Tag: Collingswood

After years of scattered discussion and debate, the future of Collingswood’s long-standing status as a dry town is officially in the hands of voters.

The Collingswood Board of Commissioners passed a resolution Wednesday to add the question to the borough’s general election ballot in November, just days ahead of the Aug. 21 deadline giving the Camden County Clerk’s Office enough time to put it on the ballot.

The three-person board was required to adopt the resolution after residents submitted a petition in favor of adding the ballot question that was signed by at least 15% of borough voters who participated in the last general election.

Of the more than 1,100 signatures submitted, the borough verified that 1,019 came from recent Collingswood voters, officials said Wednesday, just eight more than the number of valid signatures required to place the referendum in front of voters.

The signatures were collected in a hurry over the last three weeks by Booze on the Ballot, a group of residents who, after years of what they viewed as unproductive back-and-forth on the issue among borough officials, got together to finally give voters the chance to settle the debate, organizer Joe Sperlunto said.

The bipartisan group did not explicitly take a position on the issue but rather emphasized this as an opportunity for residents to decide for themselves what they want for the future of their community.

“We’ve just seen it kicked around a lot for a long time, and we just felt like it was time for the community to make a decision about it,” Sperlunto said.

Petitioners equipped with clipboards and pens fanned out across town, collecting signatures wherever they could — among the crowds at the popular Saturday farmers market, in front of businesses along Haddon Avenue, and even knocking door to door, Sperlunto said.

After the resolution was approved, Collingswood Mayor Daniela Solano-Ward noted that as Election Day approaches, there will be informational sessions for voters to learn more about the referendum as well as any others that may be on the ballot.

“Just to give everyone the facts and the information,” Solano-Ward said.

“You make your decisions as you wish, but we want to make sure that you have information from us as to what is real, what is not real,” she said. She added, for example, that BYOBs will still be permitted in the borough if liquor licenses are issued, contrary to a popular misconception.

What could allowing liquor licenses mean for Collingswood?

Repealing Collingswood’s liquor license ban would represent a historic shift for a borough that has prohibited alcohol sales by ordinance since the 19th century, linking back to its Quaker heritage.

If the ban were lifted, the borough would have two options for how to award licenses, borough solicitor Caitlin Harney Norcia said during a commissioners meeting earlier this year.

Collingswood could award licenses in a competitive bidding process, which could generate one-time revenue for Collingswood’s budget, she said, or the borough could enact an application and review process that includes annual fees and public presentations by prospective licensees.

The number of liquor licenses permitted within the borough is limited by a state-mandated population-based cap. If voters decide to lift the ban, Collingswood could issue either a single distribution license for a liquor store or up to four retail consumption licenses that permit restaurants or bars to serve alcohol.

Annual licensing and renewal fees could generate between $1,000 and $10,000 for the borough each year, Harney Norcia said.

Proponents of lifting the longtime ban see liquor licenses as an opportunity to bolster Collingswood’s local restaurants while generating revenue for the borough.

At the same time, borough administrator Cassandra Duffey previously told The Inquirer, some business owners are worried that existing Collingswood restaurants would be overlooked for licenses awarded through the public bidding process.

If alcohol sales are ultimately permitted, Duffey said, the borough will work to not “disrupt the balance” of its established businesses.

Just a few miles down the White Horse Pike, Haddon Heights is preparing to sell its first retail liquor license at a public auction next month after getting rid of its de facto ban on alcohol sales in 2024.

The efforts in both towns appear to be in line with goals set forth in legislation signed in 2024 by then-Gov. Phil Murphy to increase the availability and affordability of liquor licenses statewide. The measure was touted as an unprecedented reform of New Jersey’s liquor laws, which have been criticized as being arcane and antiquated.

Collingswood is hoping to get more pets on the books as a way to help fund the borough’s animal control services.

Per New Jersey law, all cats and dogs 5 months of age and older are required to be licensed with their local municipality, but borough officials say registration is lagging.

