On August 31st, 2013, the 107th consecutive Arden Fair was held on "the Highway" in Arden, Delaware, north and in the midst of Wilmington and its suburbs. And this website was there. The following montages will give you a taste of the fair which included a demonstration of Israeli dancing by the Wilmington session.
The 'county' of Arden was founded in 1900 by Frank Stephens and Will Price. Stephens is pictured at the far left and was a prominent sculptor and if he hadn't founded Arden would be best remembered for his accusations against Thomas Eakins, who was his mentor and brother in law, for unbecoming behavior with students at the Philadelphia Academy Of Fine Arts. No doubt he would also be famous for his work on sculpture on Philadelphia's City Hall building. He teamed with Will Price, an architect, to create the unique aspects of Arden both in government and society. Price's theory of architecture was a direct contradiction to what we would see in Frank Lloyd Wright - that less was best in architecture - and we represent him in our montage, since there seems to be few pictures of the man, by one of the homes in the Overbrook farms section of the city of Philadelphia that he is credited with. The partnership of Stephens and Price was financed by Joseph Fels (third from left), as all three were inflenced by the theories of Henry George (rightmost), an American economist and theoritest of that period. Fels had made his fortune in soap including the still highly regarded Fels-Naptha and he spent part of that fortune acquiring the 162 acre Derrickson farm north of Wilmington where Arden sits today.
Joseph Fels, mentioned above, was the first of several Fels to contribute to the life of the Delaware Valley. His widow, Mary, raised and gave money to many causes dear to her late husband. But it is Samuel, Joseph's brother, whose largess transforms some parts of Philadelphia and beyond. The Fels planetarium was established through Samuel's efforts and money as was the Fels Institute of government at the University of Philadelphia. The foundation that Samuel established still provides grants to those who are attempting to improve "human daily life". Samuel's works were recognized by the city as it named one of its high schools after him.
Both the Fels family, Price the architect and Stephens the sculptor, were greatly influenced by the writings and personae of Henry George (pictured here when older than the picture above), one of the unique American writers of the nineteenth century. George was born in Philadlephia and made his way to San Francisco where he became a reporter. His interest was in a rising American economy that seemed skewed between the rich and poor, something like the discussions we hear today. He rationalized that the rising price of land was the cause of increasing rents so he focused his philosophy on what would be a fair tax on land to satisfy both rich and poor. In doing so, he also touched upon the federal, state and local divide that the United States is based on and the number of taxes controlled by each. George started what became known as the Single Tax movement. In this region the most fervant supporters were part of the Philadelphia Single Tax society. Prior to everyone linking up in the creation of Arden described above, the same forces, led by the Philadelphia Single Tax Society, attempted unsuccessfully to change the governmental functions of the state of Delaware.
Anyway, Arden and several other communities in Delaware are the creation of this philosophy and the tax structures of the Arden community even today reflect the ideas of Henry George. Of course, Stephens and Price left their own legacy. Arden is named for the Forest of Arden in Warwickshire, England and the Arden community sports names pertaining to English lore like Sherlock road. The founders mentioned above are also remembered physically within the community by the Fels House and the Frank Stephens Memorial theater. Early on the motto of the community was "you are welcone hither" and the sentiment remains the same today.
Early on, with its proximity to Philadelphia, Arden became a type of summer artist's retreat and colony for Philadelphia based artisans. The artisan community was placed under the umbrella of the Arden Club, and this club consists of gilds, one of which is the dance gild with which this web site has some familiartity. A gild hall, to house the activities of the club and its organizations, was built in 1907 (the picture in this montage was taken in 2012 after a new roof was installed). For those who stayed the year round, a school house was built nearby the hall designated as the Buzzware center. Since many of the summer residents would be leaving after Labor day, a tradition of a fair to celebrate the end of summer was established in 1907 coincident with the building of the Gild hall. At that time the Gild hall and its environs would be used to browse the art created in this artist enclave through the summer. As more residents became year round, other traditions like naming a king and queen of the event became the norm as you can see to the right from an article published shortly after World War II. While the King and Queen have disappearred from the fair in recent times, this tradition of a Labor Day weekend fair continues, but at a much larger pace with more outside influence.
