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  • Who’s rebuilding Jenkintown’s only playground? Maybe you are.

    Who’s rebuilding Jenkintown’s only playground? Maybe you are.

    Jenkintown residents are building a playground this month.

    Or at least, part of a playground.

    “They’re not professional contractors,” said Darrell Campana of Eustace Engineering, which is handling land work, like regrading and water drainage. The playground company Kompan is installing the play equipment.

    But local volunteers do plan to construct parts of the replacement for Jenkintown’s only playground on the last weekend in July after Eustace demolished the beloved Jenkintown Castle there in April.

    The finished playground, dubbed Legacy Park, will include slides, swings, a toddler section, and an imaginative play area with a stage donated by Jenkintown Music Theatre, said Kelly Hudson, who spearheaded the roughly $1.3 million project as a volunteer on the newly formed playground board.

    Residents have led planning and fundraising for the project as Jenkintown tries to balance its proud DIY ethos with the present-day constraints of construction, insurance, and liability.

    Beloved Jenkintown Castle demolished

    Playground renovation plans began after a 2024 inspection revealed several parts of the play area, which is next to Jenkintown Elementary, were unsafe.

    The castle play area was built in 2002 and lovingly maintained by residents — which may be why the structure, expected to last about 12 years, lasted more than two decades said Nina Russakoff, a Jenkintown school board member who’s helping to coordinate the new project.

    In a 2024 update on the damaged castle ahead of the renovation, school officials had to remind residents to stop fixing it themselves: “We know your intentions are good, but we need to … [follow] the recommendations of the engineer.”

    Residents held a farewell picnic and fundraiser at the castle in March before it was destroyed.

    The school’s nonprofit arm, the Jenkintown Education Foundation, and other community groups have raised about $1.5 million for the project known as Legacy Park, Hudson said. If the playground doesn’t go over budget, the remaining funds will be used to make further improvements to the park.

    There are many older, community-built parks like Jenkintown’s in the Philadelphia area, said Scott Lean of Kompan, the company providing the play equipment, but that model has become less viable in recent years.

    “The liability standpoint from doing a community build just seems a little risky in this day and age,” he said.

    Residents help rebuild Jenkintown playground

    Residents can still shape the playground’s future, though.

    Project leaders are recruiting volunteers for the community build weekend from July 30 to Aug. 2. The residents will be supervised by experienced crew leaders, with a meal and free childcare for people who volunteer a shift.

    Residents will be working on drumming stations, a sign language fence, and log seating carved from trees felled on the school grounds.

    An illustration of the DIY projects that Jenkintown residents will work on during the volunteer weekend planned this month for the town’s new parkLegacy Park Community Board

    In the meantime, land work will continue this month, although several retaining walls are already in place, Campana said.

    Volunteers may be playing a smaller role in playground construction this time around, but it was local residents who fundraised most of the park’s budget.

    Large donations came from fastener factory SPS Technologies and other local businesses, a state grant, and several families, with more than 1,600 individual donations.

    What will Jenkintown’s new playground look like?

    Volunteers also led the design of the new playground with guidance from students, teachers, and parents.

    The layout will be different from the old playground: All play areas will be visible to teachers calling children back from recess, Hudson said, and the equipment will be situated so that kids can play without distracting students inside during school hours.

    “Most screaming will move to the new location,” Russakoff said.

    Residents wanted to ensure the new play equipment is both accessible and durable, Hudson said: “Everything the kids touch in Jenkintown is 10 times over because it’s the only playground. It gets used heavily.”

    Slides, swings, mountaineering ropes, and a toddler area are set to be finished around the start of school, Lean said. The theater area will open later this fall.

    Legacy Park will be open to the public outside school hours, and the toddler area will stay open during school when students aren’t at recess.

    Jenkintown School District “has an outsized impact on the community around it,” the borough’s state representative, Napoleon Nelson, said in a statement on the project. “Its grounds are open to all, Jenkintown residents and non-residents alike.”

    Hudson said Jenkintonians want the playground “to be a community project that benefits the most people.”

    “We’re very prideful about our small little town.”

    This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer’s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com/donate. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org/supporters.

  • Jenkintonians rebuild local playground | Inquirer Greater Abington

    Hello, Greater Abington!

    Welcome to the inaugural edition of Inquirer Greater Abington, your go-to weekly roundup of the top stories affecting your community, from updates on your local government leaders and schools to restaurant openings and events. We hope to make your day a little easier with helpful and accurate news you can really use.

