Tag Archives: Christine Olley

Hauntings for the Timid

FIELD GUIDE

You like a good scare, but you’d prefer not to wet your pants. Follow us.

By Christine Olley

 

Halloween, like salsa, is an occasion that’s served at various intensities. Some of us may kick back with The Wizard of Oz and then call it a night. Black-and-white if we’re feeling brave (or buzzed), Technicolor if we’re alone and especially paranoid, with all those trick-or-treaters roaming around. Others may opt for a haunted hayride. Just enough of a fright to cause a spike or two of adrenaline, but never too threatening. And then there are those whose every action over the coming weeks suggests that Halloween is, in fact, the dawning of the end of times.

Our compilation of some of the coolest Halloween attractions now playing favors the mild-to-moderate side of the palate. We figured if you were seeking something hot, you weren’t going to refer to a magazine called Home + Table. Still, there are ample reasons to feel afraid. Just think more along the lines of goosebumps than night terrors.

 

Nassau Inn | Princeton, New Jerseynassau-inn

If you tend to weather your hauntings better on a full stomach, the Nassau Inn, which sits across from Princeton University, in charming Palmer Square, is offering private dinners for groups of 20 or more chased by a tour of the campus’s most notoriously haunted nooks. ($75 per person.) You’ll be armed with EMF meters, dousing rods and night-vision flashlights and fed lots of graphic stories for dessert.

 

The House in the Hollow | Newtown

If not for Halloween, we’d likely never realize that we’re surrounded by so many turn-of-the-century asylums and orphanages. And thanks to whichever reality TV-ghost hunter you favor, we’re all now well aware of the horrific treatment that played out within their walls. So what we have here at Malfate Manor, a.k.a. The House in the Hollow, is the perfect storm: Our own ridiculous preconceptions colliding, head-on, with lots of dark corners and costumed teenagers jumping out from them.

 

Waldorf Estate of Fear | Leighton

Imagine a haunted house where you and your friends are the attraction. That’s the idea behind Waldorf’s newest scene, the Zombie Escape Room. You’ll be offered refuge from the encroaching apocalypse and then given a half-hour to figure out the clues that’ll lead to the exit. Think “The Walking Dead,” but without the armfuls of guns. If there are enough of you—10 are admitted per turn—make a game of it. Slowest to exit buys dinner. Then align with your Type A friends.

 

Temple of Terror | Pottstown

The legend has it that Damon DeMonio returned home after fighting in the Civil War only to discover that his new wife was, um, nurturing an army of her own. He lost his head. The result was not pretty. Skip ahead 150 years: An actual freemasons lodge sits atop the plot where DeMonio’s home once stood. Strange things, reportedly, happen there, like freemasonry. Also: a three-story haunted house. But, really, freemasonry is plenty creepy enough.

 

Costume Dash 5K/10K | Philadelphia

When you’re moaning your way up a small hill, barely maintaining a walking pace, do you ever think, What could make this jog even better? A bulky, awkward-fitting costume? Yes! Then the Costume Dash is just the opportunity you’ve been looking for to further sabotage your fitness. And if that wasn’t already a weird enough site, there’s a pub crawl afterward. Nothing says, “You’re a man now,” to a 10-year-old like forcing him to witness Iron Man and his super friends stumble out of a bar in the middle of the afternoon.

 

PAFA After Dark | Philadelphia

The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts is hosting a “Stranger Things”-themed party (Will!) October 19, from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., (free with museum admission; registration required) complete with pumpkin decorating (resistance is futile) and tarot card readings (find out when you’re going to die through a party game!). There’s also going to be ghost tours of the galleries, including one of Fernando Orellana’s ghost machines. It’s a site-specific installation where Orellana’s configured four robotic machines through which he’s attempting to interact with the ghost of Thomas Eakins.

 

Photos courtesy (from the top) Waldorf Estate of Fear; Nassau Inn; Waldorf Estate of Fear; Costume Dash

How to Eat Your Way Through Festival Season

FIELD GUIDE

Beginning this weekend, you’re not going to be able to turn around without running into some kind of street fair. Which means more-than-ample opportunity for eating with your hands. But you need to be smart about it. You can only consume so many calories. Allow us to show you the way.

By Christine Olley

 

The old saying goes, “The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach,” but with the overloaded slate of festivals, and their smorgasbord-like food courts, on the horizon, it would be downright wrong to discriminate. Here, a rundown of the most appetizing gatherings across the region over the coming weeks.

Chester County’s playing host to two major food-centric festivals over the next month, the long-running Kennett Square Mushroom Festival this weekend and the biannual Phoenixville Food Festival October 1.

The former is a bit of everything—demos, cook-offs, eating (of course), even exhibits—packed into one nonstop weekend. Whether you go for an hour or set up camp, just don’t forget to buy mushrooms to go. They’ll be sold in front of the east and west gates and the growers’ exhibit. The latter is far more straightforward, though way more diverse: 30 trucks (and counting), covering every conceivable niche, from Caribbean-American soul food to Liege-style waffles.

Don’t be deceived by the name. Hit the Doylestown Arts Festival this weekend for the local art and the artisanal goods, but stay for the food. Two food courts will be crammed with the usual festival fare—sausages, fries and ice cream, oh, my—along with samplings from Doylestown’s textured restaurant scene and a bevy of food trucks. This may be the one street festival that doesn’t disappoint a vegetarian.