And, with this little trip through memory lane at an end, this web site is now ready to provide a pictorial presentation of the latest Arden Fair, this year (2013) taking place on Labor Day Saturday, August 31st. At left we show a google map of the area - note the doted lines indicating the extents of Arden and the red line indicating Sherwood Rd with the blue line denoting "The Highway" where the fair took place. Besides the sites indicated above, we will see the gild pool at the back of the gild hall and the shady grove where bands played the entire day and where concerts are held periodically. At the right is an advertisement for such in June.
This web site was invited to the fair to accompany Sean pictured in this montage. Sean reminded us that he last graced this web site when he attended the Germantown session one Sunday morning and we covered his first expoure to Israeli dance on our exposures script. Sean had expressed an interest in the Arden Fair book swap and also wanted to see the Israeli dance demonstration and perhaps partake in some easy Israeli dancing if available.
As you now know Arden exists as an enclave of the Wilmington suburbs. Although the fair takes place in Arden, much of the parking is in the surrounding Wilmington suburbs as these pictures show. From the west one entrance is by Grubb Road. Notice the paved streets and sidewalks in this suburb of Wilmington. The first thee pictures show the traffic on Grubb and Marsh Rd, Delaware Rt 3. The rightmost picture shows the entrance to Sherwood road which will lead us to the fair.
In the previous montage you saw the look of the Wilmington suburbs. This montage represents photos about a block away. Notice how different the look - a lot more rustic. Notice the "cowpath", the unpaved access paths that are a staple of Arden community.
And, with a turn, Sherwood road morphs into the oddly named "The Highway" where the fair is situated. The pictures here show a type of slide that many of the younger participants of the fair were enjoying. And, of course, given the community, the right-most picture shows the first on many tables representing many causes.
These pictures show the fair in operation. Kiosk after kiosk are situated right along "The Highway" past the Buzzware center, past the Gild Hall all the way up to where "the Highway" meets Harvey road.
Here's some more pictures of kiosks on "The Highway". Having attended several of these fairs over the last few years some of these kiosks seem familiar. It says a lot about the visitors to the fair and their propensity to shop when vendors attend year after year. In addition, not shown, is the attendance of Delaware politicians who shake as many hands as possible while the fair is open. Of course, as Sean found out, there is a great disapointment when they find out that they are shaking the hands of a Pennsylvania voter.
And, here's the source of the music, a band called Kombu Combo. For the day, the Shady Grove hosts a set of bands and apparently this time period was reserved for these musicians. The band plays what it calls creative jazz using both jazz standards and their own compositions and this was evident at the concert. We asked Sean what he thought of the band and he said that he liked it.
Sean was not alone in enjoying the music. The Shady Grove was filled with people and this montage sweeps around showing the Grove activity.
We reminded Sean that at 1PM the Israeli dance demo was to take place in the Gild hall. Shortly before one PM Sean entered the Hall through the side door. The dance demos (Israeli dance at one and International dance at Two) take place in the midst of a book swap. These pictures show the frenzy of the bibliotech activity as browsers paw through mountains of books. Sean is an avid reader we understand, so he plunged right in. Outside of these views - around the stage that is at the end of the Gild Hall - the Wilmington Israeli dance session was making arrangements for its dance demonstration.
The Israeli dancers have been congregating as they ready for their demo. Randomly we have some pictures of the dancers to the left. To the right you can see the dancers, led by Sharon the leader, rearranging the furniture as they make space in the front for the dance circle. It doesn't phase any of the book seekers as they continue to do their thing while certain tables and chairs move.
The top tier of pictures give you a view of how the floor looked after the tables and chairs were moved. While Israeli dancing like any other dancing needs room, the dancers this day had experienced the fair in previous years and knew how to make do with limited space. The bottom tier of pictures of this montage concentrate on Sharon as she prepares the equipment used to play the music. The stage is the scene of this activity and we see the stage prior to the equipment being placed and then we see Sharon as she readies the equipment prior to her opening remarks
The next few montages show the Wilmington session regulars dancing. Sharon had picked several new and old dances to demonstrate and she introduced each dance before the music would start. This web site had several cameras trained on the dancers. One camera was on the stage and the others were on floor level. As dancers would opt out of dancing for a spell, they were asked to snap pictures. Given the heat of the day and the fact that the Gild Hall is not air-conditioned, there were more than enough volunteers for photography duty and we thank everyone - dancers and photographers - for their performances and photographic efforts. This montage would involve the first of the dances.
