Issue 6 Volume 1 September 2001
This arial view was taken before the devastating tornado of May 1998. The serenity of the town will never be the same.
75th Anniversary Celebration in 2002
Lyons
has had many reasons for which to be thankful over the years. A
small-incorporated borough seated in the center of several larger towns. We’re
large enough to govern ourselves and still small enough to know who’s living
down the block. We have our own convenience store, post office, a web site,
traffic light, public water & sewer, the East Penn Manufacturing Company
corporate office building, a fire company, mechanical garages, towing service,
hair & nail salons, barber shop, a deli, day care, vinyl repair, computer
graphics, electrician, brass polishing and a farm. We have a spacious park with
a ball field, lighted basketball court, park toys and a pavilion. The borough is
known for it’s many festivals and activities which include the egg hunt, fish
rodeo, community day in the park, Racefest, the Fire Company carnivals, the Fall
Fiddle Festival, Halloween parade and party, the annual tree lighting ceremony
and Santa’s visit to each and every household in town. Now we have yet another
reason to cerebrate, Lyons is turning 75 years old next year.
A
special token for this momentous occasion will be the printing of a book
commemorating the history of Lyons. To make this book and the celebration
possible, we are in need of your help. First of all we are looking for old
pictures taken of Lyons. If you have any, we would like to borrow them for 48
hours to get them scanned into the computer system. Just call Randy Schlegel at
610- 682-4730, between 8 am to 12 noon to make arrangements. Every precaution
will be exercised to insure the safety of your prints. We are also in need of
stories and historic events, which occurred here in Lyons. If you have any tales
to share again call Randy so arrangements can be made for someone to meet with
you. A special meeting will be held Tuesday, October 9th at 7 pm in
the Borough Hall. All interested residents are invited to attend.
The
committee, working on the anniversary celebration, would like to ask for your
time in helping plan what the community might consider doing for this
anniversary celebration. It is hoped that each resident of town considers
getting involved in this yearlong celebration.
With your help, a lot of work can be done, to insure a great festive year. Any and all questions can be directed to Randy at 610-682-4730 between 8 am and 12 noon or you can leave a message.
It
seems only a short time ago that the old TML police department (Topton,
Maxatawny, & Lyons) was changed to the Northeastern Berks Regional Police
Department back in 1993. The seven-officer force offered full time coverage of
the service area and earned the respect of being one of the finest regional
departments in the State. Now another change has occurred, the addition of Upper
Macungie Township.
Upper Macungie Township entered into the regional department January 1, 2001, changing the name to the Berks-Lehigh Regional Police Department. Upper Macungie desired an interest of having at least two officers on duty at all times. This demand for manpower has caused the size of officers to be increased to twenty-one. As before, each partner in the department is assessed a percentage of time agreeable with the size of the community and the amount of coverage desired. The governmental partners are each billed accordingly.
Lyons still pays the same for it’s protection and maintains the same percentage of time and ownership within the department. The big difference is more available officers in the event of an emergency and more resources at our disposal with the inclusion of another municipality.
Thus far the working relationship among the four municipalities has been a good one and it’s hoped that the Berks-Lehigh Regional Police Force will continue to serve its constituents with first class service and dependability for many years to come. Just look at what can be accomplished when government works together in service for their communities.
The first fiddle contest used a hay wagon for a stage. The festival has risen to become of the nations finest. Photo by: KJ Weidner
Not So Very Long Ago
The first Lyons Park Fiddle Contest was
held Sunday, June 5, 1983 from 12-5 in the Lyons Community Park.
Horse demonstrations were held in the
field across from the dam. No open stage was held. Entertainment was
"Dwayne Angstadt Country Rhythm," "John Stokes Curly Gibson on
the Road Again," "Lester Miller Snickelfritzes Dancers,"
"Marty Navong Jades," "Ed Kazlowski Dancers," "Majestics
with Paul Adam caller," "Mail Pouch Express with Kathy Eudis,"
"Trey," "Curley Q," "Long Valley Boys with John
Fritch," "Roy and Randy Schlegel," Keith Brintzenhoff, Al Zentner,
Shorty Moore. Attendance was about 1500 with 9 contestants in the first contest.
