Building bridges between our communities...

Pair of young men clinging to barrel in Delaware River saved by hero kayakers

Area where duo rescued; clump of trees on R is where 2nd victim clung. (Photo provided by Jeff Vinsosky)

By Charlie Sahner

Police, fire and rescue vehicles including airboats were called out from New Hope, Solebury, Central Bucks, Lambertville at approximately 2:30 p.m. Sunday as two individuals were reported to be floating downstream on a blue barrel on the Delaware River near Stockton.  Police and rescue units took up staggered positions along the Pennsylvania side of the river and on the New Hope-Lambertville free bridge.

Meanwhile, on the raging brown river below, a life and death drama was being played out, according to Jeff Vinosky, 21, of Fairless Hills and Gary Lewis, 21, of Levittown, who say they spotted the barrel while kayaking on the adjacent Delaware and Raritan Canal.

Just as they entered the river near Prallsville Mills to assist the two men they had seen clinging to the barrel for life, one of those in trouble broke away from the improvised float and swam for a nearby strip of land in the river.

The apparent good samaritans said they were able to reach the first victim and guide him ashore to safey, but couldn't fight the roiling, post-flood waters and crosscurrents from a nearby stream to reach the second, who was by then clinging to a tree near the water's edge. They alerted rescue personnel, and an airboat appeared soon thereafter to secure that victim.

According to witnesses, the two individuals in trouble had toppled their canoe upriver.  One fan of the Facebook site "New Hope PA"  posted Sunday that he had seen two individuals "struggling" in a canoe near the Black Bass Hotel at 1:45 p.m.

Emergency personnel on both sides of the river have been mum on the incident, deferring questions to one another and the New Jersey State Police, who say they have no record of the incident.

This reporter's guess would be that since the two "barrel boys" didn't need transportation to a hospital, and since it's not illegal to canoe or ride in a blue plastic barrel immediately after near-flood level waters on the Delaware, no emergency officials felt like filing a comprehensive incident report on a Sunday afternoon.

Nor, apparently, in giving credit where it was also due.

Let's be clear.  The pair of young victims in the river, by all accounts, were exhausted, pale, uncommunicative and generally "shocky," having been immersed in very cold, fast-moving water for more than half an hour.  However poor their judgment was in attempting to preamble about on post-flood waters akin to the chocolate river in Willy Wonka studded with fast-moving logs, let's not blame the victims.

But let's celebrate the heroes:  Gary Lewis and Jeff Vinosky.  These two stuck to the safer canal near Stockton on their afternoon kayak run, but seeing two people clinging for life in the rushing Delaware was enough for them to paddle without thought into harm's way, grabbing one victim and handing him their life vest, and locating and getting help for the second.

These two should receive a public award.

New Hope PA Sidetracks Art Gallery Presents "Moby Dick on the Delaware" Starting this Weekend

By Charlie Sahner

New Hope Sidetracks Art Gallery, inspired by the lost white beluga whale that traveled up the Delaware a few years ago, is bringing “Moby Dick on the Delaware” to New Hope all summer long. Featured are the “Moby Dick Suite” of painter and print-maker Bert Yarborough of New Hampshire and Provincetown; the aluminum sculpture, paintings and ink drawings of Timothy Woodman of Provincetown; and one major color lithograph from “The Passion of Ahab” by Benton Spruance, the mid-20th-century American lithographer. Also featured are works by 18 Sidetracks Gallery artists, many local.

The show opens Saturday July 10, with a public reception from 6:00 to 9:00 PM. Yarborough's work is particularly impressive and demonstrates the classic Sidetracks aesthetic.

New Hope Sidetracks Art Gallery neighbors the New Hope Arts Center at 2A Stockton Avenue, where Bridge Street meets the railroad tracks. 215-862-4586 for more info.

Sounds like a whale of a time! ;-)

First New Hope PA - Lambertvile NJ Fireworks Show a Blast

Captain Bob Keeps on Truckin' This Holiday Season at His Famous New Hope PA Ice Cream Parlor

You'd think that losing a bid for New Hope PA Borough Council (again) and owning an ice cream parlor with winter approaching would be enough to give anyone pause, but not New Hope's very own Bob Gerenser, owner of New Hope landmark Gerenser's Exotic Ice Cream, and plyer of the Delaware's currents, George Washington impersonator and Havana karaoke legend.

I stopped by on Thanksgiving day during my downtown "who's open" tour. Of course a lot of local inns and bars were open to offer cool weather warmth, but not as many shops and smaller businesses. Gerenser's, however, was open and Captain Bob was running his river tour boat out back on the Delaware. He's promoting winter fare like warm beverages and wieners, but the hottest dish in the joint was easily his girlfriend (forgive the Dashiell Hammett), keeping busy behind the counter.

