NEPA Scene Staff

Events happening this week in downtown Wilkes-Barre: Feb. 24-March 2

Events happening this week in downtown Wilkes-Barre: Feb. 24-March 2
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Every Tuesday, the Downtown Wilkes-Barre Business Association and Diamond City Partnership release a list of events happening in downtown Wilkes-Barre. Subscribe here to receive this list via e-mail or just check NEPA Scene each week.

Downtown events

Tuesday, Feb. 24
Event: Wyoming Valley Art League Artists Social
Time: 11 a.m.-4 p.m.
Location: Wyoming Valley Art League (130 S. Franklin St., REAR)

The Wyoming Valley Art League presents Tuesday Art Social! Come and go as you please. Bring your own art and materials and work while enjoying the company and inspiration of other artists! Members only – but anyone can come and purchase their membership the same day.

More information: wyomingvalleyartleague.org or 570-288-1020

Wednesday, Feb. 25
Event: 2015 Lenten Recital Series at St. Stephen’s
Time: 11:30, organ recital; noon, service
Location: St. Stephen’s Episcopal Pro-Cathedral (35 S. Franklin St.)

Since the 1920s, St. Stephen’s has presented free musical recitals at 11:30 a.m. prior to a Community Lenten Service. Organist Timothy Smith, of Covenant Presbyterian Church in Scranton, is the featured artist at his week’s recital. The liturgist at the noon service will be Reverend William S. Marshall, Jr., and the preacher will be Reverend Joseph R. Parrish, Jr., both of St. Stephen’s. Violinist John Michael Vaida will provide special musical accompaniment. Free and open to the public; lunch is available immediately following the services in the auditorium for $4. The Lenten Recital Series is presented by the Downtown Ministerium of Wilkes-Barre.

More information: ststephenswb.org or 570-825-6653

Thursday, Feb. 26
Event: 11 Best Practices of Successful Family Businesses
Time: 8:30 a.m.-11:30 p.m.
Location: Wilkes University Henry Student Center Ballroom (84 West S. St.)

Family business owners can learn the keys to success at the seminar “11 Best Practices of Successful Family Businesses,” presented by the Wilkes University Family Business Alliance and led by Dick Kane, vice chairman for Kane is Able, Inc. At the seminar, family business owners will learn specific traits and activities that allow family firms to prosper through the generations, as well as how to put such practices into play in their own businesses. Attendees will be able to create a personalized action plan to implement the 11 Best Practices into their own organizations, and they will also learn how they can take advantage of the relationship between the Family Business Alliance, Wilkes University, and the Jay S. Sidhu School of Business & Leadership to support their family firms’ success. Free and open to the public; however, advanced registration is required.

More information or to RSVP: wilkes.edu, lorna.galliford@wilkes.edu, or 570-408-4590

Thursday, Feb. 26
Event: Meet the Author at the Osterhout: Jim Rodechko, PhD
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Location: Osterhout Free Library (71 S. Franklin St.)

Author Jim Rodechko, PhD discusses and signs his book “The Old Boys Club.” Copies of the novel will be available for purchase. Light refreshments. Free and open to the public; call for reservations.

More information: osterhout.info or 570-821-1959

Friday, Feb. 27
Event: Osterhout Free Movie Friday: Romance is in the Air
Time: 2 p.m.
Location: Osterhout Free Library (71 S. Franklin St.)

Free movie matinee every Friday during February. This week, enjoy the sparring of Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracey in the classic romantic comedy “Woman of the Year” (1942) at 2 p.m. Free and open to the public.

More information: osterhout.info or 570-821-1959

Sunday, March 1
Event: Winter Along the River 2015
Time: Noon-3 p.m.
Location: Nesbitt Park (Wilkes-Barre)

Shake that cabin fever and meet us for Winter Along the River 2015! Come see the Sled Dog Team and the maple sugaring demonstration. In case it snows, there is a snowman building contest, a sledding area (so bring your sled), or you can try using the snowshoes and cross-country skis that we provide. Nature and wildlife hikes, children’s games and cold weather safety information will be available. Enjoy hot chocolate, donuts, s’mores, and more! Free and open to the public.

