The Fairgrounds, An Allentown Tradition

My post last Friday about the Farmers Market drew the nostalgia crowd on Facebook (Allentown Chronicles), and their wishes that the tradition continues.  There are however particulars about that institution not widely known. The Fairgrounds Association is mostly owned by a group of aging stock holders, and traditionally no one family held more than a few shares. That group is rapidly aging out, with the average age 110 years old :). 

The Farmers Market is rented to one vendor, who in turn subleases the various spots. That vendor is 105 years old :). Now I'm also old, and this information could likewise be dated. However, knowing the institution fairly well, I doubt that much has changed.

Years ago, the fairgrounds was a highly sought after real estate parcel for a shopping center and/or housing. Although that demand may have subsided, there are institutions, such as the LVHN, Muhlenberg College, etc., who might some day have similar designs. Back then, the old stubborn stock owning families resisted, but old is now the key word. Anywho, for now, we still enjoy our fairgrounds.

No Threat To The Public

Chief Charles No Threat To The Public Roca assures us after every shooting. Mayor Matt Inclusion Tuerk started his term with Discovery Trips to the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. He should have started his term with trips to 6th and Allen and other frequent gunfire zones in Allentown. 

Chief Roca is always asking the public for help, does anybody ever come forth? Shouldn't Promise Neighborhoods know something about such things, with all the grants going their way?

Subscribers to this blog on the web version can find Radio Molovinsky on the sidebar. Last year I created a few short podcasts, and learned that air time is not easy to fill by yourself. Recently, I decided to try the medium again, and thought that it would be interesting to discuss Allentown with someone with a different perspective. I've known Alfonso Todd for over twenty years. While I'm an old, third generation white man in Allentown, he's a younger, 1st generation black man in town. Alfonso is an event promoter and occasional DJ. We live in different worlds, but in the same town.  I hope to provide a link to the first podcast by Friday afternoon.

New Jersey Parties On The Lehigh

If it wasn't for the Allentown Police cars, Canal Park looked like a crowded park along the Delaware in New Jersey...Not a Pa. license plate to be seen. I hadn't been to the park since the invasion began, but reports certainly were not exaggerated. A friendly guest was providing Caribbean music for all with his low-rider's high volume stereo.

Just a few years ago, I was often the only one there. Now, after witnessing the invasion myself, I suggest that with only one entrance into the park under the old train trestle, they could close the park until the invaders find another destination. At the least, they could take advantage of the restricted entrance and limit the park to Allentown residents. 

This is an administration which removed the flood gates at the picnic grove behind Cedar Beach  swimming pool, so that nobody ever feel unwelcome. The parks and taxpayers are paying the price for Tuerk's absurd attitudes about inclusion. We never used to need three police cars for Canal Park.

Jordan Meadows vs. The Rose Garden

As an advocate for the traditional park system, I have been campaigning against the Riparian Buffers for years. I think that people should be able to see the creek, at least around the Rose Garden in Cedar Park, and the Robin Hood section of Lehigh Parkway. Every park director since 2005 has disagreed with me. When I complained to current director Mandy Tolino about invasives in the weed wall, she replied that there were some natives mixed in. The city maintains that the buffer keeps the waterway cleaner.

Allentown has made an exception to their park policy in the Jordan Meadows. There, anything and everything goes, and goes into the creek. The growing homeless camp has a population of about a hundred people. The adjoining property owner, Nat Hyman, has noticed the contradiction, and made arrangements for a pending lawsuit. However, he is first giving the city another opportunity to address the homeless encampment, and has even offered to help fund a proper shelter.

Needless to say the encampment would not be tolerated along Cedar Creek by the Rose Garden. Last year one denizen and his tent got a quick boot.

related post at O'Hare's Ramblings

Fairground Farmers Market

If you grew up in or near Allentown, chances are that you been to the Farmers Market. The market has been in operation since 1953, all year except during Fair Week.  

While those visiting downtown Allentown will recognize very little from the past, the Farmers Market is frozen in time. Some of the purveyors have been there for near 60 years. 

When I was a boy, my father operated a meat concession at the market for a year or so. He gave it up because he recognized so many of the customers from his market on Union Street, and realized that he had  doubled his overhead to serve the same clients.

For those of us who find change not always for the best, the Market remains a comfort.

reprinted from August of 2023

Freight Trolleys and Shenanigans

This was supposed to be a Men's Stuff post, about the working cars on the Lehigh Valley Transit Company. Doing research for the previous post on that company, I became fascinated that they operated a freight operation with the trolley cars. I started acquiring documentation and photographs about the working cars necessary for such an operation. They built power substations throughout the valley that generated electric, then converted the AC to DC for their use. The rolling stock required coal trolleys, wire stringing trolleys, snowplow trolleys, and etc. I will present these black and white photo treasures in future posts, because I got side tracked by a shenanigan; you know me. Lehigh Valley Transit operated out of the Fairview Carbarn, which Lanta still uses off of Lehigh Street. Despite a trolley fleet that covered the entire City, plus the remainder of the Valley (Bethlehem and Easton), all the Men's Stuff working cars, and trolley service to Philadelphia, Lanta now needs Bicentennial BallPark because they acquired five (5) new hybrid buses? Supposedly these five new buses require a special garage. Although the Fairview facility now handles 78 regular buses, the ballfield has to go because of the five new hybrids.

 enlarge freight trolley by clicking on image

above reprinted from May of 2010

UPDATE July 4, 2019:  Attempting to save the ballpark, I organized a meeting at a center city church.  Attending the meeting were two city council members and families involved with Bicentennial Park.  Pawlowski and Lanta finally backed off, and the ballpark remains. Some people who attended that meeting became interested in Allentown politics, and attend council meetings to this day. Pawlowski's shenanigans have since caught up with him.

ADDENDUM JUNE 26, 2025: I did this post about the freight trolleys over fifteen years ago. Back in the day, especially when they (Lanta) were accommodating Pawlowski and the upcoming NIZ, I would even attend the Lanta public meetings. My words at the public commentary portion were always met with cold eyes.  Lanta has remained a handmaiden for the influential, and serving the public remains secondary.