Arts & Life

Full interview with First Lady of Delaware Carla Markell

Beach businesses hope economic tide turns in 2011

Although it’s early in the season, 2011 may prove to be an uplifting summer for the coastal economy. Rentals are up from last year. Some recently opened restaurants and established eateries reported a busy June, and commercial vacancies in the downtown districts are rare. ...More

Film chronicles history of Delaware’s Coastal Zone Act and its legacy

Russell W. Peterson, one-term Delaware governor and lifetime environmentalist, had years worth of memories when he sat down on Sept. 22, 2009 to write the “History of Delaware’s Coastal Zone Act (As I Saw It),” his recollection of the landmark legislation. Peterson’s account, a drama involving corporate power, political intrigue and the triumph of the common people, is the stuff of which movies are made. In fact, it is. The documentary, Delaware’s Coastal Zone Act: An Evolving Legacy, is being released in June to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the legislation. ...More

Clifford Brown’s legacy: Jazz in Delaware today

Jazz fans have a lot to be excited about in the First State. The Nomad Bar, the state’s only full-time jazz club recently opened. The number and quality of local jazz players is also improving. There is a growing trend in Delaware to use the music as a kind of sophisticated aural backdrop at upscale events. Another positive development in the local jazz world is the surprising number of young musicians avidly learning to play styles of music that had their heyday decades before. And this week, the annual DuPont Clifford Brown Jazz Festival will turn Wilmington’s Rodney Square into a huge open-air jazz club with no admission fee. ...More

Nonprofits learning to make social media work for them

Delmarva Council Boy Scouts serves more than 11,000 youth but, until November, it had no Twitter account. The Ministry of Caring runs dozens of programs in Wilmington, but, until recently, you couldn’t find it on Twitter or Facebook. The segue to social media is happening as fast as you can tweet, directors of local nonprofits say. The Ministry already has 149 Facebook friends. The Delmarva Council Boy Scouts already has 830 “likes” on Facebook – and they include not only recent scout alumni but also former members now in their 40s, 50s and 60s. ...More

For Blue-Gold football all-stars, it’s about more than X’s and O’s

More than 70 of Delaware’s top high school football players will take the field in Newark Saturday in the 56th annual Blue-Gold All-Star game. But as DFM News’ Patrick Mairs found out, many players are making a bigger impact off the field than on it as part of the game's unique Hand-in-Hand program. ...More

Reluctant “rock” star: Where is Delaware’s moon rock?

Forget “Where’s Waldo?”, the popular children’s book and video game that seeks to find the title character. In Delaware, residents can play “Where’s the moon rock?” President Richard Nixon gave moon rocks from Apollo 17, the final mission, to each U.S. state and 136 foreign countries. But at least 10 states and more than 90 countries have no clue where their rocks are located, and some may have fallen prey to black-market activity. ...More

Crossing the finish line

Nine days and about 900 miles after starting his one man bikeathon from Florida to Delaware, Nemours general counsel Steve Sparks reached his destination Friday. Sparks pedaled onto the grounds of the Nemours Mansion in North Wilmington shortly after noon to complete his journey. A small group of family, Nemours employees and others greeted Sparks, who embarked on the trek May 26th in an effort to raise money for A.I du Pont Hospital for Children and Nemours. He wanted to express his gratitude for the treatment his daughter, now 21, received at A.I. du Pont Hospital while battling leukemia as a child during the 1990's. ...More

Personal experiences fuel fundraising missions

Zach Street was 10 weeks premature and struggling to breathe in a neonatal intensive care unit when his parents adopted him in 2001. Five years later when Zach lost his battle with lung disease, his mother Angel called the Nemours Fund for Children’s Health to ask if any memorial donations they received could be used to help other kids. Angel Street, a stay-at-home mom, didn’t stop there. With the help of her husband Scott, a computer engineer, she organized almost nonstop raffles, auctions, yard sales, bead sales and benefit dinners. ...More

Pedaling with a purpose

Steve Sparks is so grateful to Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington that he did two things most 51-year-olds never do –especially in this economy. First, he organized a one-man bikeathon fundraiser. On Thursday, he will begin peddling 900 miles from Jacksonville, Florida to Wilmington, Delaware. And he asked 63 of his friends to contribute $1000 each. He also asked them to reach out to others who would donate $1,000 ...More