epassyunkave

East Passyunk AvenueBusiness Improvement District

1904 East Passyunk AvenuePhiladelphia, PA 19148

EAST PASSYUNK AVENUEBUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT

Newsletter • Volume VII, Issue 5 • November, 2014

Deck the Ave With Events So Jolly!EPABID’s Promotions Committee has planned a busy calendar of events for this year’s holiday season with promotions to encourage more shop-ping and dining on East Passyunk than ever before! Please remember that most of our neighbors don’t get out onto the Avenue until after 5pm, so please stay open late to meet their shopping needs!

PassyunkShopsFor those that are participating, please make sure to drop off all of your PassyunkShops cards on the evening of Friday, December 12 or the morning of December 13 for the $100 shopping spree and more prize drawings on December 13. We will do the drawing at noon.

Small Business SaturdayNovember 29Now in its fifth year, this national promotion celebrates shoppingat small, independently-owned businesses and luckily we have over 150 of them! This is has become a big day for many of our businesses so be sure to have expanded shopping hours and maybe treat your customers to some special sales or promotions.

Of course we will also promote Black Friday specials, please send both to renee@visiteastpassyunk.com. Tree Lighting, Deck the AveKick Off + Italian MuseumExhibit OpeningThursday, December 4, 5-7pmPassyunk Avenue Revitalization Corporation (PARC) is about to transform the Singing Fountain into a giant Christmas tree and you’re invited to come see the lights go on. We’ll have carolers from Alphabet Academy, music from the Jackson School, free light refreshments and, of course, Santa!

After the tree lighting, the Joe King Trio will stroll down the Avenue play-ing holiday music so folks can enjoy late shopping hours with some festive tunes. We’re also adding an extra hour with Santa and treats from Ms Goody Cupcakes at the Mifflin Triangle from 7-8pm and we’ll open our EPABID exhibit at the History of Italian Immigration Museum at Filita-lia International, located at 1834 EPA. This exhibit includes photos of relatives of some of our business and property owners and historical photos

New Decorative Lights on East Passyunk Avenue!

Weekly Farmers’ Markets Come to an End

Thanks to a generous grant from Samuel and Sons Seafood, EPABID was able to remove the old deterio-rating decorative lights, add electric outlets to more light poles, and install new, custom-built LED lights, finally giving us a cohesive lighting design from Broad to Federal Streets. We hope you all enjoy a brighter holiday season!

Our last Fountain Farmer’s Market is ending on Wednesday, November 26, from 2-6pm, so you’ll still have a last chance to get fall produce like squash and apples for your Thanksgiving holiday needs. Thank you to everyone who supported the market, our farmers say it was the best year ever! We’ll see them again in the spring – in the meantime, you’ll still find farm-grown produce and lots of other locally-made artisanal treats in Green Aisle Grocery.

of the Avenue and will be on display for several months.

We are encouraging businesses to stay open until 9pm that night and offer special sales or dinner/drink specials. If you would like to participate, contact renee@visiteastpassyunk.com or 215-336-1455 so we can add you to the promotional flyer and include you in the decorations we’ll use to identify participating stores. You MUST be open until 9pm to be included.

Holiday Shopping Second Saturday December 13This is our biggest Second Saturday of the year. In addition to photos with Santa, we’ll have strolling musicians from Kings Music playing holiday songs from 1-3pm, Crafty Balboa is holding their winter craft show from 11am-5pm just a few steps away at Neumann-Goretti and the History of Italian Immigration Museum will have an open house for our EPABID show. In the evening we’ll have great art openings, including Nice Things Handmade’s annual ornament show. Don’t miss out on this great opportu-nity to offer your unique gifts to neighbors and visitors!

This photo of Chef Joe Cicala's (Le Virtu, Brigantessa) great-grandmother, great-grandfather, grandmother and uncle will be one of many on display at the History of Italian Immigration Museum EPABID exhibit, opening December 4.

A Taste of History

visiteastpassyunk.com

Fall Fest & Spooky Saturday+ Witch CRAFT Beer Crawl

New to the Avenue

Volunteer

EPABID Launches a New Website!After many months of planning, gath-ering and entering information, and learning about new tools to best pres-ent our Avenue to curious visitors, we are proud to announce our new web-site! On our new site each business will have its own page with address, phone and website and a map that will allow a shopper to enter their home address and get directions right to their door. We’ll also have a data-base searchable by name or category to allow folks to find you more easily.Some of the other dynamic features that will now be offered to all of our members in good standing include access to your business page to add logos, photos, hours, descriptions and social media links and the ability to

add your store’s events into our event feed. You’ll receive information soon about how to gain access to these tools and you are welcome to contact renee@visiteastpassyunk.com for more information.