    👋 I’m Laura, your trusty newsletter writer. I’ve called Greater Philadelphia home for about 12 years, and am endlessly charmed by the distinct identities of every borough, township, suburb, and city neighborhood. I hope this space will become your reliable news hub for everything Abington, Jenkintown, Cheltenham, and Elkins Park.

    I’m hopeful I’ll hear feedback from you as this newsletter grows. Seriously, I want to know what you like most about this digest, what’s not working for you, and any suggestions for improvement or story tips. Just be nice — you’ve got real humans working on the other end of this thing.

    Now, let’s get into the news.

    Jenkintown residents are leading the charge on planning and fundraising for the borough’s new $1.3 million playground project. Also this week, e-bikes and e-scooters face a potential ban in parts of Abington, eligible homeowners can apply for emergency home repairs assistance, and arrests were made in two nearly identical cases affecting both the Abington and Cheltenham school districts after adult men allegedly had illegal sexual contact with students who are minors.

    — Laura Smythe (greaterabington@inquirer.com)

    P.S. Tell us what you think of the newsletter by taking our survey or emailing us at greaterabington@inquirer.com.

    If someone forwarded you this email, sign up for free here.

    Who’s rebuilding Jenkintown’s only playground? Maybe you are.

    Jenkintown’s community-oriented, DIY spirit is on full display as residents gear up to build the borough’s new playground at the end of the month, following the beloved Jenkintown Castle demolition in April. Dubbed Legacy Park, the forthcoming $1.3 million project will include slides, swings, a toddler section, and an imaginative play area with a stage donated by Jenkintown Music Theatre.

    Local volunteers have spearheaded planning and fundraising for the playground, while contractors will handle tasks such as land work, water drainage, and installing equipment to ensure safety and longevity.

    The hands-on effort reflects Jenkintonians’ desire for the playground “to be a community project that benefits the most people,” said Kelly Hudson, a volunteer who helms the newly formed playground board. “We’re very prideful about our small little town.”

    The Inquirer’s Jess Rohan, who covers all things Greater Abington, has the details on the project, including how you can volunteer to be part of it.

    💡 Community news

    • Abington is moving toward banning e-bikes and e-scooters at public parks and trails following crashes across the region, but some local cyclists argue the current proposed ban is too broad.
    • Phillip Prince, a 40-year-old Glenside man, has been charged with attempted murder after Montgomery County prosecutors said he intentionally drove his car into a cyclist, The Inquirer’s Vinny Vella reports.
    • Neighbors can sue Gov. Josh Shapiro and his wife, Lori, as regular Montgomery County homeowners, but not in his official capacity, a federal judge ruled — something they’re pursuing after claiming the Shapiros used yard space that doesn’t belong to them to build an eight-foot security fence.
    • Commuters using the Jenkintown-Wyncote station will soon see a development underway that will include 86 apartments. Plus, 40 new apartments are headed to the former Helweg funeral home site in Jenkintown.
    • Some Abington residents are eligible to apply for a piece of the $200,000 Pennsylvania recently awarded to the township’s emergency home repairs program.
    • Area residents are taking to social media to share fond memories of Weinrich’s Bakery patriarch Edward Weinrich, who ran the Willow Grove family institution for decades. Weinrich died last month at 92.
    • Cheltenham’s board of commissioners has selected Jonathan Altshul, current town manager of Newington, Connecticut, as the township’s new incoming manager, per Glenside Local. He’ll be formally appointed at the board’s legislative meeting on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at Curtis Hall in Wyncote, as well as on Zoom.
    • Jenkintown’s Capricorn Books has moved to a new location, Glenside Local reports.

    🏫 Schools briefing

    • Abington’s new forthcoming middle school, part of a $285 million project, could feature more parking, a class “pod” setup, and layouts for easier monitoring of classrooms and bathrooms.
    • A 21-year-old Philadelphia man, Jamaal Raheem, has been charged with unlawful sexual contact with a minor and related crimes after allegedly posing as a teenager to persuade an underage student to enter Cheltenham High School after hours.
    • Abington School District has launched an internal investigation to review security protocols after a nearly identical case, in which police charged Raeem Grange-Allen, 25, with attempted rape by force and attempted statutory sexual assault of a 14-year-old student who let him inside Abington Senior High School, according to a police affidavit.

    🍽️ On our plate

    • Four Jenkintown bars participated in a Nicolas Cage-themed bar crawl last month, shaking up themed cocktails inspired by the actor and hosting “Cage match” challenges based on his films. Inquirer columnist Stephanie Farr details her experience at the crawl, likening it to many of Cage’s movies: “not a blockbuster, but still quirky and fun.”

