40 tables are booked, plus a special swap table where attendees may swap an item of equal value for another or make a donation to
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Steps in exchange for an item. The event, which is free to visit and open to the public, also includes a magic mini-convention. While the swap meet is focused on entertainment equipment and props, Papa Tater noted that the door is left open for tricks. “It’s a room full of entertainers, mostly magicians, and that can be fun,” he said. “You get to walk around and talk to magicians.” “And they like to show off,” added Michelle. Papa Tater noted that while the mini-convention is mostly magic oriented, juggling and puppet supplies are often available. “We really never know what will show up, which is part of what I love about this,” he said. “We get a roomful of magicians and some are biggername magicians, so the things that show up are incredible … things I never thought I would see in person or something I never knew existed.” Among the items that have been offered for purchase was a bed of nails that Papa Tater had a chance See Swap meet pg 3
Papa Tater (left) and Michelle Harbaugh display items that will be for sale at the annual Entertainers’ Swap Meet.
Adult Sports League takes off
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Speller looks to regional bee
Gerald G. Huesken Middle School eighth-grade student Madison Gonzalez holds the study booklet he is using to prepare to compete in the WITF Central PA Spelling Bee.
BY ANN MEAD ASH
Gonzalez will compete in Harrisburg BY ANN MEAD ASH specifically the WITF Central PA Spelling Bee, which was held virtuMadison Gonzalez was not ally due to COVID-19 concerns. The always the stellar speller he is now. journey of Gonzalez, then a Gerald “Toward the end of elementary G. Huesken Middle School seventhschool, I slowly got better (at grader, to the regional level began spelling),” said Gonzalez. “It wasn’t when English teacher Vicki Henderson until last year that I realized how held a spelling bee in her class and Gonzalez was one of two final stugood I had gotten.” Last year - the spring semester of dents. “I had to spell one more 2022 - was a milestone for Gonzalez word, and it was ‘meteor,’” recalled because it was the first time he Gonzalez, who then competed competed in a spelling bee at a against 14 other students in a higher level than his own school, spelling bee for all seventh- graders.
“We are always adding programs and creating opportunities,” said Risa Paskoff, executive director of Aaron’s Acres. During the winter, the organization added the Aaron’s Acres Adult Sports League to its offerings for adults with disabilities. The league joined existing sports programs such as the Chuckie Magee Flag Football League, which began in the fall of 2022. Paskoff pointed out that Challenger Little League of Lancaster County is available in the spring. Challenger has given individuals with special needs a chance to play baseball each year for nearly three decades.
See Spelling bee pg 5
See Aaron’s Acres pg 2
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After the flag football program attracted 20 members who participated in regular games at the Manheim Brethren in Christ Church on Saturdays from August through early November, Aaron’s Acres organizers wanted to offer a winter program, dubbed Aaron’s Acres Adult Sports League. “We started it at the beginning of February,” said Paskoff, who noted the program has been held each Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon at the Lancaster Brethren in Christ Church on Fruitville Pike, with the last installment set for March 18. “We opened it to adults ages 21 to 40 as with the flag football,” explained Paskoff. “We didn’t know if they would like
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