Pequea Valley SERVING OUR COMMUNITIES SINCE 1954
REACHING MORE THAN 7,160 HOMES
Local Athlete Part of Championship Team
Theater Troupe “Promises” an Entertaining Production BY GEORGE DEIBEL
BY FRANCINE FULTON
A
Like many creative people, Emily Fritz comes from a crafty family. Her grandfather was a woodworker, but he died before she could learn from him. Eager to explore the craft, she wasn’t sure where to begin, and that experience inspired her to help others find their starting point. She is the founder and executive director of Lancaster Workshop + Tool Library, opening later this year. “Finding mentorship, tools, space, etc., was a serious lifelong limitation until I shared this story with my friend, mentor and now co-founder, Gene Shaw, a retired cabinetmaker and artist in the city of Lancaster who invited me to learn with him,” she
A message mixed with humor. It’s the kind of production for which the Promise Players have become known. The troupe will put on “Simon Says: The Rockin’ Trial of Simon Peter” on Thursday, March 12, through Sunday, March 15, and Thursday, March 19, through Sunday, March 22, at Lampeter Church of the Brethren, 1900 Lampeter Road, Lancaster. Thursday and Friday performances will begin at 7:30 p.m., Saturday shows will start at 2:30 and 7:30 p.m., and Sunday shows will occur at 2:30 p.m. Promise Players’ productions frequently sell out. Reservations are strongly encouraged. Seating is general admission on a firstcome, first-served basis and will be available at the door if there is space. Tickets are paid for at the door. Children under age 5 will be admitted for free. To make reservations, go to www.promise players.org or call the church office at 717-464-2050 on Mondays to Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Proceeds from the show will benefit Bible2School programs in Penn Manor, Lancaster city, and Manheim Township. “Simon Peter is on trial, so it takes place in a courtroom,” said director Dorothy Smith, a Salunga resident who has been with Promise Players since 2012. “He’s on trial for claiming that Jesus is the Son of God, the prophesied Messiah, and they call witnesses in who had contact with Jesus. The witnesses come and testify to how they were (impacted) by Jesus.”
See Lancaster Workshop pg 5
See Promise Players pg 8
bram Hershey of Gordonville, a 2025 graduate of Pequea Valley High School, is a member of the Saint Joseph’s University Club Ice Hockey Team that captured the 2026 Atlantic Coast Collegiate Hockey League (ACCHL) Premier Division championship. T he team defeated the University of Virginia 4-3 in overtime on Feb. 15 to win the Admiral’s Cup. Abram is a freshman, studying cardiovascular technology. “I will be working in the operating room as a surgical technologist,” he noted. This is Abram’s first year of playing for the Philadelphia-based team, even though he attends the Lancaster campus, which was creAbram Hershey ated when Saint Joseph’s Univer“There are about 26 guys on the and attends the Lancaster campus,” sity merged with the Pennsylvania College of Health Sciences (PA team, and he would be the only explained Abram’s mother, Josi and first one who is on the team Hershey. College). townlively.com
JUNE 11, 2025
SERVING THE LOCAL COMMUNITIES SINCE 1954
See Hockey Player pg 3
VOL LXI • NO 25
“Swing!” Will Connect Audiences With Their Mojo BY JEFF FALK
Swing music. And the performers of Servant Stage. What possesses the power to “Swing originated in the 1920s bring a tap to your toes, to put and was popular in the 1930s and a bounce in your step, to bring a ’40s,” said Johnathan Bauer, who snap to your fingers? founded Servant Stage in 2013. See “Swing!” pg 8
Local residents watch birds during a recent East Lampeter Township recreation department activity.
Local Recreation Promotes Healthy Work-Life Balance
ast Lampeter Township is 12 months into its grand recreation exper iment. Time for an update. While results have been mostly mixed, some positive and quantifiable progress has been realized. But much work remains in the new recreation department’s mission to get the word out and provide activities that appeal to a majority of East Lampeter Township residents. “I always feel like we can be doing more and reaching more people,” said Lisa Cleveland, who as recreation director makes up East Lampeter Township’s one-person recreation department. “Growth
is not resting. Am I happy where we are in the time we got here? Yes. Do we have more work to do? Yes. The opportunities are endless, so there are always things that are going to be new.” Since officials made the commitment to provide recreational opportunities to the township’s citizens on May 28, 2024, by hiring Cleveland as recreation director, the newly formed East Lampeter Township Recreation Department has instituted a number of programs and activities, some of which have been well received. The department has provided community events like movie nights, a fall festival and an Easter egg hunt; youth events like Hero Hang-Out, Touch-a-Truck
and a summer playground program; fitness and yoga programs; and educational programs like a bird walk and Exploring the Night Sky. This spring, the department introduced a community gardens program that allows individuals and families to rent plots of land at Community Park for growing vegetables, plants and flowers. Twelve of the 16 available plots are currently being utilized. The recreation department has also placed a strong emphasis on promoting and utilizing township facilities like Community Park, Flory Park, Lafayette-Tower Park and Gibbons Park at Nolt’s Mill, as well as fostering relationships with like-minded community partners.
LCWG Is Made Up of a Bunch of Do-Gooders
BY JEFF FALK
Good is universal, timeless and objective. Because it mirrors God, good is good. The Lancaster County Women for Good (LCWG) group knows some things about the concept of doing good. It’s part of the all-volunteer organization’s mission, purpose and reason for existing. “We use that word a lot, ‘good,’” said Anna Horst, the chairperson of the five-member board that oversees LCWG’s operations. “It’s
See Recreation Department pg 4
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Aidan Fife in the tool library side of the Lancaster Workshop + Tool Library. Photo by Cat Shannon
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Cast members perform a musical number from Servant Stage’s production of “Swing!”
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VOL LXII • NO 11
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