Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Do you know how loved you are? Join This Blissful Mom during Merchantville's First Friday night market and celebrate your baby shower on us! Music, food, & Free Gifts for Mommy-to-be attendees. There's no other way to celebrate your baby shower and our grand opening so we are throwing you a Baby Shower Bash. Try on and be photographed wearing clothes from our collection. Be featured in our Instagram account and win prizes along the way. There will be small businesses, vendors, food trucks and local night market to celebrate the night away! Register here and come join the fun @ Ryan's Retail.

Maryland officials are testing new technology installed in vehicles that prevents the car from moving if the driver’s had too much to drink. The Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety analyzes the driver’s breath — there’s no need for a separate device — and if the sensors in the vehicle pick up a given level of alcohol, the engine will turn over, but the car won’t move. By allowing the car to start, the driver can then charge their phone and call a cab or a ride-hailing service. The sensors can be set to “zero tolerance” in the case of teen drivers, or can be set to 0.08, the legal limit.

This Exit 19 Productions video shows Mike Casey foraging for food with his friend Chef Phil Manganaro. They find some berries, get mosquito bites and Chef Phil makes some homemade root beer. Exit 19 Productions is a group of comedians, writers, funny people and degenerates trying to make people laugh or give them a little bit of knowledge - hopefully a bit of both.

Freezing maintains the natural color, fresh flavor, and high nutritive value of fresh foods. The objective is to bring foods to the frozen state quickly. When properly done, fruits and vegetables are more like fresh than when preserved by any other method. Best of all, freezing vegetables and fruit is fast and easy. You don’t need a lot of time or years of experience to preserve garden-fresh fruits and vegetables. Organized in a friendly, food-by-food format, readers will find “The Beginner’s Guide to Preserving Food at Home” by Janet Chadwick an invaluable reference. Freezing, drying, canning, and storing instructions are available for each vegetable, fruit, and herb, and in many cases, several methods for freezing fruits and vegetables or canning food are described. 

Overeaters Anonymous has approximately 6,500 meetings in over 80 countries. OA is a self help 12-Step Program for individuals who compulsively eat or overeat, and whose lives, health, relationships, emotions have become unmanageable because of their eating. There are no dues or fees and the only requirement for membership is a desire to stop eating compulsively. Please join thousands of people worldwide who have found relief from the horrible disease of compulsive eating. Meetings take place in Merchantville on Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., First Presbyterian Church, 10 West Maple Avenue. For more information please call Judy at 856-234-2556 or go to the South Jersey OA website at www.oa-southjersey.org.

Tom Wilkie and Reese DeFeo, members of the Knights of Columbus Council 6735 out of Saint Peter Parish, Merchantville, and their brother Knights help to foster a sense of community by preparing sandwiches to feed Camden’s youth. For the past nine years, Knights of Columbus councils around Camden County have made lunches for the youth summer camp run by Sister Helen Cole out of Guadalupe Family Services in Camden. For five weeks, city youth socialize and enjoy such places as the Jersey Shore and the Philadelphia Zoo. Approximately 50 lunches are made by the Knights for each day of the camp.  

PSE&G crews will be repairing a gas main on Chapel Avenue in Merchantville, on Monday, Aug. 19. While crews are at work, Chapel Avenue will be closed to all traffic between Clayton Avenue and Stanley Street. On Monday, Aug. 19, crews will close the affected stretch of roadway from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Motorists will be directed along a posted detour route to circumvent the affected area. The project is expected to be completed by the end of work hours on Monday, Aug. 19. Scheduling and project timing is dependent on weather and may be adjusted due to unforeseen events. Please use extra caution when driving near construction crews and vehicles.

One year ago, China stopped accepting most American scrap plastic and cardboard - rejecting all but the cleanest, most conforming items - throwing a wrench into U.S. recycling programs. Now, cities and towns across the U.S. are dealing with piles of homeless plastic with no clear destination because markets for #4, #5, and #7 plastics are now almost non-existent and plastic bags are considered a contaminant. As a result, these items are in many cases leaving the recycling facility as trash and being landfilled. In the past 10 years Camden County, like many other places, started Single Stream Recycling, where residents combine all recyclable materials into one container for pickup. The Borough of Merchantville will continue to educate residents about effective, clean recycling measures. Recently, neighboring municipalities have experienced their recycling rejected due to contamination. Let’s all reduce how much plastic we use and remember, only plastic #1 & #2 can be placed in the blue bins. The following items should be placed in your curbside recycling container: Newspaper • mixed paper including junk mail • magazines • catalogs • school papers • office papers etc… • paper packaging • paperboard cartons for foods such as cereal boxes, pasta boxes and tissue boxes, etc… • softcover books • phone books • cardboard • glass bottles and jars • aluminum and steel cans • aluminum and steel lids • CLEAN CONTAINERS like Plastic bottles and jars with #1 or #2 found on the bottom • milk and juice cartons • paper towel and toilet paper inserts.

Merchantville School is excited to allow parents to view their child's schedule on RealTime starting on Friday, August 16th. Information has been mailed to parents with login instructions. Parents must acknowledge certain forms and then will be able to view their child's schedule and teachers. Picture Day Information, links and forms will come home the first or second day of school. You can either order on line or return form with your child(ren). Picture Day is Wednesday, September 18th. If you have questions, Merchantville School is open from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm Mondays - Thursdays throughout August.