Brandywine Buzz

A weekly look around the valley

Issue 5 — Leaf trucks and a ghost town on the Schuylkill

Hey. Week 43 around the valley.

What’s in this one

1

Hot picks · Halloween Jam at the Kennett Flash Saturday, the D-Town Brew-Down for the library, and the KSQ Candy Trail Sunday. Plus: the West Chester Halloween Parade is next Wednesday.

2

Field guide · How leaf pickup works in your town, starting Monday Oct 26, and what to do with the jack-o’-lantern once Halloween is over.

3

The scrap · “Philly, born and raised… West Chester,” a hard pass on Wawa sushi, a fire-pit dad who ignores the rules, and the best reason yet to love 610.

4

What’s building · Data-center rules: West Whiteland adopted theirs, and East Caln takes its next step Wednesday. Plus Aqua’s PFAS treatment tanks in East Goshen.

5

Makers · The PA Guild’s Fall Fine Craft Fair in Oaks all weekend, then the Community Arts Center Fall Fest in Wallingford Sunday.

6

Deep cut · Frick’s Lock: the canal village a nuclear plant emptied and then saved. Last free tour of the year is Saturday.

7

Season · Meet the growers behind Longwood’s Thousand Bloom mum Saturday, then pick out a pumpkin at Colonial Gardens’ Pumpkinland.

Hot picks

This weekend’s best bets around here.

Saturday is homebrew in a firehouse and ten local bands in costume. Sunday, the kids follow the balloons down State Street. Next Wednesday, West Chester has a parade on a school night.

Kennett Square · Sat Oct 24 · 3–10:30pm · $15

Halloween Jam at The Kennett Flash

Ten local bands each dress up as a famous one for the night at 102 Sycamore Alley. Trainwreck Boyfriend plays The Cure, Tamagotchi Bay plays Weezer, Branden Sheets plays Dewey Cox (yes, from Walk Hard), and a band called Wash, Re-Wash plays Green Day. That alone sold me. It’s the Flash’s biggest fundraiser of the year, all ages, and kids 12 and under get in free. Doors open at 2:30. No BYOB for this one, but there’s a bar, 21+ to drink. Bring the kids early and come back after dinner on State Street. Halloween Jam

Downingtown · Sat Oct 24 · 1–4pm · 21+

8th Annual D-Town Brew-Down

Homebrewers pour their best batches at Minquas Fire Co. No. 2, 141 Wallace Ave. Certified judges score them for cash prizes, and you get a vote for People’s Choice. It’s a fundraiser for the Downingtown Library, which turns 150 this year. Tasting tickets are $35, non-tasters $5, and VIP is $75 with early entry. Bring ID. The library lists the hours as 1–4, so go by that rather than the borough calendar’s 1–5. Brew-Down

Kennett Square · Sun Oct 25 · 2–4pm · free

KSQ Candy Trail

Put the kids in costume and walk State Street. More than 30 shops and restaurants hand out treats, and some have deals for the parents too. No doorbells, no dark streets, and you’re home by 4:30. It’s about as easy as Halloween gets around here. Candy Trail

Coming up: West Chester · Wed Oct 28 · 7pm · free

West Chester Halloween Parade

The borough’s big Halloween night, on a Wednesday. It kicks off at Church & Market, with floats, bands, and candy stations (one bag per kid). Rain date is Thursday. Grab dinner downtown early and get a spot on the curb by 6:30. Parade info

Field guide

One useful guide to living around here.

Leaf pile at the curb with a vacuum leaf truck, hatch

West Chester · Phoenixville · West Goshen · East Goshen · Tredyffrin

How leaf pickup works around here (and what to do with the jack-o’-lantern)

Every fall, half my street rakes everything to the curb the first cold weekend, and the piles sit there for two weeks. Leaf pickup works differently in every town around here. West Chester sends a vacuum truck, other towns want paper bags, and in some you haul your leaves yourself. West Chester’s trucks start Monday Oct 26.

I pulled the actual schedules. In West Chester, north of Market gets Mondays and Tuesdays and south of Market gets Wednesdays and Thursdays, three passes per quadrant. West Goshen does three Saturday pickups. East Goshen takes paper bags every Wednesday. Tredyffrin’s Mill Road leaf site opens the same Monday.

Then there’s the pumpkin. Once Halloween is over, the jack-o’-lantern doesn’t belong in your leaf pile, and East Goshen says straight out that it won’t take pumpkins with yard waste. The full guide covers what gets a pile skipped and where the pumpkin can go.

Read the field guide

The scrap

The best stuff you missed in the area’s social media world.

The best stuff you missed around here on social this week. Short takes.

West Chester (in spirit) · a New York sidewalk

“Philly, born and raised”

Ask a guy in a Sixers jersey which part of Philly. Get a very specific suburban answer. TikTok

via @saybeast

Media · West Chester · Glen Mills · Exton

Wawa sushi: a hard pass

Wawa is testing sushi. One Philly Wawa loyalist has named her price, and it isn’t cheap. TikTok

via @tiktoksbyalexa

Somewhere cozy · the fire pit

Walk around the chairs

Mom gives the toddler one fire-pit rule. Dad didn’t get the memo. TikTok

via @cass_andthecity

Delco · a store aisle

Delco forever: 610

He loves Delco for a very specific reason, and it’s printed on every phone bill. TikTok

via @thedelcofilipino

What’s building

What’s going up, getting paused, or getting fought over.