    🎳 Things to do

    🎨 Blacklight Ben Franklin Bridge 100th Anniversary: Get smocked up and bring your artistic vision of the century-old bridge to life during this guided, BYOB painting session. ⏰ Friday, July 17, 7-9 p.m. 💵 $45 📍 Painting With a Twist, Jenkintown

    🧵 Flag-Making Workshop: Get hands on with a variety of fabrics and materials to create a one-of-a-kind flag that tells your story. ⏰ Saturday, July 18, 10 a.m.-noon 💵 Free 📍 Abington Art Center

    🥁 Free Summer Concert Series: Soak in the summer night while jamming out to the tunes of Irish band Shades of Green. ⏰ Saturday, July 18, 6 p.m. 💵 Free 📍 High School Park, Elkins Park

    🏡 On the market

    A 20th-century Tudor with elegant details

    The great room inside 1952 Canterbury Road in Abington.

    This property in Abington’s Baederwood neighborhood was constructed in 1938 for the Pennsylvania family behind now-defunct Laird & Schober Shoes, according to the listing. Details in this five-bedroom home include stone fireplaces, a handcrafted staircase in the foyer, and a great room with cathedral ceilings, exposed beams, glass-paneled walls, and a Juliet balcony.

    See more photos of the property here.

    Price: $1.2M | Size: 4,328 | Acreage: 0.93

    📈 Greater Abington market report

    Abington

    • Median listing price: $487,500 (down $7,400 from April) 📉
    • Median sold price: $451,000 (same as April)
    • Median days on the market: 25 (up five days from April) 📈

    Jenkintown

    • Median listing price: $275,000 (down $50,000 from April) 📉
    • Median sold price: $553,800 (up $36,300 from April) 📈
    • Median days on the market: 27 (down 9 days from April) 📉

    Cheltenham

    • Median listing price: $497,800 (up $65,300 from April) 📈
    • Median sold price: $530,000 (up $48,800 from April) 📈
    • Median days on the market: 25 (up one day from April) 📈

    Elkins Park

    • Median listing price: $496,500 (up $71,600 from April) 📈
    • Median sold price: $425,000 (up $35,100 from April) 📈
    • Median days on the market: 28 (down three days from April) 📉

    This Greater Abington market report is published on a monthly basis. Above is data for May from realtor.com.

    🗞️ What other Greater Abington residents are reading this week:

    By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.

    This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer’s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com/donate. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org/supporters.

  • Pa. residents stand to lose an average of $520 a month in Social Security benefits in six years unless Congress acts

    Pa. residents stand to lose an average of $520 a month in Social Security benefits in six years unless Congress acts

    For 30 years, Nettie King, 92, has relied on Social Security to survive.

    She and her former employers at the Oak Lane Diner near her home paid into Social Security through payroll taxes for years.

    While the storied institution closed in 2015, the Social Security benefit checks that King’s work generated have kept coming. “It’s been comfortable,” explained King, who said she was the diner’s first server of color in 1963.

    But now there’s a problem.

    King is among 68 million Americans facing possible reductions of 22% to their benefits by 2032 unless Congress acts, according to a new report by Social Security Administration (SSA) trustees released last month.

    Pennsylvania residents could lose an average of $520 each from their monthly Social Security checks, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan think tank. That would affect an estimated 255,000 Philadelphians receiving Social Security benefits, according to Olivia Mitchell, director of the Boettner Center on Pensions and Retirement Research at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

    “Losing that much would be a disaster,” King said. “I pray the money doesn’t stop.”

    It won’t if Congress overcomes its partisan divide and creates a workable solution to make Social Security solvent, say advocates for the elderly — including AARP, whose senior vice president Bill Sweeney warned in a recent press call that “the longer they wait, the harder it gets.”

    Speaking for the Trump administration, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement, “We are working to preserve Social Security … and recognize that more work remains to secure benefits for future beneficiaries.”

    Someday soon

    Analysts have long predicted the Old Age and Survivors Insurance trust fund from which most retired Social Security claimants draw benefits could dissipate, said Temple University labor economist Samuel Solomon. But that was always regarded as a “someday” event.

    “Someday” may now be just six years away. “That’s a big deal,” Solomon said.

    The SSA wouldn’t stop paying benefits altogether, Mitchell said. Although the report predicts the fund’s reserves could be tapped out by 2032, “continuing payroll tax revenue [from people currently working] would cover about 78% of scheduled retirement benefits,” she added.