The first winner was Travis Weitzel, Norristown, second, Roberta Greenspan,
Maxatawny, third, John Koester, Mertztown. The Youngest was Mark Ruff from
Alburtis and the oldest was Charles Hinkle from Temple. Don Peters, Germansville,
was the farthest traveled. Roy and Randy Schlegel and Carl Geisinger played back
up. Al Zentner, Keith Brintzenhoff, and Shorty Moore were judges.
All food was homemade including chili
and soup. Dick Shaner's root beer still and Hassler's concessions, cider with an
old time press, lemonade in a crock.
The Fiddle contest was organized to
have an activity in the park in spring to offset the auto show held in the fall.
No fence was erected and a collection was taken throughout the audience.
All this along with fine weather made
the first Lyons Fiddle Contest a great success and set the trend for years to
come.
From The Reading
Eagle
Pack 1,200 people in Lyons Community Park,
order some sunshine, throw in a dozen country and western musicians, call up a
fiddling contest - there's the makings of a delightful Sunday afternoon.
And put up 13-year-old Travis Wetzel of
Norristown against all comers in the fiddling contest - there's a winner.
"We just want people to know the
park is here, and to provide some entertainment." said Arlan Schwoyer, the
coordinator of Sunday's contest and jamboree at Lyons who's also a borough
councilman and head of its park and recreation committees.
Schwoyer said the borough built the
park in 1976 with Bicentennial funds, but a lot of people don't know the park is
there, or the borough itself, for that matter.
"They ask, 'Where's Lyons and
people tell them it's three miles south of Kutztown where they've got the folk
festival," he said.
"What we want them to say is that Kutztown is three miles north of Lyons where they've got the park and the east coast’s best fiddling contest."
It
started with a phone call from the Reading Eagle one Tuesday morning with a
reporter asking what kind of computer technology was being used within our town.
The response given was probably much the same as other communities, you know
“we are operating Windows 98 and do the books on QuickBooks.” Immediately
following all the standard computer jargon, the reporter was told of the
“Radio read meter reading equipment.” She didn’t seem too impressed as the
conversation concluded.
Several weeks had passed when the reporter made a second call regarding the story being prepared by the Eagle. However this time the reporter is very anxious about doing a story on this radio read equipment. “No one else in the county has anything like it” she stated, “and we want to get some pictures of it as well.”
The
article ran in the July 29th Sunday edition of the Reading Eagle
mentioning the two extremes of technology found in the county, from the
highest-tech to the lowest-tech, from the 40 GB PC to the manual typewriter.
In some ways it might seem strange that a small town such as Lyons would have equipment such as this. Yet with most everything in town being done voluntarily, and with the addition of a sewage collection system and wastewater treatment plant, billing had to be done on a monthly schedule rather than the previously used quarterly system of billing. After seeing a demonstration of the reading equipment and an explanation of the billing program, it all made perfect sense to the municipal authority to utilize such technology.
The authority is hopeful that in the near future they will be able to do the meter readings and billings for neighboring communities as well. This could be a viable service, which Lyons could offer other communities to save on reading and billing costs, especially when monthly billing becomes necessary to keep bills affordable for the customer.
As you may have noticed the Lyons Roar has set idle for some time. This is due to a lack of content. This is not to say there aren’t activities, people, and history that need to be covered, it’s due to lack of contributing editors. There has always been great support from the public and advertisers.
In an effort to regain some sort of regularity we will begin paying for any articles that are published. We will review any articles, stories, history, or anything of interest to residents of the area. This is a great opportunity to get some work published and gain some valuable experience in the publishing field! A few of the past contributors have gone on to writing for major local publications. This is a great opportunity for the beginner and the professional. We will pay up to $50 per article.
If you’re interested please drop by 312 South Kemp St., Lyons or e-mail weidnercreativesvcs@msn.com Advertising space is always available. Advertising will be limited to the size of the publication. For affordable advertising rate price sheet please write PO Box 125, Lyon Station, PA 19536