We’ve also added pages for media clips, blog posts, directions via all modes of transportation with links to get more detailed directions and public transit schedules, and all of our events will now have unique event pages with photos.

We are very proud of our new site and hope you will feel the same and spread the word to your friends, family, and clients! www.visiteastpassyunk.com

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Photos with SantaDecember 3-20 Santa will be posing for pics at Alphabet Academy (1631 EPA) every Wednesday from 6-8pm and Saturday from 2-4pm for the month of December. We’ll also have Santa posing for a special pet sitting on Saturday December 13 from Noon-1pm. Photo packages range from $10-25 but folks are also welcome to bring a camera and take pics for free.

Spirits & Suds with SantaWednesday, December 105:30-9:30pmGet in the holiday spirit with other craft beer and merry cocktail sippers bar hopping down the Avenue! For $5, guests receive an elf or Santa hat, stamp card with each bar/restaurant listed, $3 craft beers and $4 seasonal cocktails featuring Sailor Jerry’s and Tullamore Dew, and $5 snacks at select locations. 5 stamps gets them entered to win a $25 gift certificate to all participating bars, stamps are acquired by buying beers, cocktails, or any other food or beverage item. Registration is at South Philly Bar & Grill from 5:30-7pm, cards are collected at 9:30pm at Adobe Café. Tickets are available at www.visiteastpassyunk.com. EPABID Merchant &Property Owner Holiday PartyMonday, January 19, 6-8pmThis year we’re holding our holiday party in January so everyone will hopefully be recovered from the holiday madness and ready to catch up with friends. We hope you can join us at Garage at 1231 EPA, we’ll have lite fare prepared by some of our Avenue chefs in the food cart and select beer and wines. Come meet your fellow BID members and enjoy a night off! A formal invitation will follow and RSVP is required.

Palladino’s will soon be opening up at 1934 EPA, bringing decades of seasonal Italian cooking with a heavy emphasis on steaks and seafood and a full bar to the entrance to the Avenue. We’re thrilled to welcome Luke and his team to our exciting dining scene!

The owners of SLiCE will soon be serving up fresh-ingredient, all-natural burgers, fries and shakes at P’unk Burger at 1823 EPA, with plenty of vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free options and organic fountain sodas in unexpected flavors. Hours will be Monday thru Sunday 11am-10pm.

For those of you looking for home-made all natural dog treats and handmade dog and cat accesso-ries and toys, Amelie’s Bark Shop at 1544 EPA will be treating both of you to all of this and more!

The 1900 block of EPA has 2 openings this month! Mesh Vintage has just opened up at a beautifully-renovated 1926 EPA and is offering vintage clothing and accessories for men and women.

CLOSING: Harriet’s Innerwear’s owners are retiring. We thank them for being such a big part of so many of our lives and wish Ted & Barb many more happy and healthy years to come, we will miss you dearly!

We had yet another busy fall with events for kids and grownups alike! Fall Fest & Spooky Saturday easily exceeded the 3,500 visitor mark and hundreds of families took advantage of trick or treating through the Nice Things Handmade craft show and down the Avenue. While weather was not on our side for Witch CRAFT Beer Crawl, we still had over 300 thirsty crawlers bopping around the Avenue in witch hats and it was quite the sight!

Special thanks to our Fall Fest Spon-sors: Acme, Aversa PR & Events, Doggie Style, Nice Things Handmade, Passyunk Avenue Revitalization Corpo-ration, South Philly Review, Where Magazine, Yelp and our Witch CRAFT Sponsors: Drink Philly, Philebrity, Victory Brewing Company and Yelp.

About Us

The EPABID is a 501c3 non-profit corporation. As such we are required to have a board of directors and meet on a regular basis.

The East Passyunk Avenue Board of Directors:

Jim Gallo, Chairman Varnana Beuria, TreasurerFrancis Cratil, Secretary Councilman Mark SquillaFrank DiCiccoJoncarl LachmanNancy MelchioreThomas RumbaughNicole Rae Styer

Regularly scheduled Board of Directors’ meetings are open to the public by appointment. The Board meets on the second Tuesday of every month at 9am at the BID Office. If you would like an item added to the agenda at a meeting, please submit a request to Renee at 215-336-1455 or renee@visiteastpassyunk.com.

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The East Passyunk Avenue Business Improvement District is a non-profit and relies on the help of volunteers to complete our many projects and bring new ideas to the table. Our Promo-tions Committee meets on the first Tuesday of every month at 10am at the BID office. If you have an idea for a new event or promotion or some-thing you’d like to see added to our existing programs, this is the venue

to have your idea become a reality!

We also need volunteers for all of our special events. If you are interested in becoming a committee member or would like more information volun-teering for any of our projects, please contact Renee Gilinger at 215-336-1455 or renee@visiteastpassyunk.com. We need you to make our Avenue reach its full potential!