    At nearly $1.6 trillion annually, Social Security represents more than 20% of the U.S. budget and is the nation’s largest single expense, Solomon said.

    Various factors have combined recently to accelerate the fund’s potential depletion, according to the report submitted by SSA trustees, who include Bessent, as well as Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

    First, the fertility rate this year is going down faster than predicted: 1.75 children per woman vs. 1.9.

    Also, immigration is lower than estimated. That trend will continue as the government maintains restrictive immigration policies, experts say. It represents a potentially immense loss of revenue, according to Wharton research, which shows that “unauthorized immigrants” paid $24 billion in Social Security payroll taxes in 2024, despite being ineligible to collect any benefits.

    Both the slowed fertility and diminished immigration rates have lowered the anticipated number of workers and the payroll taxes they’d have contributed to Social Security, said Kathleen Romig, Social Security expert with the Center on Budget Priorities and Policies, a left-leaning research group.

    The final factor, the trustees report said, is that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that decreased income tax rates has reduced revenue that would’ve flowed into the program.

    The SSA didn’t respond for requests to comment.

    The Social Security system had been strained long before the trustees report. The giant baby boomer generation has been retiring since around 2011, siphoning millions from the program, Solomon said.

    In 1950, when the first boomers were 4 years old, every 100 workers paid the Social Security benefits of 13 elderly people, Solomon said. Today, it’s 25 elderly people per 100 workers — “more responsibility on a single working person to support more retirees,” Solomon said.

    That worries Doris Kitt, 81, of Jenkintown, a Social Security benefits recipient who still works at a South Jersey pediatric dental practice.

    Doris Kitt talks with coworker Asia Bagby. Kitt, who is 81, still works and also collects Social Security benefits.
    Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer

    “Less Social Security when rent and food continue to cost more is a challenge,” Kitt said.

    ‘Give me what I’m due’

    Through the years, Republicans and Democrats have forwarded competing remedies for repairing Social Security.

    GOP suggestions include raising the retirement age to 70, and privatizing the system.

    Democrats call for raising payroll taxes and ending the payroll tax cap. (Currently, wages above $184,500 are not subject to Social Security taxes. Democrats would eliminate the cap so higher-income earners pay into the system on 100% of their earnings.)

    In a statement, U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle, a Northeast Philadelphia Democrat running for reelection in November against Republican challenger Jessica Arriaga, said the trustees report makes it clear that “we must act to protect Social Security benefits for all generations.“

    He referenced a bill he introduced in May 2025 that would require Americans earning more than $400,000 to contribute a greater percentage of their wages to Social Security. It’s now before the House Ways and Means Committee.

    U.S. Rep. Lloyd Smucker, a Republican representing Lancaster County, also issued a statement, saying Social Security could be fixed by a “bipartisan fiscal commission” to “build consensus” and eliminate depletions of benefits. Smucker is being opposed by Democrat Nancy Mannion in his bid for reelection.

    “We must preserve the trust fund millions of Americans rely on and keep our promise to those who have been paying into the system their entire lives,” he said.

    That covenant must be honored, said Shirley Stringfield, 70, a retired city worker from Germantown.

    “I spent 55 years of my life paying into Social Security,” she said, “so I want them to give me my due. I expect to receive my benefits until I expire. I need every cent.”

  • 40 new apartments are coming to Jenkintown at the site of the former Helweg funeral home

    40 new apartments are coming to Jenkintown at the site of the former Helweg funeral home

    Construction is underway on a mixed-use apartment building facing York Road in Jenkintown.

    Plans for the new building, which will sit at the intersection of Route 611 and Cherry Street across from Dunkin’, include 40 apartments and a ground-floor commercial space.

    The four-story structure also includes a parking garage with 48 spaces. Eight of those will be reserved for the retailer, developer and owner Vincent Celenza said.

    Rendering of an apartment complex at Route 611 and Cherry Street in Jenkintown set to open next year.459-471 Old York Road, LLC

    Some Jenkintown residents have previously voiced concerns about parking permit arrangements for new apartments, arguing that charging for the spots encourages occupants to use free street parking instead.

    But Jenkintown Borough Manager George Locke said he’s heard some argue that no-cost parking permits could present a different problem: “[An] owner might just work the cost of parking into all leases and that might negatively affect those who chose not to drive and use public transportation instead.”

    Celenza said he hasn’t decided yet how to handle parking permits. “That was one of [the borough’s] concerns,” he said.

