By AML Publisher
Photos courtesy of Courtney Apple Photography

Bug Fest is Back!

As far as 200th birthdays go, Lorenzo Langstroth doesn’t usually spring to mind like, say, Charles Darwin does. But come August 14th and 15th, the Philadelphia native’s name will be rolling off the tongues of 10-year-olds as easily as T. rex. That’s because Langstroth’s beloved bees will be the center of attention at the Academy of Natural Sciences’ third annual Bug Fest. “It’s such a fun weekend to celebrate all things ‘buggy.’ And, it’s a great opportunity for the kids and the parents to connect with the experts and our Academy scientists. Its always fun to see a world expert at Bug Fest nose-to-nose with a young child having a great conversation,” enthused Barbara Ceiga, the Academy’s vice president for public operations.

“Bees” is the theme of this year’s popular festival, which also celebrates insects of all kinds—yes, even roaches. Langstroth (1810-1895), a clergyman and teacher dubbed the father of American beekeeping, revolutionized the beekeeping industry by determining the amount of space a bee needs to survive and then inventing the movable frame beehive. The Philadelphia Beekeepers Guild is raising funds to place a historical marker at his birthplace at 106 South Front St.
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By AML Publisher
Photos courtesy of Belle Vie Photography
Click here to view our slideshow on our AML Facebook Fan Page

Gorgeous table linens provided by our good friend Cindy Bene of Select Event Rentals. Beautiful floral arrangements courtesy of Paoli’s Flowers by Priscilla.

AroundMainLine.com welcomed over 300 Main Liners and local foodies at Susanna Foo’s Gourmet Kitchen in Radnor on Thursday evening July 22nd for the official launch party of Main Line Restaurant Week. Dozens of local restaurant owners and local chefs attended the magical evening—including many of our participating restaurants.

Special AML VIP guests included Michael Klein of the Philadelphia Inquirer and philly.com, Mickael Decoker, manager of Blackfish BYO in Conshohocken, Ronna Bonds of Chesterbrook’s popular EBar at the Embassy Suites, Prudential Fox Roach realtor Joan Hindin, CEO of Wayne’s popular women’s boutique Fresh Ayer Liz Ayerle, Brian Pieri of Conshohocken’s The Stone Rose, Dr. Catherine Foote of Foote Orthodontics, and AML photographers Heather Berkenstock and Courtney Apple. Read the full story

By AML Publisher
Photos courtesy of Belle Vie Photography
View our slideshow on Facebook.

Costume from the movie: Dr. Doolittle

Icons of Costume: Hollywood’s Golden Era and Beyond presents over 50 items selected from one of the most extensive collections of movie memorabilia, from Marlene Dietrich’s black velvet evening gown from Shanghai Express (1932) to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s black leather jacket from Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). Rare studio publicity stills, lobby cards and film props augment the experience, and an interactive “Screen Test” area allows visitors to act out their favorite scenes to be uploaded to the museum’s channel on YouTube.com.

“Fabric is very fragile. It is a miracle that any of the early costumes survived at all. Also, showing costumes and dressing them, showing them on mannequins can stress the seams. Preservation is a very complicated process with these costumes-especially since many of these we are approaching almost a hundred years in age,” explained Erika Jaeger-Smith, the Museum’s Associate Curator of Exhibitions. Read the full story

By AML Publisher
Photos courtesy of Heather Berkenstock, Belle Vie Photography
Click here to view our virtual tour of Susanna Foo’s on AML’s Facebook Fan Page.

"Thank you for organizing such a wonderful event. We are excited to be part of the inaugural Main Line Restaurant Week." Susanna Foo, Susanna Foo's Gourmet Kitchen

AroundMainLine.com is throwing a fantastic launch party for the first ever Main Line Restaurant Week at Susanna Foo’s Gourmet Kitchen in Radnor July 22nd! In what promises to be one of the Main Line’s hottest summer events, guests will be treated to complimentary hors d’oeuvres, amazing drink specials and a festive atmosphere—with the suburbs top chefs and restaurant owners in attendance.