More information: facebook.com/RiverCommon or 570-991-1067

Sunday, March 1
Event: Music from St. Stephen’s: Choral Evensong for St. David’s Day and Welsh Te Mawr
Time: 5 p.m.
Location: St. Stephen’s Episcopal Pro-Cathedral (35 S. Franklin St.)

Choral Evensong for St. David’s Day will be sung by members of the Choirs of St. Stephen’s; Church of the Holy Spirit in Harleysville, Pennsylvania; and Immanuel Church on the Green in New Castle, Delaware. The Evensong will be followed by a Welsh te mawr (Large Tea). Free and open to the public; a free-will offering will support the St. Stephen’s Choir’s August 2015 residency at Winchester Cathedral in England.

More information: ststephenswb.org or 570-704-7055


Downtown exhibits

Luzerne County Historical Society Museum
(69 S. Franklin St.)

The Luzerne County Historical Society Museum is closed during the month of February for collections management and the installation of new exhibits.

King’s College Widmann Art Gallery
(Sheehy-Farmer Campus Center, between N. Main and N. Franklin Sts.)
Hours: Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.–4:30 p.m.

Exhibit: Jim Gavenus: “Marchers of the Movement”
Dates: Jan. 12 through Feb. 26

Jim Gavenus is an internationally recognized documentary photographer. His intimate images and poignant storytelling are evidence of our time focusing on the human condition, social injustice, and civil rights.

More information: kings.edu or 570-208-5900, ext. 5328

The Sordoni Art Gallery at Wilkes University
(Stark Learning Center, 150 S. River St.)

Exhibit: 2014–2015 Dr. Roy E. Morgan Exhibition, Dale Threlkeld: End of Illusion
Dates: Jan. 27 through May 17

The work of contemporary American artist Dale Threlkeld is the subject of this retrospective exhibition, organized in conjunction with the Castellani Art Museum at Niagara University. Threlkeld’s “breakthrough moment” occurred in the early 1990s, leading to the signature painting style he is known for today. Meet Dale Threlkeld at an Artist’s Opening Reception at the Sordoni Art Gallery on Thursday, Jan. 29 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. to celebrate the exhibition opening.

More information: wilkes.edu/arts/Sordoni-Art-Gallery or 570-408-4325

Wyoming Valley Art League’s Circle Center for the Arts
(130 S. Franklin St.)
Hours: Tuesday, 10:30 a.m.–5 p.m.; Third Friday Art Walk, 5 p.m.–8 p.m.

Exhibit: Images of Awakening: The Art of Tibetan Buddhism
Dates: Feb. 20 through March 14

The Sandra Dyczewski Maffei Gallery hosts an exhibition of paintings by Andrea Nerozzi, together with traditional Tibetan spiritual art and artifacts from the Padmasambhava Buddhist Center in upstate New York.

Exhibit: Members’ Show
Dates: ongoing

Artwork from the WVAL’s Members’ Juried Show is currently on view in the second floor gallery.

More information: wyomingvalleyartleague.org or facebook.com/wvartleague


Walk Wilkes-Barre

This week’s historic site is:

    

St. Nicholas Roman Catholic Church
240 S. Washington St. (1887)

This dramatic church, dressed in “Wyoming redstone,” is one of the greatest High Victorian Gothic structures in the Wyoming Valley. German-born architect William Schickel came from New York City to design this building for a parish of German Catholic immigrants; its details, such as the triple-entried frontispiece, or “westwerk,” and the single central tower are appropriately Teutonic in origin. For decades, people in central Wilkes-Barre set their watches, went to lunch, and closed shop by the clock on its steeple. St. Nick’s beautiful interior woodcarvings and stained glass windows merit your visit. The adjoining St. Nicholas-St. Mary Elementary School building was constructed in 1913 by the Wilkes-Barre architectural firm of Reilly & Schroeder.