    An older building on the site, Helweg Funeral Services Inc, was demolished earlier this month.

    Celenza bought the land in 2022 from the trust of the Helweg family funeral home’s owner, Mary Welham Wurmstedt, according to property records.

    Newspaper archives indicate the Helweg funeral home had operated on the property since at least the 1930s. Helweg’s has merged with another funeral home and is now located two miles down the street in Abington.

    Celenza went through several rounds of planning with Jenkintown, which requested fewer apartments and a wider sidewalk on Cherry Street, Locke said. Celenza agreed to those requests in the final plan submitted last summer.

    Construction is underway on a new 40-apartment complex and commercial space at Old York Road and Cherry Street in Jenkintown.Jess Rohan

    The developer will also add a small public area with two benches on a back corner of the property at Cherry and Johnson Streets.

    The apartment complex, named 459 Flats, is set to open in June 2027, Celenza said.

    Average rent for the apartments, which range from studios to two-bedroom units, will be about $2,400 per month.

    This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer’s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com/donate. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org/supporters.

  • Five wacky things I saw on the Nic Cage bar crawl

    Five wacky things I saw on the Nic Cage bar crawl

    Like many, I’m big fan of Nicolas Cage’s work. How big? On my bachelorette party to New Orleans a few years ago I requested we tour St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 so I could get a pic of me and my girls with Cage’s nine-foot pyramid tomb.

    Not only can the man seriously act, he can also seriously overact. As a writer who loves puns ( especially bad ones), I appreciate someone who has fun with their art form to the point it causes eye rolls.

    And so, when I learned about Uncaged in Jenkintown: A Nic Cage cocktail crawl that happened on Sunday, I wanted to check it out. In some ways, it turned out to be like a lot of Cage movies — not a blockbuster, but still quirky and fun.

    “Honeymoon in Vegas” plays at Buckets Bar during the Nic Cage cocktail crawl on Sunday in Jenkintown. Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer

    The crawl was spread across four Jenkintown bars — the Keep Easy, the Drake Tavern, Buckets Bar, and King’s Corner. Each one featured Cage-themed cocktails and hosted a “Cage match,” where participants went head-to-head in challenges based on Cage films.

    Organizer Mel Hager, an owner of the Keep Easy, said she sold out of the 50 Uncaged kits she’d prepared for $15 a pop. While the crawl was free to attend, those who bought a kit — including yours truly — received a passport book, which got you a free Cage match at each establishment (otherwise they were $2 to play); a piece of Cage cash, which was good for one shot at any of the bars (it’s a tiny dollar bill with Nic Cage’s face on it, I’m never spending that); and one of a variety of Cage masks (I felt like I won the lottery when I got the Con-Air Cage).

    While I didn’t drink, I hopped around to the bars, tried my hand at the Cage matches, and talked with fellow Cage fans about what brought them out to the event. Here are five of the wackiest things I saw at the Nic Cage bar crawl.

    1. H.I. fashion

    Vicky and Mike Hutz, of Huntington Valley, at the Keep Easy during the Nic Cage cocktail crawl on Sunday in Jenkintown. Mike Hutz is dressed as Cage’s character from “Raising Arizona,” H.I. McDunnough.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer

    When H.I. McDunnough kidnaps one of the Arizona quintuplet babies in the 1987 Cohen Brothers classic, Raising Arizona, he proclaims to his wife: “I think I got the best one.”

    Of the few Cage character costumes I saw Sunday — which included Ronny from Moonstruck, Cameron Poe from Con Air, and someone portraying Cage’s first role as an unnamed burger shop worker in Fast Times at Ridgemont High — Mike Hutz’s H.I. McDunnough costume was undoubtedly the best one. Hutz, of Huntingdon Valley, had the open Hawaiian shirt, a wig, and McDunnough’s mugshot board.

    “What else are you going to do on a Sunday afternoon when you have a Nicolas Cage crawl option?” he said. “There’s nothing he can’t do and he does it with maximum cheesiness, which is just perfect for people who love cheesy.”

    2. The faces

    Seeing people at bars and walking the streets of Jenkintown wearing Cage face masks was both highly amusing and mildly unsettling, mainly because the eye holes were cut out wonkily, giving them a ragged, creepy edge.

    Masks included Face/Off Cage, Con Air Cage, red carpet Cage, and Dracula Cage (from the movie Renfield).

    Vicky Hutz, of Huntington Valley, holds a “Con-Air” Nic Cage mask at the Keep Easy during the Nic Cage cocktail crawl on Sunday.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer

    Julia Sousa and Josh Douglas traveled to the crawl from Roxborough because they love Cage and Jenkintown. Douglas walked from bar to bar with his Cage face mask on, which seemed to startle some passing motorists.