Townships keep writing data-center rules before anyone files an application. West Whiteland finished theirs, and East Caln takes its next step Wednesday. And in East Goshen tonight, Aqua wants to add PFAS treatment tanks at a neighborhood well.

West Whiteland · East Caln · Wed Oct 21 · 1:30pm

Data-center rules, township by township

West Whiteland supervisors adopted a data-center ordinance on Oct 14. Big, standalone data centers can only go in the heavy industrial (I-2) district. Smaller data centers inside other buildings are now barred from residential districts, and the noise chapter gets a new limit. Next door, East Caln supervisors meet Wednesday at 1:30pm at 110 Bell Tavern Rd to decide whether to advertise their own draft ordinance. That’s a step toward a vote, not the vote itself. East Marlborough held a hearing on its version Oct 14, but the result isn’t public yet. If your township is next, now is the time to read the drafts. West Whiteland ordinances · East Caln agenda

East Goshen · Thorncroft Dr · tonight, Tue Oct 20 · 7pm

Aqua’s PFAS treatment at the Thorncroft well

Aqua Pennsylvania wants to add PFAS treatment at its well in an easement across 620 and 622 Thorncroft Dr. The plan is two resin tanks, each about 6 feet across and 15 feet tall, on a concrete pad by the well building, with new landscaping. PENNVEST is funding it, and it’s due by late winter 2027. Why now? The well tested 4.3 to 4.5 parts per trillion of PFOA in 2024, and the EPA limit is 4.0, with compliance due in 2029. Barely over, but over is still over. Tonight around 7:25 at 1580 Paoli Pike is most likely testimony only. The Planning Commission reviews it Oct 27, and a decision is likely Nov 17. Want a say? Speak tonight in person or on Zoom, or show up in person at the Planning Commission on Oct 27. Agenda (PDF) · MyChesCo

Makers

Local makers nights and market tables worth hitting.

Nothing in Chester County this weekend, so we’re heading just over the line. Oaks is a short drive up 422 and Wallingford is a quick run into Delco, and both are worth it.

Oaks · Sat–Sun Oct 24–25 · 10–5 · $10

PA Guild of Craftsmen Fall Fine Craft Fair

More than 70 juried artists fill the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center at 100 Station Ave, just over the line in Montgomery County. Turned wood, stained glass, fiber, jewelry, leather, ceramics. One-of-a-kind stuff, and the artists themselves are behind the tables. Parking is free. It’s basically a head start on holiday shopping, so make a list and actually stick to it. Fine Craft Fair

Wallingford · Sun Oct 25 · 11–4 · free

Community Arts Center Fall Fest

The Community Arts Center at 414 Plush Mill Rd in Delco turns 20 and throws a fine arts market and open house. About 30 artists sell paintings, jewelry, ceramics, and glass. There’s live music all afternoon, pumpkin painting and tie-dye for the kids, studio tours, a food truck, and Conshohocken Brewing. Rain or shine. No pets, so the dog stays home this time. Fall Fest

Deep cut

One local history leftover worth knowing.

East Coventry · Fricks Lock Village, 503–508 Lower Fricks Lock Rd

Frick’s Lock

Up the Schuylkill past Phoenixville, there’s a row of old stone houses where nobody has lived for decades, and the Limerick cooling towers steam right across the river. Frick’s Lock grew up as a canal stop with a 24-hour store for the boatmen. Then the canal went dry, and the nuclear plant bought out the entire village.

I care because the same rule that emptied Frick’s Lock also saved it. Federal rules keep homes out of a 2,500-foot ring around the plant, so no developer could ever touch the village. Today the 1757 farmhouse, the canal store, and the empty lock are all still standing, and East Coventry walks people through them.

Saturday Oct 24 is the last free tour of the year, at 10, 11:15, or 12:30. You don’t need to register, and it’s all outdoors. The township is very clear that the village is not open for paranormal investigations. The full story is in the longer cut.

Read the deep cut

Season

What’s in the air right now. Farm stands, orchards, peak harvest.

One plant with 1,355 flowers, and the people who spent 18 months training it. Then a free pumpkin patch with a giant in the woods. Peak fall, both of them.

Kennett Square · Sat Oct 24 · 1–3pm · register

Longwood Chrysanthemum Festival: Meet Us at the Mums

Longwood’s mums are up in the conservatory through Nov 15. You walk under a double chrysanthemum arch, and the Thousand Bloom has 1,355 white flowers on a single stem. Saturday 1 to 3, Longwood’s science team is stationed around the conservatory to explain how they pulled it off. It’s free with admission, but register ahead, and you’ll need a timed ticket. Longwood stays open till 9 Friday through Sunday through Nov 1, and the mums are gorgeous lit up at night. Chrysanthemum Festival

Phoenixville · daily through Nov 2 · 10–4:30

Pumpkinland at Colonial Gardens

Colonial Gardens at 745 Schuylkill Rd (Route 23) has a free pumpkin patch and a free indoor Pumpkinland in the greenhouses, so you’re covered if it rains. A $10 hayride rolls through the woods past a dragon’s nest and Oakheart the Giant, and the hayride is the only way to see him. Leashed dogs are welcome in the patch. Weekday mornings are the calm time to go. Colonial Gardens

Brandywine Buzz · written from around here · Tuesday mornings

You received this because you subscribed to Brandywine Buzz. Unsubscribe.
West Chester, PA 19380