Without the fees collected through licensing, Collingswood has to find the funding for animal control services from elsewhere in the budget, Deputy Mayor Amy Henderson Riley said.

In 2025, the borough spent $33,305 on an animal control officer and other services, she said. But as of the June 17 commissioners meeting, Collingswood had collected only $5,740 this year through residential pet licenses, which cost between $5 and $20 each annually.

Assuming animal control services will cost the same for 2026, that leaves a more than $27,000 gap to fill.

“This isn’t meant to be, you know, a ‘nanny state,’” Henderson Riley said of pet licensing. “This is meant to help have a balanced budget in town. We can find the money elsewhere, but I’d much rather have that $27,000 for all the rest of the required and amazing things that we do in town.”

The cost for a license in Collingswood varies by type of animal and whether it is spayed or neutered:

• Spayed/neutered dog: $17.
• Non-spayed/neutered dog: $20.
• Spayed/neutered cat: $5.
• Non-spayed/neutered cat: $8.

Since 2020, Collingswood has struggled to collect even close to half the amount needed to pay for annual animal control services, averaging around $7,680 in fees paid each year, according to borough records.

As of July 21, registrations were further behind than they were at this time last year, when the borough had already collected around 20% more in fees, totaling over $7,000.

In response to the drop, the borough is planning a small informational campaign on social media and in town bulletins to spread the word and get licensing rates up, Henderson Riley said.

She said she wants to better inform the public on how this money is used, including for euthanasia of critically injured animals and reunification services for lost pets.

If the funding gap continues, she said, the borough will consider conducting a pet census, hiring staff members to go door-to-door counting the animals in town.

And while Henderson Riley said she understands that many household budgets are already tight, she argues that a relatively small fee can go a long way in helping animals across the borough.

“Affordability is the word of the year,” she said. “People are paying a ton in taxes, and I think sometimes they think, ‘Why should I be paying for a pet license for my 14-year-old dog?’”

The money residents spend on licensing may not go directly to their pet, she said, “but it might help care for an animal who’s hurt or injured or who got loose from their house.”

“That’s money well spent,” she said.

More than a century’s worth of varsity jackets, trophies, civic documents, photos, and more memorabilia from Audubon Borough have made their way into Camden County’s newest museum.

The Audubon Historical Society Museum takes up much of Audubon Senior Center’s second floor, a red brick building that once served as Audubon School No. 1. The collection includes donated items from Audubon residents, including from the historical society’s own members, found in basements.

Even though there are still more artifacts to put on display, from a 45-star American flag to thousands of pictures, Audubon’s rich history is already well represented. There’s memorabilia repping Joe Flacco, an NFL player and Audubon High School grad; an Audubon-themed Monopoly board created for a fundraiser; outdated land use maps; and an old police radio. A large section of the museum covers Audubon’s military history, including information about the borough’s three medal of honor recipients and two naval vessels named in their memory.

The museum hosted its first public open house on July 4, and about 60 people came despite the heat, said Rob Jakubowski, Audubon’s mayor. Starting Aug. 8, the historical society will open the museum from 2 to 4 p.m. on the second Saturday of every month.

Jakubowski worked to develop the museum with a small group of Audubon Historical Society members, kept on task by corresponding secretary and longtime Audubon resident Nancy Whalen, 80. The museum, the brainchild of the late Walter Casebeer, a founding member of the society, came together 18 years after his death. Members sorted through four full closets of donated relics to establish the museum’s initial displays.

“We were able to set up what is a really beautiful museum with a lot more work to do,” Jakubowski said.

Though the senior center isn’t a schoolhouse anymore, the museum, funded by $40,000 in Camden County grants, was clearly once two classrooms, divided through the middle by chalkboard panels that pull out from the wall. The seniors running the museum hope to rotate the items on display as time passes, but for now, the group is proud to show off their hard work.