    “I’m pretty sure they thought I was Michael Myers,” he said.

    3. The Cage matches

    The games based on Cage films, while homespun, were clever and fun. At Buckets, the game was inspired by the scene in Honeymoon in Vegas where Cage skydives with a bunch of Elvis impersonators. Contestants had to throw toy parachute soldiers that were painted to look like Elvis onto particular spots of a mock-up of the Vegas strip for points.

    Julia Sousa and Josh Douglas, both of Roxborough, compete in the “Flying Elvis Cage Match,” at Buckets Bar during the Nic Cage cocktail crawl on Sunday in Jenkintown. Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer

    At King’s Corner, where the challenge was based on the movie National Treasure, participants had to solve little metal mind-bender puzzles.

    For the Spider-Noir Cage match at the Drake, you had to keep a balloon bouncing in the air while putting on a cape, mask, and fedora.

    I failed spectacularly at all three of those challenges — and I was completely sober! The only one I did succeed at was called Ghost Glider. Based on the film Ghost Rider, the challenge was to to roll a penny down an inclined surface made to look like a road and into the tongs of a fork at the other end.

    The “Ghost Glider” Cage match at the Keep Easy during the Nic Cage cocktail crawl on Sunday in Jenkintown.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer

    4. Stickers and sage

    For winning the Ghost Glider challenge, I received a bundle of sage and a sticker for my passport book of a shirtless, reclining Cage coming out of a banana.

    Let’s address the sage first: Nobody could tell me why this was my prize for winning the challenge, which somehow makes it even better. I have two theories — it could be because sage rhymes with Cage, or maybe it’s because you light sage and in Ghost Rider, Cage lights on fire.

    Whatever the reason, I’m gonna smudge some stuff up this weekend.

    An a-peeling sticker columnist Stephanie Farr received for winning a Cage match challenge at the Keep Easy during the Nic Cage bar crawl in Jenkintown Sunday. Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer

    Now onto this banana sticker — I don’t know why it exists, but I am so happy it does. Each bar gave a different sticker if you won a challenge, but this banana-Cage split one was, by far, the most a-peeling.

    Later at the Drake, I met Erica Adams of Bensalem and “her only friend of whimsy,” Amanda Knop, who’d driven from Baltimore to attend the Cage crawl with her. Adams had her own stickers of Cage’s head she was handing out like friendship bracelets at a Taylor Swift concert.

    “I just love his movies and doing silly, fun things,” Adams said. “Nicolas Cage himself is very unserious. He’s lived a million different lives in a short span already.”

    5. Picolas Cage

    Justin Walsh poses for a photo with “Picolas Cage” as Jessica Lopez takes the photo at the Keep Easy during the Nic Cage cocktail crawl on Sunday in Jenkintown. Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer

    A giant cut-out of Cage as a pickle, aka Picolas Cage, was stationed outside of the Keep Easy during the crawl. As someone who likes Cage and cucumbers — but hates pickles — it was a jarring experience. But I saw others relishing the photo op so I didn’t make a big dill out of it.

  • Abington is planning a new, multi-million-dollar library to replace its 1950s-era building

    Abington is planning a new, multi-million-dollar library to replace its 1950s-era building

    Abington is planning to tear down and replace its flagship library building.

    The Pennsylvania Department of Education announced more than $11 million in grants in April for libraries across the state. Abington Township received $749,750 “to plan and design a library facility that is sustainable, accessible, efficient and tailored to the needs of the community.”

    Town officials are now hard at work doing just that, Abington Township Public Library executive director Elizabeth Fitzgerald said.

    The library has already put out a call for a fundraising consultant who will help raise the roughly $50 million total that township officials think they’ll need to replace the main library at 1030 Old York Road with something bigger. The consultant will be paid with private donations from the library’s endowment, Fitzgerald said.

    Officials hope some of that money will come from state and federal sources, too. Fitzgerald asked state Sen. Art Haywood about possible funding through the Pennsylvania’s Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program, according to minutes from the May library trustees meeting.

    The 1954 building was previously a Best and Co. department store. Abington took over the property in the mid-1970s.

    A 1957 image of the Best and Co. department store in Abington held at the Library of Congress.Gottscho-Schleisner Collection, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.

    Maintaining the 72-year-old structure has “caused countless interruptions in services and building closures,” Fitzgerald wrote in a statement announcing the grant.

