New Dunkin’ Donuts facility and jobs sweeten Trenton economy
Central Jersey CML, a baking facility for Dunkin’ Donuts brands, announced plans to open a 69,000-square-foot facility at the former headquarters of the Trentonian newspaper at 600 Perry Street.
Central Jersey CML was established in 2015 by franchisees Paresh Patel and Alexander McCourt as a response to the growing number of Dunkin’ Donut retail locations opening in the area.
According to the MIDJersey Chamber of Commerce, chamber president Robert Prunetti and board member Chris Fifis of Hardenbergh Insurance Group were the catalysts who brought Central Jersey CML to Trenton.
The move was advanced when the New Jersey Economic Development Authority approved a 10-year, $18.9 million award from Grow NJ for the project. The estimated net benefit for the state is $1.8 million over a 30-year period.
Central Jersey CML anticipates creating 170 full-time jobs to produce 100,000 products per week. Construction is slated to begin in early 2017 at an estimated cost of $16 million.
Historical Society’s Stop the Wrecking Ball
The Trenton Historical Society’s 14th “Stop the Wrecking Ball” fundraiser will take over the Undercroft at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral on Saturday, November 19, from 6 to 9 p.m.
The annual event uses different Trenton locations to highlight the importance of historic building renovation and benefits THS activities, particularly the Restore Trenton! Historic Property Rehabilitation Grant Program, which funds exterior restoration of historic residential properties in Trenton.
Ball attendees will have the opportunity to tour the cathedral and its artworks, including the stained glass window that incorporates the Brooklyn Bridge, in tribute to Roebling. The “speechless” event also features live music, drinks, hors d’oeuvres, and a silent auction of items related to Trenton’s past.
Trinity Episcopal Cathedral’s construction began in 1935, more than a century after the first bishop was consecrated.
The costs of constructing the Norman-style undercroft, designed by Trenton architect Samuel Mountford, were paid by Ferdinand W. Roebling Jr., chairman of the Cathedral building drive. Rounded arches and huge octagonal stone pillars buttress the weight of the cathedral above, which was completed in 1954.
Proceeds from every Stop the Wrecking Ball provide funding for the Restore Trenton! grant program, through which $110,500 has been awarded to assist owners of residential properties with exterior restoration and maintenance, encouraging historically appropriate home improvements. Funded projects serve as preservation models to the larger community.
Tickets to the event can be purchased from the Trenton Historical Society ($85/person, $75/person for THS members or $105, which includes a one-year membership) online.
Questions about Stop the Wrecking Ball, sponsorship opportunities, or tickets, can be directed to THS coordinator Maureen O’Connor Leach at 609-396-4478 or trentonhistoricalsoc@gmail.com.
Accomplished guitarist closes ‘Tertulia’ exhibition
The Trenton Museum Society hosts a performance by accomplished cuatro guitarist Gabriel Munoz at the Trenton City Museum on Sunday, November 13, at 2 p.m.
Munoz, who was born in Puerto Rico in 1976 and spent his early years in Trenton, is known for performing for the Library of Congress American Folklife Center’s Music of America concert series and performing with Melodias Borinquenas at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The cuatro guitar has been called the national instrument of Puerto Rico. Its name means “four” and refers to the number of strings.
This concert concludes the exhibition “Tertulia,” developed in partnership with Casa Cultura and the Trenton Museum Society. “Tertulia” is the Spanish word for the gathering of people interested in arts and culture. Tickets range from $10 to $15. The Trenton City Museum is located in Ellarslie Mansion in Cadwalader Park. For more information: 609-989-3632 or visit their website.
A musical first for Trenton
Trenton’s first Music Symposium takes place at Shiloh Baptist Church, 340 Calhoun Street, on Saturday, November 26, from 1 to 5 p.m.
Developed in partnership with The Conservatory Mansion, the day includes workshops, panel discussions, and jam sessions with Trenton musicians Michael Ray, Tommy Grice, Adam Ray, Scott Miller, and others.
The event is organized by Ray, a Trenton-raised trumpet player who has performed with Kool & the Gang, Sun Ra Arkestra, Michael Ray and the Cosmic Krewe, and others. He was also a student of saxophonist and past Trenton Central High School music instructor Tommy Grice, from whom the Thomas Grice Academy of Music at Conservatory Mansion takes its name.
Ray says he, Grice, and the late Trenton trombonist Clifford Adams developed the idea to hold such a symposium “to bring information to the community, helping those interested in music and the business of music.” Admission is a $10 donation. For more information, visit the Facebook page.
Free youth and teen art
Artworks Trenton is offering a “Free Youth & Teen Art Series” of Saturday hands-on classes through December. Classes are offered twice and designed for different age groups: ages 6 to 12, noon to 1 p.m.; and ages 13 to 17, 1:30 to 2:30 p.m.
The schedule is as follows:
Mixed Media Arts with instructor Greta Carlton: November 5, Paper Stained Glass Windows; November 19, “Tree of Life” designs inspired by early 20th century symbolist painter Gustav Klimt; and November 26, Ornament Party, using discarded objects to make crafted works.
In December, artist Kate Eggleston leads classes in weaving: December 3, Rainbow Weaving; and December 10, Woven Bowls.
Music program expands
Trenton Music Makers recently welcomed eight new instructors, a new middle-school site, and a doubling in size of its orchestra.
The new site, Grace A. Dunn Middle School in Trenton’s South Ward, reflects the project’s commitment to developing students as they progress and supporting students who entered the program at the elementary level.
The pilot year at Dunn will include up to 25 students playing violin, viola, cello, and bass. The teaching team includes Laurie Cascante, cellist and teacher, and Jose Gregorio Sanchez Rodriguez, violin and viola.