And these pictures are taken on the dancer's level. It's clear that someone did not get the memo on dress which was supposed to be white tops on blue jeans. But take a look at the T shirts most are wearing. The Wilmington session has its own design indicating "Arden Israeli Dancing" and this was what was supposed to be worn that day.
Before every dance Sharon would give an introduction and then cue the "DJ" on what music to play. Since the equipment was on the stage, the best view of the dancing was by the gentleman who manned the computer equipment and at the right we catch him watching one of the dances.
The dancing is not done in a vacuum. Although the book swap keeps going with most of those fans oblivious to the music and steps, there is a fair amount of spectators watching the dance demo as seen in this montage.
With about fifteen minutes left in the hour of demonstration, Sharon turns her attention to the audience. Who would like to learn Israeli dance? Several of the audience, including Sean, move into the circle. Sharon gives a quick teach of the dance - and all the dances she teaches at this point are beginner - and this montage shows the result as the novice intermingle with the more experienced to do these dances. Note: apparently the flash was reset when these pictures were taken. Surely, professional photographers would not have had this problem but no one taking photos this afternoon was a professional
There were several beginner dances that Sharon demonstrated during this time. After each demo the circle consisting of beginners and more experience dancers performed to the music. This montage is taken from the floor level.As you can see Sean is part of this and we asked him afterward how was the experience. And he reminded us that in 2012 he had experienced Israeli dance at a Sunday morning Germantown session and that prior experience helped during this round of dancing.
At 2PM it was the turn of the International folk dancers to run their dance demo. This gives us the opportunity to explain the nature of dancing at Arden. The club has a dance gild, generally designated as the folk dancing gild. The folk dancing gild is made up of the internation folk dancers, the Israeli dancers and the contra dancers and each of these groups hold dance sessions, lessons and special events. This montage is composed of the administrative leaders of these groups. The three right most pictures feature Sharon, the Israeli dance leader; Elaine, the administrator of the Israeli dance group; and Susan who has created the Israeli dancer's presence on Facebook.
Aerobic dancing in a hot venue works up an appetite. And, one of the traditions every year is to sample the baked goods at the kiosk just outside the Gild hall. In previous years, for those not carb challenged, strawberry pie was the treat. This year they were serving strawberries with whipped creme. Here we see Sean satisfying his hunger as he leaves the Gild hall after his participation in the dance demo.
Sean is about to head back to his car but takes one more loop of the fair. Here are more pictures of some of the kiosks encountered. At the right we see one of these kiosks that has caught Sean's attention.
We have been concentrating on the kiosks and the vendors but the fair is made up of people and animals. To the left we show one contented attendee on a leash (we think this is a white Chow). The other pictures in this montage pertain to the hula hoop and two girls giving a demonstration of such. Hula hoops were faddish items in the late 50's so its interesting to see a younger generation interested in something their grandparents would have used.
For our last montage we have returned to a kiosk and subject we wanted to highlight in our script of last year's Arden fair. We believe this is Suzette Jackson who runs the Rock Run Hollow company. This company specializes in all things involving bees which we had originally assumed to be honey and wax. But you can see that other products, such as lip baum, are in this mix. For two years in a row we have talked with Suzette about honey bees and their contribution to agriculture which few know would be seriously affected if the bees were not available for pollenation. Of course, you may be aware that a mysterious disease has affected many hives in recent years leading to a loss of bee population. Anyway, in this picture Suzette is accompanied by her daughter, we think, but unfortunately we don't have a name to go with the face. Rock Run Hollow originates from Port Deposit, Md and has a presence on facebook. Hope you, the reader, and Sean, our principal, don't mind if we give a plug to Suzette and her company as we end this script.