    And the community has now outgrown it, the library director said. Earlier this month, the library hosted author Pam Jenoff at a Penn State building down the road in order to fit some 125 attendees.

    In addition to author events, the library hosts activities for kids, an adult literacy program, and a “library of things“ ranging from birding backpacks to electricity usage monitors.

    Nearly 24,000 people attended over 800 library programs in 2025, Fitzgerald wrote in the grant announcement. “Abington Township needs a new, 21st century library building that can accommodate the needs of our community for generations to come.”

    Next steps include hiring an architectural engineering firm using the state grant money, Fitzgerald said. The town expects to demolish the current structure sometime after September 2027 and rebuild on the same land.

    In the meantime, officials will seek community input on the project “with surveys, focus groups, town halls, and one-on-one conversations,” Fitzgerald wrote.

    “The planning is not in my hands,” she said. “This is the community’s library.”

    This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer’s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com/donate. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org/supporters.

  • There are plans for an 86-unit apartment complex next to SEPTA’s Jenkintown station

    There are plans for an 86-unit apartment complex next to SEPTA’s Jenkintown station

    Eighty-six new apartments are planned for Wyncote in Cheltenham Township as part of a development project that would also include an office and a commercial space.

    The building at the center of the 165 Township Line Rd. property would remain an office, while the project would convert a second existing structure into a 36-unit apartment building, and add a third, 50-unit apartment complex to the site with a parking garage and a retail space on the ground floor, according to a May review letter from the Montgomery County Planning Commission.

    The higher-density development would sit about 1,000 feet from SEPTA’s Jenkintown-Wyncote Regional Rail station, which SEPTA plans to rebuild with a pedestrian overpass and other features by 2027.

    The lot is zoned for multi-use development, but only the new 50-unit building meets that criteria. Cheltenham Township grandfathered the existing office building into the current zoning ordinances, and the planned 36-unit complex was granted an exemption in 2024.

    In addition to the 79-car garage, the plans include a repainted parking lot to boost spaces from 135 to more than 160.

    The project is expected to net about half a million dollars annually for the township and Cheltenham School District, according to a February fiscal analysis, and house an estimated six school-aged children.

    SEPTA, which aims to boost ridership by encouraging higher density, pedestrian-friendly housing along Regional Rail lines, said Tuesday that they’re glad projects like these are moving forward.

    “Transit-oriented communities reinforce the public’s investment in SEPTA,” spokesperson Kelly Greene said.

    JOSS Realty Partners, which had owned the entire property, held a joint open house with SEPTA in 2019 about a project that would’ve allowed SEPTA to use a parking lot on the site.

    JOSS still owns the office building that’s excluded from the proposal. The new development is planned to be built on about an acre of the site that was sold off to 165 Town Line Holdings LLC in 2025.

    The mailing address for the LLC is a property co-owned by real estate investor Edward Topolewski.

    In their review of the proposal, the Montgomery County Planning Commission called for more pedestrian and cyclist access.

    “We are glad to see new development proposed in the area of the Jenkintown-Wyncote Station,” principal county planner Chloe Mohr wrote.

    “For this to be a successful development, pedestrians need to easily and safely travel throughout the site, to the train station, and to other destinations.”

    That includes access to future walking trails, the planners wrote, and neighboring Wyncote House.

    County officials also suggested that Cheltenham consider improvements to the stormwater management plan.

    “It appears that there may currently be erosion and drainage issues here,” Mohr wrote. “With the steep slopes on this site, more may need to be done to remediate stormwater runoff.”

    The project was slated for review by the town’s Shade Tree Advisory Commission this month, Cheltenham Commissioner Jeff Chirico said, but the developer requested an extension.

    The proposal would then head to the township commissioner board.

    This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer’s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com/donate. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org/supporters.

  • The man, the myth, the bar crawl: Jenkintown goes all out for Nic Cage-themed night

    The man, the myth, the bar crawl: Jenkintown goes all out for Nic Cage-themed night

    In an unbearably massive oversight, the city of Philadelphia has left National Treasure Nicolas Cage completely out of its Semiquincentennial festivities, despite the fact that he’s the only known person to have stolen the Declaration of Independence and climbed Independence Hall free solo in the last 250 years.

    But fear not, for a group of suburban bars have mustered to pay homage to this chameleon king of cinema, this skin-shedding Snake Eyes of the silver screen with their revolutionary event: “Uncaged in Jenkintown: A Nic Cage cocktail crawl.”

