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Chefs test their skills in 4th annual Wilson Iron Chef Competition

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Chefs test their skills in 4th annual Wilson Iron Chef Competition

The 4th Annual Wilson Iron Chef Competition and Benefit Auction was held at Wilson High School in West Lawn on Saturday. Hosted by BCTV’s Best Bites presenters Mickey Baines and Brad Weisman, the cooking competition showcased three local chefs with their sioux chiefs and four judges.

Competing in this years event was Chef Joshua Hanies of the Beverly Hills Tavern, Chef Mike Rauenzahn of the Bernville Eagle Hotel and Chef Tim Twiford of the Crowne Plaza Hotel.

Each chef was presented with a few mystery ingredients and a full pantry to create their masterpiece. One of the most notable “mystery ingredients” the chefs had fun with included a bag of Cheese Puffs.

Each team only had 35 minutes to make a signature gourmet meal for the judges. A time limit easily attained by Twiford and Rauenzahn, however Hanies took it down to the last few seconds finishing just in the nick of time.

This years judges included Linda Bell of Culinary Classroom, Mike Kratz, Executive Chef at The Highlands at Wyomissing and Kenny Magana of Sweet Street.

After a tough judging, Joshua Hanies and Pete Reed took the coveted title of Wilson Iron Chef. We spoke with Haines just after the awards presentation. He was happy to win, although he wasn’t too surprised as he noticed two of the judges finished his plate, which they did not do with his competitors.

The day wasn’t just about the headlining competition, the Wilson Iron Chef Competition also included a Benefit Auction, “First Bite” and the People Choice Competition.

The “First Bite” was held prior to the main event in the gymnasium. Food enthusiasts munched and sampled their way through 30+ vendors. The Peoples Choice winner was Don’s Food Products & Melanie’s Medleys.

24 Hour Designathon benefits community nonprofits

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24 Hour Designathon benefits community nonprofits

The 12th annual Kutztown University Designathon kicked off on Friday for Communication Design Students interested in helping the community and challenging their design skills.

124 students volunteered to help 45 local nonprofits with their design needs saving them a collective $174,000 dollars. The event began with students meeting their nonprofit clients and learning about their needs.

 

When registering, participating nonprofits are given six design service categories to choose from including branding, web design, brochures, direct mail pieces and posters.

To mix in a little fun working in the long hours of the night coordinators hosted several work breaks to get the teams motivated. During these break students enjoyed everything from Pizza Parties to glow stick dancing.

Sitting in on the initial presentation by the National Addiction Awareness Complex, founder Lee Clifford briefed students on their design expectations. To call it ambitions would be an understatement.

NAAC, a nonprofit based in Reading is at the initial stages of creating an addiction awareness complex here in Berks County. Before this is build the organization will be purchasing an RV to use as its mobile office.

Students were charged with designing the RV’s wrap graphics, creating illustrations and building a power point. Following the directions of Clifford, the students quick got to work.

 

After the 24 hours were up each nonprofit was invited back for the closing ceremony and see their finished work. As with past years the students once again surpassed the nonprofits expectations.

“O’Suzannah!” Exhibit Opens at Studio B

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“O’Suzannah!” Exhibit Opens at Studio B

Studio B celebrated their latest exhibit opening on Friday titled O’Suzannah! The display features only the artwork of artists whose first name is “Susan.” “The only thing that’s the same is their names” said Susan Biebuyck, Studio B.

So where would an idea like this come from? We asked Gallery Director Susan Biebuyck how she gathered eight artist named Susan to display their work.

It turns out the O’Suzannah! story is just as interesting as the exhibit itself. Biebuyck found out back in December of 2016 that one of the artist set to use the gallery in March backed out. This left a signification void in the calendar. Her initial idea and solution was to host a solo show. However she didn’t have time to put everything together in such a short time.

Help was needed, so while asking her fellow artists, the light bulb went off. Center the exhibit theme around local artists who’s name is “Susan”. Before she knew it Biebuyck had eight “Susan’s” lined up to share the space.

Over 150 people showed up to support the opening of O’Suzannah!. Walking through the gallery you will see everything from paintings, pottery to ceramics in all different styles and forms.

