Press Release Details

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 1, 2009

First Friday Car Parade and Ardmore Blossoms Bring FREE Family Fun on Friday, June 5 and Saturday, June 6th

Ardmore is the place to be the first weekend in June. Friday, June 5 brings the return of the popular First Friday Main Line Car Parade on Lancaster Ave, along with music outside and art exhibits in the many First Friday venues. To lead into Saturday's Ardmore Blossoms, new this year is the addition of "green cars" which will be parked for display in the Cricket Ave. parking lot on Friday evening. So start your weekend on the streets of Ardmore on Friday, June 5! The Car Parade, sponsored by Algar Ferrari, begins at 6:15 in Bryn Mawr, then stick around for the after-party on Cricket Ave. in Ardmore- food, live music and fun! For more info check out www.firstfridaymainline.com.

The 2009 Ardmore Blossoms festival, scheduled for Saturday June 6th from 11AM to 3PM, (rain date Sun. June 7) is billed as a community celebration. It should more aptly be named "a celebration of community", as there a multitude of businesses, companies, non-profits and volunteers coming together. It's a rare occasion where everyone can have a great time while helping the community and the environment.

This year's event, presented by the Ardmore Initiative and Eastern University, will take place at Schauffele Plaza (across from Brownie's) in downtown Ardmore. However, stores throughout Ardmore and Suburban Square will be holding huge sidewalk sales, another great reason to attend! Save some green while savoring the greenery. There will be free parking on Saturday at all Ardmore lots and meters courtesy of Ardmore Initiative and Suburban Square.

Ardmore Blossoms is the brainchild of local real estate agent Haven Freihofer. It began modestly as a downtown clean-up and beautification day--but has since "blossomed" into a real celebration of community spirit.

It's a Growing Festival. In addition to sidewalk sales in downtown Ardmore and at Suburban Square, there will be about a dozen artists and crafts artisans who offer their creations at tables along Lancaster Ave. The Ardmore Initiative will sell hand-crafted brooms and rugs made of recycled materials. There will be a host of children's activities including Moon Bounce, face painting, clowns, craft activities and tour of a fire truck and emergency vehicles. In addition, Main Line Protection Services will offer free fingerprinting ID.

Celebrate Our Local Community Services. Community involvement has never been so easy and rewarding! There will be several recycling and collection drives, which we hope will entice folks to clean out their closets, donate their items to worthy causes, recycle responsibly, and get rewarded for doing so.

There will be a food collection drive to benefit ElderNet: anyone donating a bag of food will be entered to win a gift certificate from Ardmore's own A La Maison. For every piece of electronics recycled, courtesy of TBS Industries, our Recycling Sponsor, Swain Techs, will enter your name in a drawing to win a FREE laptop computer.

Pro Shred Security will offer free document shredding. There will be a plant exchange as well as plant sales and plant collection drive to benefit Ardmore's Linwood Park. Career Wardrobe and Jr. League Thrift Store will collect women's clothing, and Mothers Home will collect baby clothes. There will be folks from area animal shelters with adoption info and several environmental organizations including Lower Merion Conservancy and Riverbend Environmental Education Center.

Over 25 area non-profits will have information tables. In addition, these charities will be offering a broad array of raffles and prizes, everything from free classes to gift baskets and 50/50s.

Get In Touch With Your Inner Willie Sutton: Crack a Safe! In addition to food concessions and a great roster of live music performers, St. Edmonds Bank brings the safe cracking event back to Ardmore! Crack the combination to the safe for a chance to win $10,000! Participants can enter as often as they like. This was last offered in Ardmore at the 2007 National Night Out event, with dozens lining up for a chance to win. No winner in 2007--but we hope that someone will get the combination this year!

Our Volunteers and Sponsors Make the Difference. It has been heartening to see the time and energy invested by so many volunteers to make Ardmore Blossoms a success. We thank those sponsors who have stepped forth with financial and in-kind support: Eastern University, Swain Techs, PECO, Infiniti of Ardmore, Chyten Educational Services, JTA Associates, Architects, Bryn Mawr Trust Bank, Ardmore, Signs By Tomorrow, The Ardmore Business Association, Mariachi Imports, Suburban Square, St Edmonds Federal Savings Bank, Event Mementos, Custom Gardens LLC, Lava Blue and many more.

Hungry to help? Here's another way to help Ardmore: stop by John Henry's pub for lunch, dinner or a snack between June 6-14 and mention the Ardmore Initiative. John Henry's will donate a portion of every check to support the AI's efforts.

The Ardmore Initiative Supports and Builds Our Community. It is the mission of The Ardmore Initiative to promote the economic vitality of our downtown business district. We believe it is essential to create a healthy, mutually supportive relationship between our town's businesses and its residents. Our businesses provide needed goods and services in a customer-friendly environment--all amidst a very challenging economic climate. At the same time, local businesses remain generous and responsive when called to donate for a variety of worthy local causes.

Ardmore Blossoms is the Initiative's gift to the community--the event is totally free and open to the public. It is a party for our town, providing a chance for people to help themselves, each other, the environment, and have fun throughout the day.

Where will you be on Saturday, June 6? We hope that you will out supporting the town you love, supporting those businesses which make Ardmore special, and demonstrating once again that Charity begins at home.

For details and more info on all of the day's events, activities, vendors, sponsors, and collection drives, please visit www.allaboutardmore.com, call 610-645-0540 or email Christine@ardmoreinitiative.org.

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