    Nic nugget: Cage has portrayed twice as many people as there were members of the First Continental Congress.

    From 4 to 8 p.m. June 28, four Jenkintown bars within stumbling distance of each other — the Keep Easy, the Drake Tavern, Buckets Bar, and Kings Corner — will be featuring Cage-themed cocktails, showing Cage movies, and hosting “Cage matches.”

    Songs from Cage’s films will be performed live in an alley, the local movie theater is hosting a late-night screening of a Cage film, and, for the Wild at Heart, even a tattoo parlor is getting in on the festivities.

    Nic nugget: Cage has a tattoo of a lizard wearing a top hat.

    In an Adaptation of a typical bar crawl, participants who register for this event will receive a pretty Kick Ass “Uncaged Cocktail Crawl Kit” filled with goodies that would be a Dream Scenario for any Cage fan.

    Mel Hager — an owner of the Keep Easy who described her Cage fandom as “AhaHAhahAA [maniacal Cage laughter] OUTRAGEOUS OOooOO!!” — said the participating bars host a Festivus-themed crawl during the holidays and they wanted to create a summer-themed crawl too (luckily, there’s no chance of getting Snowden at this time of year).

    “Who doesn’t like Nic Cage?” she said. “It’s insane how he puts in the work. Every time I turn around I’m like ‘Is he a robot? How does he do so many movies?’ He’s an enigma but yet he does seem like all of us but also maybe he’s an alien? I don’t know, but it’s fantastic.”

    Nic nugget: Cage has never played an alien, but he was convinced he was one as a kid.

    The event is free to attend, but participants who want to compete for Cage-themed prizes will need to either preregister online for $15 or register in person the day of at the same price to receive their Uncaged kit. Each kit contains one of five random Cage masks to be worn during face-offs against opponents in “Cage matches.”

    Every bar will have its own Cage match competition that will pit two players in a tête-à-tête game based on a different Cage movie to determine who’s the Lord of War. The game at Buckets, for example, is called the “Flying Elvis” and it’s based on the scene in Honeymoon in Vegas where Cage goes skydiving with a group of Elvis impersonators. Contestants will have to throw toy parachute soldiers (hand-painted to look like Elvis) to see who can land them closest to a tiny mock-up of the Vegas strip.

    The games are designed to move quickly, with each Gone in 60 Seconds or so.

    Nic nugget: When Cage is gone he will be buried in a 9-foot-tall white stone pyramid he had built in a New Orleans cemetery.

    For every challenge won, participants will get a stamp in their Cage pub passport, which is included with the kit. At 7:30 p.m., an awards ceremony will be held and those with the most stamps will receive Cage-themed prizes. Hey, It Could Happen to You.

    Cage crawlers are also urged to get stamps in their passport for every Cage-themed beverage they consume. The Keep Easy will be serving “Mandy’s Electric Lemonade,” a reference to the surreal horror film, Mandy, that’s made with blue Curaçao, a libation just as colorful as Cage’s career.

    “We’re trying to bring out his spirit in our spirits,” Hager said.

    Also included in the kit is a photo scavenger hunt with challenges at every establishment, like snapping a picture with Picolas Cage, a life-size cut-out of Cage as a pickle (he’s kind of a big dill).

    “We had Picolas Cage already because we had a pickle crawl one year and I love Nic Cage…so he’s making a comeback,” Hager said, gherkin out.

    Those who preregister will also receive a piece of Cage cash, a very not legal form of tender with Cage’s face on it that will get you a specialty shot at one of the four participating bars, if you want to cash it in.

    Nic nugget: Cage once spent $276,000 on a dinosaur skull he later had to turn over to the Mongolian government.

    A Nic Cage-themed bar crawl? Just take our money now.

    During the crawl, local musician Gerard Regan will Rage in nearby Yorkway Alley, playing songs from Cage movies. Prior to the festivities, Nobleheart Tattoo Gallery will have a special on Cage-themed tats from 1 to 4 p.m. And following the crawl at 9:30 p.m., the Hiway Theater will show Cage’s 1988 film, Vampire’s Kiss, if you have Time to Kill.

    Costumes are encouraged and given that Cage has portrayed every kind of character from an angel to a vampire, the possibilities are endless. So get Primal with it, because you don’t want to be Left Behind.

    “It’s like the whole town is getting involved,” Hager said. “Like Nic Cage would, just come on out and have fun. You deserve it.”

    For more information on Uncaged in Jenkintown, visit the event’s Facebook page. To preregister for the crawl visit: uncagedinjenkintown.bigcartel.com.