The exhibit runs until April 16, 2017. Studio B is located at 39A East Philadelphia Avenue in Boyertown, PA.

Amazing Berks: Episode 3 ‘Reading Innuendo’ premieres at Fox Theater

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Amazing Berks: Episode 3 ‘Reading Innuendo’ premieres at Fox Theater

Amazing Berks, the short film series by Andrew Pochan and Sue Lange premiered its third episode to a full theater on Wednesday at the Fox Berkshire Theater in Wyomissing. Titled “Reading Innuendo” episode 3 features an ongoing loop of suggestive conversations continuously leading viewers to new and unique locations.

Filmed in several local businesses like Colonial Fitness Center, Fox Theater and Berks Lanes, “Reading Innuendo” carries on the same theme as the previous episodes calling attention to the portrayal of Reading with their signature question “Where the hell is Reading, PA”.

The night wasn’t just about Amazing Berks. Prior to the showing of “Reading Innuendo” the audience was treated to a special presentation of A Perfect You, short film by Lange which was recently nominated for the best Tri-State Filmmaker Award in the Philadelphia Independent Film Awards.

A Perfect You follows Nell, a women swept up in creating her own perfect life. In her discovery of a gray hair, she finds herself stepping out of her routine.

Sue Lange holding a University of Reading PA shirt from “Reading Innuendo” Amazing Berks: Ep 3.

Following the premier Lange addressed the theater. She described the Amazing Berks series as a lead in to her latest project titled Traffic Opera. Traffic Opera, a musical themed short film is completely centered around a city traffic jam. Currently in pre-production thanks to a grant from the Reading Musical Foundation and a donation from John Friedman the short film is set to begin filming this summer.

Tracy Schott, Executive Producer for Traffic Opera and Amazing Berks recognized the cast and crew for their hard work. Schott, no stranger to film making and video production also was quick to point out the difficulties a short film like Traffic Opera faces.

Permits for street closures, sourcing vehicles and finding a suitable location are just a few of the hurdles to get by. Schott called it “the most ambitious project we will be undertaking in Reading”. This is by no means is skepticism. Schott is very excited to be working on Traffic Opera and told us she is always inspired by how Lange sees opportunity in taking on challenging projects.

IM Able Foundation honors Margaret McIntosh as Motivator of the Year

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IM Able Foundation honors Margaret McIntosh as Motivator of the Year

Each year the IM Able Foundation hosts a variety of special events, fundraisers and activities all to build and support active lifestyles for individuals with disabilities. To recognize the hard work of volunteers, staff and donors the foundation hosts an annual St. Patrick’s Day Bash to celebrate their accomplishments of the past year.

Held at Kraras Hall in Wyomissing, the night was a time of reflection and celebration. This year, two recipients were chosen as Motivators of the Year, Elite Para Equestrian athlete Margaret McIntosh and Eric Schippers of Penn National Gaming.

Margaret and Eric were both chosen as Motivators of the Year not only for their commitments to the IM Able Foundation but for what they have done in the community. To them, the IM Able Foundation isn’t just an organization to merely belong, it’s about supporting a culture of inspiration and finding the strength to face new challenges.

“This family of ours is unlike any other organization you’ll ever be apart of because it is about people who face challenges everyday of their life… To be able to enjoy fellowship with those who refuse to tapout, those who find strength in the depths of themselves they never knew exgisted…” said Eric Schippers.

Along with their annual events, the IM Able foundation is quickly expanding into new areas and partnerships.

In a highlight video shown to the audience, Chris Kaag, founder of IM Able (as the narrator in the video) spoke about the latest collaboration with Corps Fitness and Alvernia University Occupational Therapy Students. The video also featured their latest partnership with Baseball Town Charities to enhance the Field of Dream Complex by building an adaptive playground.

In his closing remarks, Chris had a few inspirational words. “You guys get the opportunity to change somebody’s life. To be able to give them the opportunity to get out their and prove [that] just because their in chairs or have challenges does not mean they are not able to accomplish anything. Thank you for making these stories possible for everybody.”

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