Yardley Harvest Day, the following Saturday, Sept. 17, is evolving into the ultimate collection of the region’s most promising small-batch foodstuff makers, from Bucks County Cookie Company and Carol’s Pizzelles to Gourmet Jelly and Jak Jeckel Pepper Sauce. There’ll be Brewscuits, too, for your four-legged best friend. You’ll owe him for panting patiently at your side throughout this shopping/tasting spree.

Peddler’s Village, in Lahaska, can always be counted on for some seasonal gorging. OctoberFEAST, October 15 and 16, delivers an onslaught of German specialties, including, most notably, bratwurst pork schnitzel and the ever-delectable Bavarian crème pie. A couple weekends later, on November 5 and 6, it’s Apple Festival, complete with a pie-eating contest, which’ll be divided by age, naturally. I mean, what satisfaction is there in out-eating an eight-year-old—again?

Not enough to eat local? You need to see where it comes from, too? Then plan to head to Bethlehem Sept. 17 for the Monocacy Farm Food Festival, where you’ll be able to munch on a smattering of stuff grown on the 10-acre organic farm as you tour the grounds. The Monocacy Farm Project, which the festival benefits, was established a few years ago. Under its umbrella resides a CSA, community gardens, all-ages educational programming and a community service garden dedicated to supporting low-income families, soup kitchens and homeless shelters.

And we’d be remiss if we didn’t include the TASTE Philadelphia Festival of Food, Wine and Spirits October 21 through Oct. 23 at the Valley Forge Casino Resort in King of Prussia, because, full disclosure, we’re a media sponsor. Every day’s loaded with celebrity chef demos, featuring the likes of Charles Oakley (yep, that Charles Oakley), Ashley Sherman (lead cook from “Hell’s Kitchen,” season 13) and Will Brown (a frequent enabler on “The Real Housewives of Atlanta”). And they’re not even the headliners. That’d be Ayesha Curry, whose demo is Oct. 22, and Kevin O’Leary, who’ll be hosting a tasting of his wines Oct. 21.

Forget What You Think You Know About Art

ACCESSORIES

You love art, but it never seems to love you back. That’s just pretentious gallery owners talking. We found a more considerate one who’s going to show you how to start that collection you always wanted.
By Christine Olley • Portrait by Jennie Finken

The key to forming your collection, Van Haute says, is confidence.

 

Ward Van Haute’s Bethlehem House Contemporary Art Gallery isn’t your typical art gallery. Gone is the sterilized setting—the stark-white walls, the evenly spaced installations—replaced by a space that more closely resembles your home. Or rather, what you’d probably like your home to look like.

Before he opened the gallery a couple years back, Van Haute split his time between Philadelphia and New York, working as an art director and a set decorator for commercials, music videos, films and plays. He seems to approach his gallery in much the same way he did those projects. Set the stage, and our imaginations will take over from there.

The intimidation factor with art can be high. (As can the pretension factor.) It’s not cheap. And compounding the insecurity that’s coupled with that kind of purchase, we’re supposed to view art as an investment. When you’re not sure if the price is fair now, how are you supposed to know if it’ll appreciate? Lost in that conversation is art’s most basic function, which is that it’s supposed to speak to us. Above all, theoretically, it should mean something to you.

Van Haute’s found a way to restore that part to its proper prominence in the thought process of aspiring collectors. He’s filled his gallery with work by emerging, regional artists and furniture by local designers. Seeing everything fit together, it becomes a little easier to be inspired and then imagine incorporating some of those pieces into your own home. Without even realizing it, you’re relating to the art in a personal way, void of financial and perceptual concerns.

It’s a cool trick. We’re sold. Now what?

Start scouting local, working artists. That’s where you’ll find the greatest value, Van Haute says. Beyond galleries like his, seek out art centers and artist cooperatives. If you find yourself gravitating toward one artist or another, but his original work’s still a little steep, contact the artist—almost everyone has a site these days—and ask if he’s done any limited-edition prints.

“Many artists offer prints that are much less than the cost of the original and still hold a collectible value,” Van Haute says.

Still more than you’re willing to spend? (Remember, a collection’s going to take time. You’re not going to fill your house, or even a room, overnight.) Buy some art supplies and take a run at it yourself, Van Haute suggests. Best-case scenario: You discover a hidden talent.

Worst-case: You’re out a hundred bucks, and you’ve learned to be more patient.

Whether you’re buying it or making it, “Just let your own preferences and tastes come out, and be confident enough to stand by them,” Van Haute says. Read: Don’t think of the art as an investment. The stronger the bond, the less likely you’ll be to let go of it anyway.

Let’s assume you’ve found something to your liking. A couple somethings, actually. Connecting with it in a gallery space and displaying it at home are two different animals. For starters, don’t try to mimic the gallery. You’re always going to come up short. Look for the place you want to install it, not necessarily where you think you need to install it.

“Try to create a sense of harmony and balance rather than symmetry and color matching,” Van Haute says.

Part of that implies a place where it’ll be accessible and, in turn, easier to appreciate. If you, say, hang a painting over the dining-room sideboard, you’re always going to find yourself at arm’s length. Hang it, instead, in the living room, unobstructed. If it feels in the way, it wasn’t meant to be. No one’s saying it needs to stay there. Van Haute mixes up his arrangement constantly. You’ll be surprised how much a small, occasional shift can refresh your perspective. Getting back to the importance of identifying with your art, like any relationship, it’s always evolving.