Solanco DECEMBER 31, 2025
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Historical Society Has Calendars for Sale
Teenage Club Finds an Alternative to Miss Solanco
BY GEORGE DEIBEL
BY GEORGE DEIBEL
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Cover artist Bette Lou Epler (left) and historical society director Stan White
See Calendar pg 3 with the 2026 calendar. Photo by George Deibel
Smith Middle Club Helps Students Plan for the Future BY GEORGE DEIBEL
1955 Beaver Valley Pike, just N. of Quarryville
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The Technology Student Association (TSA) at Smith Middle School is doing its best to prepare pupils for an ever-changing jobs market. Students are working on projects to get ready for the TSA regionals, which will be held Saturday, Jan. 24, at Conestoga Valley High
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School. Students who perform well there will qualify for the state competition with a chance to advance to the national event. There are 37 categories in the contest, including podcasting, children’s stories, robotics, digital photography, forensic technology, and website design. “I am looking forward TSA club members (front, from left) Lennon Zander, to competing and trying Michael Evans, (back) Laz Roten, J.J. Rineer, and
The board of directors of the Quarryville Teenage Club faced a quandary. Being forced to cancel the Miss Solanco Scholarship Pageant for two straight years had the group at a loss. Ultimately, they found another way to provide scholarship money to deserving young ladies. It could signal the end of girls earning the title of Miss Solanco, but it’s the beginning of opportunities for the students to be crowned Miss Southern L ancaster County or Miss Southern Lancaster County Teen. Scott Peiffer is the president of the Quarryville Teenage Club, whose purpose was to fund and operate the annual pageant that took place at Solanco High School the Saturday after Thanksgiving. “We haven’t had a (Miss Solanco) pageant now for the second year in a row,” he said. “The reason is there’s just a lack of contestants. We can’t have a pageant unless we have six contestants. It costs too much. We can’t do it. We’ve opened it up wider (to include high school juniors in addition to seniors) to try and get more girls, but there’s just not the interest in it.” So the club went back to the drawing board to brainstorm ways to rejuvenate the event. The first Miss Solanco Scholarship Pageant was held in 1956, and the crown was contested every year except for 2020, 2021, 2024, and 2025. Its future is in serious jeopardy. “It’s a shame because it was, we had many, many girls come back and say how valuable that was to them,”
See Smith Middle pg 2 Jaxon Dillon work on a robotics project.
See Teenage Club pg 4
ONLINE Winter EVENT CALENDAR townlively.com/events
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ette Lou Epler is the cover ar tist for the Souther n Lancaster County Historical Society’s 2026 calendar. The calendar can be purchased on Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to noon at the historical society’s archives, 1932 Robert Fulton Highway, Quarryville, and during business hours at Quar r y ville A g way, 27 E. Fourth St., Quarr yville; Maplehofe Dairy, 799 Robert Fulton Highway, Quarryville; and Kreider’s Market, 2396 Kirkwood Pike, Kirkwood. It is the first time one of Epler’s works has appeared in the calendar, which is in its 42nd year. “I do mostly acrylic painting and hadn’t done pencil drawings in a long time,” said the East Drumore Township resident, whose artwork depicting May Post Office also appears on the July page. Epler and her friend Jessie Crotti
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VOL LXII • NO 37
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