Here are a few of the standouts.

New Century Theater

New Century Theater, founded in 1921, is no longer standing. The theater, renamed the Coronet in the ‘60s, was demolished in 2003. The space is currently being developed by a car wash company.

But the historical society managed to acquire many keepsakes to remember the theater’s past. They have a seat someone rescued before the building got knocked down, a part of the wall, bricks, faint blueprints, and a movie reel Jakubowski said he found on eBay. A 1931 vaudeville contract is propped against the seat.

Craig E. Burgess, 81, remembers when he could see a movie, a newsreel, a serial, and get candy, all for 10 cents at New Century Theater. When he found out the Audubon staple was going to be torn down, Burgess, who lived in the same house in Audubon for 73 years before moving to Collingswood, didn’t let the theater die without a last trip.

“I stood in front of the door and said, ‘You don’t get in here until I get in to get some photos and get some video. If you won’t do that for me, then I will stay here, and you’ll have to push me over into the rubble,’” Burgess said. “And they believed me. I got in.”

‘Mudubon’

Audubon, a part of Haddon Township until residents voted to become a borough, was incorporated in 1905. That was a couple of decades before paved roads boomed in the U.S., which made for a lot of wet dirt streets in the early 20th century in Camden County. Some photos at the new museum show those mucky roadways.

Thus, the nickname Mudubon. It came from the mouths of delivery drivers trekking Audubon after bad weather, Jakubowski said.

Burgess said ice trucks and milk trucks, along with the horses pulling them, used to get bogged down in the mud when it rained. He likes to tell a story about a boy who spent the summer away with his grandparents in the early 20th century, and returned home to paved roads — and confusion.

“Mom took him out to visit his grandparents, came back on the bus to get off at Merchant Street. And he refused to get off the bus,” Burgess said. “He said, ‘This is not Audubon. I know my hometown.’”

Nancy Ryan, 79, moved back to her native Audubon nine years ago to retire. She recalls stories from her father about the pavers coming in when he was 4 years old, watching the steam shovels digging up Cedar Croft in 1917 or 1918.

Now, Ryan said, the only people who call the borough Mudubon are non-natives who like to make fun, like her husband. But Audubon residents know the borough has grown far beyond its muddy origins, Burgess said.

“We’ve come a long way in the last 110 years, more or less,” Burgess said.

100 years at Audubon High School

Nearly a century ago, about 500 students took the first classes offered at Audubon High School on Edgewood Avenue in September 1926.

Today, items spanning the high school’s history are on display: a booklet teaching children the 20th-century Palmer Method to learn cursive, pennants, a rack of letterman jackets, school handbooks, admission cards, and a cream varsity cardigan from 1966. A candlestick telephone used by the school’s first principal, Grace Kramer, sits at the bottom of a display case.

Three replica oil paintings recreated by the late Michael J. Miceli, a Mount Ephraim local, hang on the walls, too. They picture military drummers, fictionalized American Revolutionary War heroine Molly Pitcher, and French American artist and ornithologist John J. Audubon, the borough’s namesake. Their previous home was the Audubon High School auditorium, but when they were removed during recent renovations, a history teacher saved them, Jakubowski said.

Plus, every high school yearbook available since the school’s founding line a bookshelf in a back room, in case anyone comes looking to do archival research.

The group is still open to taking donated artifacts, though with their large existing collection, they’re not afraid to decline duplicates. In the meantime, the historical society will continue sorting their archives. It’s a lot of work, all volunteer.

“But that’s what makes it fun,” Burgess said.

Two kittens with seemingly endless energy jump around the room in downtown Collingswood chasing their toys, their own tails, and their newest friend, 19-month-old Charlotte Kohlhas-DeMarsh. The toddler babbles excitedly as the kittens, Chicken Nugget and Onion Ring, leap at the feather attached to the wand she’s swinging around.