For more than 25 years, Susanna Foo has changed the paradigm of Chinese food melding traditional Chinese foods with classical French techniques. With two cookbooks and two internationally known restaurants, Chef Foo is a two-time James Beard Award winner and is widely recognized as one of America’s top Chinese chefs. Many Asian cuisine aficionados credit Foo with having brought Chinese food into the modern realm. In November 2006, she opened Susanna Foo Gourmet Kitchen in Radnor—now one of the Main Line’s most successful and respected restaurants. Read the full story

By AML Publisher
Photography courtesy of Belle Vie Photography

The Admiral Fell Inn is a renovated urban inn located on Baltimore’s celebrated waterfront.

AML sent the Berkenstock family of Lansdale for a fun three day summer vacation to Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. Thinking of taking the kiddos on the road? Don’t worry about figuring it all out—below is the perfect three day Baltimore family experience planned out for you. Want more information on planning a summer family vacation to Baltimore? Check out visitbaltimore.org for a complete guide and details for your Inner Harbor experience. Or, visit their new website—bmorehappy.com.

Safe travels!

Day 1

The Admiral Fell in What?
Admiral Fell Inn
www.admiral-fell-inn.com
888 South Broadway
Baltimore, MD 21231
(410) 522-7377

Located in Baltimore’s historic Fell’s Point, the Admiral Fell Inn is a renovated urban inn located on Baltimore’s celebrated waterfront. The Fell’s Point section of Baltimore is a jaunty water taxi ride across from the more famous section of Inner Harbor, but it’s not to be missed, especially if you prefer your lodging a little subdued. Fell’s Point itself is worth a trip, as its cobblestone streets are brimming with charming shops, boutiques, galleries, pubs, and restaurants. Read the full story

By AML Publisher
Photos courtesy of Belle Vie Photography

With Conshohocken’s only open air dining setting, The Stone Rose Restaurant has become a popular neighborhood destination.

AML’s Monday Night Meetup, our fun, regular social get-together, returns this Monday evening, June 21st, at Conshohocken’s popular Stone Rose Restaurant. Stone Rose opened last October with owner Brian Pieri, a former executive in the financial industry, and executive chef Jason Mase spearheading one of the Philly’s burbs hottest new dining spots.

Stone Rose is tucked away off the main stream of restaurants in Conshohocken near the corner of 9th and Fayette—across from the Conshy Fire Department. The welcoming exterior with outdoor seating gives way to a cozy and sexy upscale neighborhood restaurant inside. The front room boasts a beautiful fifteen seat bar. The ‘Rose’ also has an intimate back room, rustic Italian accents and Conshy’s only open air dining setting.
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By AML Publisher
Photography by Heather Berkenstock

Hats by Katie's most famous hat is the Mini-Topper (tm). This style has been worn by Lisa Singer, Suzy Stafford, Sharon Chesson and Lana Wright in all the many combined driving World Championships they competed in, both here and overseas.

Twenty years ago, having a difficult time finding hats that were attractive and that fit well, Katie Whelan started making hats as a sideline. As her carriage driving career developed, so did the variety of hats she made for family and friends. Eventually the Long Island native, who grew up in Sugarloaf, New York, evolved the interest into a full-time occupation. Hats by Katie launched in 1990 with Whelan utilizing her arts minor from Boston’s Regis College as the basis for beginning a millinery business that is now world-renowned. That success has evolved, most recently, into an appointment-only shop in nearby Paris, Kentucky. “The main reason I started making the hats is because I have a big head and a lot of hair. I could not find any hats that fit me or that I particularly liked,” explained Whelan. A recent highlight of her career was winning the “Best Booth” award at the Royal Windsor Horse Show, Windsor, England.

Katie has been driving for 30 years. She has been pinned Grand Champion at Devon and at Walnut Hill, she represented the US at the 2003 and 2005 Pony World Championships, and she has been both national four-in-hand champion and national single horse champion-so she is well aware of what hats work for the driving community, for both pleasure drivers and combined drivers. As for Devon, Whelan has been a beloved boutique and popular shopping destination for Main Line ladies for over a decade. Her works of art have been worn at the world’s most prestigious equestrian events including the Horse Show, Kentucky Derby, Royal Ascot (one of the world’s most famous race meetings dating back to 1711 and attended by the Queen of England), the Walnut Hill Farm driving show in Pittsford, New York-among others. Hats by Katie has been featured in Southern Living Magazine and O Magazine—in which, in 2006, she outfiitted Oprah and a group of Winfrey’s dearest girlfriends with hats for a garden party shoot, including Oprah’s lifelong friend Maria Shriver. Read the full story

