On July 8th, Gov. Phil Murphy signed a new executive order mandating people wear a face covering outdoors in public when social distancing is difficult. New Jersey has required people since early April to wear a mask at indoor public places, such as stores, eateries, and government buildings. This order broadens current orders to include outdoor places. The order mandates that you wear a mask if you’re in an outdoor setting with large gatherings and can't keep your distance from people other than your family or household members and caregivers. Children under age 2 and those whose health or safety would be hurt by wearing them are not required to wear masks. Violators can receive summonses for disorderly persons offenses carrying jail terms of up to 6 months and/or fines of $1,000.

On Monday, June 30th, Park Place Café & Restaurant owner, Phil Manganaro, posted a message on it's Facebook page personally thanking everyone for their support over their 3 years in town, especially the support of old and new friends at the Drive Thru. It really helped carry Park Place through a tough time and was truly appreciated. "I chose to close the Drive Thru and bring a dining situation so unique and exclusive on its heels, but with dine-in being cancelled (by Governor Murphy) again today, I regret to inform you that Park Place will be closed until further notice and could be closed for good given the uncertainty of these times and trying to run a small BYOB." Park Place will still be posting pictures of foraging and our AT HOME dinners for those who love what we do. If you would like to schedule an "AT HOME" dinner please contact us at 856-662-2200 to do so. Thank you for helping me build Park Place into what it was and encouraging me to keep digging deeper. 

 

The Merchantville Education Association would like to invite students, parents and the community to Merchantville School’s end of year drive-by parade. This parade is to honor and celebrate three of our fabulous teachers - Mrs. Fields, Mrs. Batterman and Mrs. Gandy - who are retiring this year and to give them the proper sendoff they deserve! The parade is also an opportunity for students and staff to wave good-bye before summer vacation begins. The parade will take place on Friday, June 12th from 2-3pm. Once in the lot, cars will be directed through the staff parking lot and then turn right to drive down Centre Street. Retiring teachers will be set up in the staff parking lot if anyone would like to drop off or send well wishes. Teachers and staff will be standing on the sidewalk along Centre Street. To continue with social distancing, please remain in your cars during the parade and wave to your teachers from a safe distance. We hope to see you there!

Beginning May 23rd, Camden County is no longer announcing new cases and deaths related to Covid-19 on weekends or holidays. All weekend cases and deaths will be announced on the next business day and will be properly attributed to the day they were received. As of Friday, May 29th, Merchantville had 44 confirmed cases of coronavirus and the Camden County Department of Health (DOH) announced 59 additional confirmed cases of the disease. This brings the aggregate number of confirmed positive cases to 6,588 in Camden County today and 320 total fatalities.

The Blue Monkey Tavern is officially opening for outdoor dining this Friday, June 26th. Our new hours will be Wednesday through Sunday from 4:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. Reservations will be accepted over the phone only. To make a reservation please call us at 856-661-8008 beginning at noon. We are excited to reopen and appreciate your patience as we adjust to these new systems. We took this opportunity to make some menu changes. Be sure to visit our website to see what we are offering when open for outdoor full service dining: https://bluemonkeytavern.com/outdooreats. It feels good to say this - See you soon!

The Merchantville Fire Department and Police Department want our community to know how much they appreciate the generosity shown by the individuals and businesses they protect. This past week they offered Facebook "shout-outs" for the PPE provided by Cindy Zimmerman and the Camden City School Nurses who sewed face masks for the patrol division and, the New Jersey Young Democrat Labor Caucus donated KN95 masks to the fire department. Last week Flying Crust Pizza & Wings dropped off a delicious at the firehouse on May 31st, the Brejcha Family provided lunch to the firefighters on May 29th and, Mission BBQ for brought lunch to our police officers on May 27th. Thanks for feeding and protecting those who keep us safe.

Revised state aid figures for New Jersey public schools were issued Thursday evening by the state Department of Education, detailing how $335 million in funding promised in February will disappear due to the financial crunch brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. According to published revisions, Merchantville will lose $454,037, a decrease of 2.9% in anticipated school aid of $3,507,011 for the 2020-21 School Year. Districts experiencing losses will lose just as much as expected. Those that are gaining aid will receive, on average, two-thirds less than promised.

 

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