The kittens are just two of the adoptable cats at Catmosphere Cafe & Lounge, a new cat cafe that opened at 557 Haddon Ave. on July 10.

In partnership with Homeward Bound Pet Adoption Center in Blackwood, Catmosphere provides a temporary home for adoptable cats where they can comfortably sleep, play, and potentially meet their forever families.

Within the first week, the business has already facilitated three adoptions.

“Every cat has gone to a perfect family,” said Sophia Coello, cofounder of Catmosphere. “It has really been a perfect match with every single cat.”

The new cat lounge fosters around six to eight cats and kittens at a time, helping to free up space for more intakes at Homeward Bound.

Equipped with food, water, toys and countless beds, the lounge provides the cats with a less stressful environment than a traditional animal rescue. This gives them a chance to acclimate and eventually feel comfortable showing their real personalities, Coello said, which only increases their chance of being adopted.

All proceeds collected from adoption fees — $150 for a kitten and $75 for an adult cat — go back to Homeward Bound.

The idea for Catmosphere was originally inspired by a goat yoga session in December 2024, Coello said. As she was surrounded by the farm animals, Coello, who identifies as a lifelong cat person, couldn’t help but imagine what it would be like to be in a similarly relaxing environment — but accompanied by cats instead.

“This is my calling,” she said. “I just love watching and understanding cats’ behavior because if you understand a cat’s behavior, you understand how to create a bond with them. I feel like anyone can create a bond with a cat.”

“And once you form that bond and that trust, it’s actually the most beautiful connection that you could grow with an animal,” she said.

Alongside her partner, Marcus Tirado, the pair of Rowan University graduates soon began looking for the perfect location to set up their new business — somewhere in an animal-loving community with lots of foot traffic. They eventually settled on Collingswood’s bustling Haddon Avenue, breathing new life into what was once a thrift store.

“This is a cat community,” Coello said of the borough, where neighborhood cats are common and well taken care of, and residents are quick to come together when locating a lost pet.

As head of construction, Tirado did the majority of the renovation work himself, leaning on friends and family to help transform the cluttered space into a bright cafe with sleeping kittens dreaming in the front window. The soft-pink walls are adorned with a hand-painted logo as Lego figurines in the likeness of the couple’s two rescue cats overlook the cafe, a reminder of their mission to connect as many cats as possible with loving homes.

Catmosphere accepts both appointments and walk-ins for the cat lounge which currently costs $20 per hour. During some of the early bookings, Coello said they’ve helped kids remain calm and be gentle during their first interaction with a cat.

As they get more established, they’re looking forward to expanding their business by hosting workshops, working with local schools, and more, they said.

And if you’re allergic to cats, don’t worry. Catmosphere still has something for you.

Entirely separate from the cat lounge, the cafe itself is hypo-allergenic, Coello said.

Large windows along the walkway from the front door create a “kitty drive-thru,” she said, where you can get a glimpse inside the cat lounge while remaining protected from any allergens.

Located on the more residential end of Haddon Avenue, the pair also hope that Catmosphere, alongside neighboring businesses like the barber and ice cream shops across the street, can help strike up more activity in this part of downtown.

“We would love to bring more events to this side of the community,” Coello said.

They also hope the lounge can serve as an educational resource for the cat-loving community, helping to answer questions about adoption, common cat behaviors, and best practices.

As Kohlhas-DeMarsh happily followed her furry friends around the room Thursday morning, her grandmother Jenifer Kohlhas looked on, enjoying a drink from the cafe.

They’ve been looking forward to Catmosphere’s opening and finally stopped in for the first time, in part to avoid last week’s dangerous air quality but also to give Charlotte a chance to interact with friendly cats, Kohlhas said.

Their family has a formerly feral cat at home who isn’t particularly fond of the toddler, she said.

“I thought this would be a great opportunity for her to just be with a kitten that actually lets her play with it,” she said, as Charlotte cheerfully waddled around the room. “And she’s having a blast.”