Photos courtesy of Courtney Apple Photography
Click here for an online tour of the Little Apple on Facebook

A fresh face on Manayunk’s Main Street, Molly Cygan’s The Little Apple

A little piece of the O.C. has landed on Manayunk’s Main Street! Entrepreneur and Southern California native Molly Cygan opened The Little Apple boutique in February with an Etsy meets Anthropologie feel to the charming, and now popular, shop. Cygan, a 2006 Berkeley grad who boasts an art history degree, was inspired years ago by her boarding school days at Exeter Academy in New Hampshire. “The seeds were definitely planted when I was at boarding school at Exeter. Here we were-lots of young kids in a small town with disposable cash—but nowhere to spend it. I was determined when I went back for my five year reunion (at Exeter) to start looking into opening a little boutique. And, of course, when I returned the downtown was packed with great shops-so clearly a few other people had the same idea! So, I kind of gave it up at that time but still wanted to pursue opening my own shop when the time was just right,” explained Cygan.

That time came last fall. After Berkeley, Cygan lived in New York City briefly before moving to Philadelphia this past October with her fiancé, who is in medical school at Drexel. (They will be tying the knot at her parent’s house in Cal July 3rd.) It was then that she started to rethink the idea of her own storefront. “I started to check out some spaces around the city and nothing seemed to be a fit. Then, some of my fiancé’s friends suggested that I look into Manayunk and that’s when I found this space on Craig’s List. It needed some serious TLC but I could see the potential,” said Cygan. Read the full story

By AML Publisher
Photos courtesy of Brenda Carpenter Photography

The very popular Devon Hat Parade, with Horse Show enthusiast and celebrity Caron Kressley as emcee, is on Wednesday, June 2, from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. Registration begins at 12:30.

Two top notch exhibitions will add even greater variety to the Devon Horse Show, which already has a huge variety of horses competing, from hunters and jumpers to four-in-hand carriages, Saddlebreds, roadsters and Friesans among others. There will be a reining exhibition by Stacy Westfall on May 28-30, and the beloved Budweiser Clydesdales will perform in exhibition the last four evenings, Wednesday through Saturday, June 2nd through June 5th.

The Devon Horse Show and Country Fair has donated almost $14 million to Bryn Mawr Hospital over the nine decades of their association. It takes the efforts of over 2,000 volunteers, many of whom work year-round and all of whom work hours at the show, to keep the Country Fair ticking along. The Horse Show also has its volunteers, first and foremost Leonard A. King, chairman, and Wade McDevitt, president. But, it also has two professional horse show managers, David Distler and Peter Doubleday, as well as professional judges for its myriad divisions and a very competent office staff, including Amy Davis and Meg Wiederseim, who works year-round, and Kathy Gillmer who works from January through June. Read the full story

By AML Publisher
Photos courtesy of Brenda Carpenter Photography

The Devon Horse Show and Country Fair is one of the largest and most prestigious outdoor equestrian events in the country.

The Devon Horse Show has been honored with the United States Equestrian Federation’s designation as a USEF Heritage Competition. A historic Pennsylvania equestrian event that has become a part of the fabric of the American horse show scene and a Main Line family tradition, Devon is only the fourth show to receive this honor. Devon opens Thursday, May 27 with a full day of equitation in the Dixon Oval and pony breeding in the Gold Ring. Children 12 and under will be admitted free on opening day, courtesy of Hartstrings, a locally headquartered children’s clothing company.

The Devon Horse Show and Country Fair, May 27th to June 6th, benefits the Bryn Mawr Hospital, to which it has donated almost $14 million. New footing in the Dixon Oval at Devon has been installed by Equestrian Services International, which has provided the footing for the 2008 Olympics in Hong Kong, and jumper riders are thrilled with it. A Devon favorite is Laura Chapot, who has ridden the Open Jumper Champion for three of the past five years and has also been Leading Open Jumper Rider three of the past five years. Chapot is bringing a new grand prix horse to Devon this year, Tsarin, a mare she got only recently in Europe. Chapot is bringing three additional horses, Bradbury, Valentia and Chili Pepper as well as a couple of young horses for the Five-Year Old, Six-Year-Old and Seven/Eight-Year-Old sections which will compete Tuesday and Wednesday, June 1st and June 2nd. Open Jumpers compete Tuesday May 31 through Saturday, June 5. Read the full story