Gerenser's Exotic Ice Cream. A New Hope PA original.

22 S Main St
New Hope, PA 18938
215-862-2050

Shopping: Finkles Hardware in Lambertville NJ -- "The World's Most Unusual Hardware Store"

What can be said? Finkles Hardware in Lambertville, NJ is too awesome for words.

I've bought all kinds of things there over the years: an unusual Mexican florescent bulb I couldn't find anywhere else, a neat four-head screwdriver, a can of acrylic white house paint I used for priming oil painting canvas.

The owners say they specialize in "decorative and industrial hardware, plumbing and heating, electrical and lighting, and structural steel," and that "no project is too kooky for our staff."

One's first impression on entering is of a 1950s-era appliance store stacked to the rafters with cans, boxes, coils and bins filled with every mechanism, tool and part devised by mankind over the last, say, 75 years.

As Finkles website points out, "We have so much inventory that we stack it from floor to ceiling. No item is too hard to find!"

And if they don't have it, they'll special order it. I've found the staff to be friendly and knowledgeable over the years.

Those in the plumbing, electrical and construction fields have kept Finkles a trade secret for quite some time, but if you own an old home or if you just want to catch a glimpse of "The World's Most Unusual Hardware Store", visit 7 Coryell Street in Lambertville NJ, Monday to Saturday, 7:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m., (609) 397 0914.

It's a Lambertville original!

A Spectacular Day in New Hope PA

New Hope PA Police Chief Mike Cummings out doing some good community relations work while chatting with Howard Cooperman, owner of Bucks County Gallery of Fine Art.

Sunny Fall Days in New Hope PA

Left over weekend decorations blow like Tibetan prayer flags in the balmy wind of a warm West Mechanic Street day in New Hope, PA.

Who's Your Sugar Daddy?

A smiley, bristly Jim mans the counter for a spell at Sugar Daddy's, a candy and ice cream emporium in the Four Seasons Mall, Main Street, New Hope PA.

On his breaks, Jim also runs the Affordable Art gallery just across way. This guy knows how to keep busy and has somehow managed to stay in business over many years....a rarity, especially these days!

Things Not to Do in Lenape ("The Quarry") Park in New Hope PA

An expensive-looking sign tells visitors what not to do in controversial Lenape Park on Ferry Street in New Hope PA.

Along with no pets, smoking, or evening strolls, the treeless, virtually grassless rock pile of a park provides little in the way of family fun. No swings for kids; this is a park made for speeches at the gazebo by local politicos, not recreation or communing with nature.

Estimated cost of this taxpayer-paid boondoggle? Rumor has it in excess of $600,000, but who knows? One local who saw the initial plans said the goldfish pond alone cost more than $32,000.

Money that could have been spent on strengthening the local economy, creating jobs, and helping support local art.

Any guesses on what that overbuilt, tax-wasting sign cost?

Is this Dragon Super Kind? Let's Hope So!

Ricky's Beautiful Garden Along the Canal

Another One Bites the Dust: Bye Bye, Bois

Today's Times of Trenton asserts that "Lambertville [is] overtaking New Hope as an art center."

Says the Times: "Today, while New Hope has branded itself an entertainment and restaurant center for tourists, it is Lambertville -- with more than 35 galleries and art dealers -- that has become a destination for art collectors and patrons while the number of galleries in New Hope has dwindled. Twelve years ago, New Hope had 13; today, there are seven with two scheduled to close by fall."

Full story: http://bit.ly/yk3Wd

In reality, if one is only looking at the total number of galleries, Lambertville might "win" the contest. But usually "art center" implies more than that; it is a place where artists live and produce work.

So, the true art center will be the first town that builds affordable artists' studio spaces, encourages artists to live and work there, and offers classes and education in the arts.

Not just tired oil paintings of covered red bridges and barns, and winter impressionist landscapes in hues of lavender and mango. Fact is, New Hope has the edge when it comes to crafts, live music, tattoo art, and sculpture.

Bottom line, New Hope PA and Lambertville NJ don't need to compete, they need to cooperate.

New Hope and Lambertville: A River Runs Through It.

Think Ill trademark that.

Paul's Pretty Flowers on W. Mechanic St., New Hope PA

Beautiful wildflowers dot the dried out Delaware Canal bed in New Hope PA.

Ingham Creek Overflows Banks

As rainy weather persisted in the area, the Ingham or "Aquetong" Creek in New Hope, PA overflowed its banks today as local eyes began to turn toward the rising Delaware River. The perennially flooding and empty Historical Society retail space looked ready to go all squishy, but the mighty Bucks County Playhouse was holding its own. Unfinished foundations at the struggling Canal Street development appeared perilously close to the rushing currents.