Cascante, a teacher of Suzuki and traditional cello at Westminster Conservatory, is an alumna of the Esther Boyer College of Music at Temple University, and maintains an active teaching and performing schedule. Sanchez is a native Venezuelan and a student of Jose Antonio Abreu in the renowned El Sistema music education program. After playing in the Simon Bolivar Orchestra, he earned his degree Juilliard, and taught with Play on Philly! before moving to Mexico to establish his own El Sistema-inspired orchestras in Mazatlan and Veracruz. He has just arrived back in the United States and is making his home in Trenton.
In addition to their chosen instrument, the new students at Dunn will learn drumming with Steven Jack, another new member of the team. A Central Jersey native, Jack has played drums from a young age, studying at the University of Connecticut, and touring and recording with a number of R&B, country, and rockabilly bands in addition to playing symphonic percussion.
Nathan Cohen, teaching musicianship and improvisation, is a graduate of the Berklee College of Music and well known in Trenton for having jump-started the music renaissance in the Trenton Public Schools with his now renowned Dunn School Band.
Meanwhile the Grant Elementary School site reopened with 70 players where last year there were 45. Barrington Brown, Steven Merdian, Anita Hill and Priscilla Allman, last year’s faculty, are being joined by six new teachers: in addition to Sanchez and Jack, new instructors include Margaret (Peg) Banks, who for many years has taught the string program in the Princeton Public Schools in addition to serving as assistant concertmaster of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra; Kaitlyn Baum, a recent graduate of Lehigh University and a cello teacher at the Blue Mountain Festival, Stretto Youth Chamber Orchestra, and the Chapin School; and Frederic Henry, a recent graduate of Esther Boyer College of Music at Temple University and a violin instructor at the Philadelphia String Project. Also from the PSO roster, Jody Rajesh is providing one-on-one “Tech-Time” to supplement the group instruction that is the hallmark of El Sistema programs.
Grants for Trenton groups
The Princeton Area Community Foundation announced the following Trenton organizations or projects as recipients of 2016 grants:
Camp Fire NJ Inc., Let’s Thrive in Grade 5 and Become “Peer Proof”: $15,000 to teach Trenton fifth-graders interpersonal, decision-making, and coping skills. Camp Fire staff visits schools to teach the program.
Catholic Youth Organization’s Broad St. Trenton Center Childcare Programs: $25,000 to support the after-school program that provides tutoring, recreational, and athletic activities.
D&R Greenway Land Trust Capital City Farm Project: $25,000 to support for Trenton’s first urban farm and its community involvement programs.
LifeTies Inc., Forever Family and Kin Connections Program: $20,000 to support a pilot permanence program for young people transitioning from group homes to adulthood; the organization operates two group homes: one for 14 to 18-year-olds with emotional, medical, and behavioral challenges; the other for females, ages 12 to 21, who are pregnant, parenting, medically fragile, or have behavioral challenges.
Mercer Alliance to End Homelessness, Ending Chronic Homelessness in Trenton/Mercer: Reaching Functional Zero: $25,000 to end area veteran homelessness.
Mercer Street Friends Food Bank: $25,000 to support food distribution programs.
New Jersey Community Capital, Trenton Revitalization Initiative: $40,000; part of the grant will be used to leverage community building and beautification efforts.
Shiloh Community Development Corporation Freedom School: $20,000 for a summer program for 80 Trenton students.
Thomas Edison State University Foundation, NJ Cultural Competency and English Language Learners Institute and Mentoring Program: $20,000 to support work with early childhood educators at 10 early childhood centers.
Trenton Circus Squad Program: $25,000 to enhance student learning, confidence, and leadership skills.
Trenton Community Music School, El Sistema-Trenton Program: $25,000 to support after-school string instruction program.
Operating Support: Big Brothers Big Sisters of Mercer County, $25,000; Arm In Arm (formerly Crisis Ministry of Mercer County, Inc.) Trenton, $40,000; Latin American Legal Defense and Education Fund, $30,000; and Millhill Child & Family Development, $30,000.
Cadwalader goes natural
D&R Greenway, the Cadwalader Park Alliance, and the City of Trenton recently announced the opening of the Cadwalader Park Natural Area.
“This event celebrates the culmination of seven years of work, from designing and planting, managing meadow establishment and installing trails,” said D&R Greenway Vice President Jay Watson. “With volunteers from the Isles’ YouthBuild program, TerraCycle, Mercer County Community College horticulture department, Educational Testing Service, Ba’hai Faith church, area civic organizations, and D&R Greenway’s ‘Wednesday Morning Crew,’ we have restored the stream corridor that was severely eroded and draining directly into the Delaware River just upstream of the Trenton Water Works intake. And finally we worked with the city to remove the old ragged chain link fence from the entire perimeter, reconnecting this section to the park, and creating new public access.”
Cadwalader Park is the only New Jersey park directly designed by the co-designer of New York City’s Central Park, Frederick Law Olmsted, in 1891.
Mill Hill Tour hits big 5-0
The Old Mill Hill Society’s Golden Anniversary and the 50th Annual Mill Hill Holiday House Tour are Saturday, December 3, from noon to 5 p.m.
Organizers say the “tour will be bringing life to history, and history to life on the streets and in the homes in Mill Hill to create a fun, interesting, and inspiring day for all ages. In addition to the beautiful homes and community hospitality, additional activities include Central Jersey Antique Car Club cars on display, horse and carriage rides, a Mill Hill photo exhibit and reception, photo booth with Victorian dress options, live music by local church choirs, and more. Visit the website for more information.
Trinity Episcopal Cathedral on West State Street will host its annual rummage sale April 4 through 6.,
