Boca Grande Historical Society received a mountain of material - a rare and happy find during the pandemic - from the attic of a woman in Tennessee late last year. The donor, Patricia Bermingham (Colgan, Cunningham) LaSalle was born in Scotland, in the 30s, the youngest of four girls. She came to America when she was 12, through Ellis Island. Her family settled in Merchantville, N.J. and was the valedictorian of her graduating class at Kensington Girls High School of Philadelphia. She met and married Jack G. Colgan, a young stock broker from Philadelphia, then a full life in New Jersey followed. Patricia was a professional at RCA of Moorestown, working on classified information for the Navy for over twenty years. She was an avid lover of the English language, talent writer and lover of poetry and the arts and passed away on January 24, 2021. 

This year, the global Irish dance community will all come together for the first time to celebrate International Irish Dance Day - a day for people of all Irish dance affiliations to unite through dance. International Irish Dance Day is celebrated annually on September 17th, also known as halfway to St. Patrick’s Day. It was launched in 2020, the year of the COVID-19 pandemic - a time when connection and unity were urgently needed. You can get involved with International Irish Dance Day 2020 and learn how to participate on the IIDD website.

All-time record cold for May is expected this weekend with parts of the Northeast and Midwest anticipating snow and the potential for a New England bomb cyclone! The strong cold front sweeping across the Midwest and East will make it feel more like late March than early May. High temperatures will be 10 to 25 degrees below average Mother's Day weekend and much of the Northeast will stay in the 40s on Saturday. Merchantville will have a high of 47 and low of 35 today. Protect those seedlings and newly planted gardens!

Beginning September 14, 2020, the US Government will remove requirements for directing all flights carrying airline passengers arriving from, or recently had a presence in, certain countries to land at one of 15 designated airports and halt enhanced entry health screening for these passengers. Currently, enhanced entry health screening is conducted for those arriving from, or with recent presence in, China (excluding the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau), Iran, the Schengen region of Europe, the United Kingdom (excluding overseas territories outside of Europe), Ireland, and Brazil. Resources will instead be dedicated to more effective mitigation efforts that focus on the individual passenger, including: pre-departure, in-flight, and post-arrival health education for passengers; robust illness response at airports; and, voluntary collection of contact information from passengers.

One reason Juneteenth’s history has remained widely misunderstood, or even unknown, is because educators say it’s not often taught in schools and that has a profound impact, erasing the history of systemic racism in this country and the contributions of Black people. In 2020, the meaning of June 19, 1865 is being seized more broadly by activists as an opportunity for the United States to come to terms with how slavery continues to affect the lives of all Americans today and is something for everyone, of every race, to engage in. This year, Juneteenth will be commemorated with protests, marches, a general workers strike, and opportunities for healing and joy across the country. It will also be celebrated as it has been for decades, with cookouts and parades, as well as church gatherings and spirituals, keeping in touch with the original tradition. 

St. Louis Motorcars has been acquired by by Holman Automotive which opened in 1924 as a Ford dealer in Merchantville, NJ. A press release from Brian Bates, President and CEO of Holman Consumer Services, said: “As our Holman Automotive family of dealerships continues to evolve, we remain focused on further diversifying our brand portfolio, strategically expanding our geographic footprint and fostering an exceptional customer experience representative of our long-standing Holman values; and St. Louis Motorcars certainly checks all those boxes.” Today Holman Automotive controls 36 dealerships and many other automotive-related companies in the U.S., Canada, and around the globe.