[xzmattzx]

We have quite a few Delaware forumers in here, so why not start an off-topic thread? This thread could also be used for developments outside of the city of Wilmington.

[Downtown Bolivar]

As someone who has family in Newark (pronounced New-ark for all of you who aren't in the know), this thread is much appreciated. My mother-in-law works for UD so I'll try to get the latest on the University's building projects.

[Evergrey]

I would like information on the horse racing track in southern Delaware.

[mglan80]

^The one in Harrington? What do you want to know?

U of D's new dorms in the Laird campus are really nice. I wish I was going to UD now instead of *gulp* four years ago now. I haven't been inside them, but based on looks from the outside they trounce anything on the Mall (like Brown and Harter).

[xzmattzx]

The biggest development in Newark is the Washington House condos. Of course, I'm disappointed that the Balloon is no longer around. Future UD students will have no idea what they missed.

R.I.P. Stone Balloon

[Evergrey]

what is the Stone Balloon?

[xzmattzx]

what is the Stone Balloon?

The Balloon was a bar in Newark. It was a favorite of UD students, particularly for Mug Night on Thursdays, which featured $1 beers in your Stone Balloon mug. Live bands were always there for Mug Nights.

The Stone Balloon also held many concerts of big names over the years. Bruce Springsteen played there countless times before getting big, and was known for playing 5 hour sets well into the night. Other bands and people to play at the Balloon, whether before they made or while they were famous, include Dave Matthews Band, Metallica, Alice Cooper, Ramones, Pat Benatar, The Cure, The Hooters, Allman Brothers Band, George Thorogood, Spin Doctors, and many more. (Go to www.stoneballoon.com for a bigger list)

The Balloon was named one of the top 100 college bars by Playboy a couple times as well.


I'll have to dig up my pictures of the Balloon and post them in here. I posted them in the "Delaware Development News" thread on SSC, as well as news on the Washington House condos which will go in their place. I read in the Newark Post that Washington House will now be 6 stories, so Newark will get a mid-rise now.

[xzmattzx]

My pictures from the Balloon:

November 2005:

http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/113/dscf2898a8by.jpg

June 2006:

http://img366.imageshack.us/img366/5153/dscf4499a6jy.jpg

http://img366.imageshack.us/img366/3629/dscf4500a2at.jpg

http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/7766/dscf4615a5lu.jpg

The last Mug Night ever, December 2005

http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/6078/dscf3005a6nj.jpg

http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/2811/dscf2943a5jl.jpg

http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/9086/dscf3016a8ak.jpg

http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/2154/dscf3017a3vo.jpg

Washington House renderings:

http://img366.imageshack.us/img366/6310/stoneballooncondos8xk.jpg

http://www.newarking.com/images/balloon/2balloon.jpg

[xzmattzx]

The Discovery Channel is doing a show on Punkin Chunkin right now. Some of those cannons are huge!

[FALLSVIEW]

xzmattzx was the Stone balloon closed already, or did it close due to the new condo's?

[Joey D]

^The owners sold out to the condo developers. It was closed in order to develop the condos.

On related news, the Halloween Loop was off the friggin hook.

Anybody go?

[xzmattzx]

xzmattzx was the Stone balloon closed already, or did it close due to the new condo's?

It' closed to make way for the condos.

You won't find any UD student who would rather have the condos than the Balloon. The Balloon was an icon. I still can't believe they tore it down. This is one condo project I wish was never proposed and implemented.

[xzmattzx]

Halloween Loop photos:

http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Site=BL&Date=20061029&Category=PHOTOS02&ArtNo=610290802&Ref=PH

[xzmattzx]

Today is Return Day. Return Day is a "holiday" celebrated only in Delaware where the end of the elections are celebrated. Winners and losers bury the hatchet, and then everyone drinks and parties.

Today the results of the elections will be read from the Sussex County Courthouse in Georgetown. The real festivities are on Thursday, though, with the winners & losers' parade, burying of the hatchet, and ox barbecue.

Return Day: A chance to chill after the vote
After the hatchet's buried, belly up for ox sandwiches


If you don't have a newspaper subscription, a TV, a radio, a computer or an acquaintance plugged into such modern conveniences, you can hear the Sussex County election results for the first time at 4 p.m. Thursday in Georgetown.

Dressed in tails and top hat, town crier W. Layton Jones, 80, a former Georgetown mayor, will ceremoniously read the results from the balcony of the historic Sussex County Courthouse and thereby carry out the official -- albeit obsolete -- purpose of Sussex County Return Day.

And, if tradition holds, a major cross-section of your fellow Return Day celebrants will be red-eyed and queasy from Wednesday night's parties and not even marginally interested in hearing the numbers yet again.

Return Day, a singularly Delawarean event established 214 years ago as the first opportunity to hear election results, evolved over the next 35 to 40 years into an occasion for candidates to publicly set aside animosities spawned by the election season.

Since the early 1970s, Return Day has featured an actual burying of a hatchet, and -- in keeping with the inclusive spirit of the day -- the county Libertarian and Independent party chairmen will join their Democratic and Republican counterparts in that gesture of conciliation.

Skeptics would suggest that, given a wealth of communications options, Return Day now is mostly just an excuse to throw a big party every two years. But Debbie Jones, corresponding secretary of the Return Day Committee, takes exception to that notion.

"Burying the hatchet symbolizes the fact that the election is over," she said, "and the parties will agree to put away all the election hard feelings and work together."

An oft-quoted historian on Return Day, W. Emerson Wilson, traces the observance to 1792. A year earlier, the General Assembly, responding to a clamor from western Sussex County, moved the county seat, the only legal polling place, from the coastal town of Lewes to a more centrally located burg called Georgetown. Residents could then vote in Georgetown, with the average trek to the polls being pared down considerably.

According to a history posted at the Return Day Committee Web site, residents of outlying areas had persuaded the Legislature by 1811 that it was too onerous to travel even to Georgetown to vote. The Legislature responded by authorizing voting in 13 political subdivisions called "hundreds." But still, ballots were hauled to Georgetown, where, by law, they were turned over to the sheriff for counting and certification.

The law dictated that the results be announced at the Sussex County Courthouse two days after the election and, apparently, folks who thought Georgetown was too far away for voting purposes had few qualms about going there to party.

By the 1830s, Return Day was marked by concerts, gambling and a range of other activities. Early on, food vendors offered opossum, rabbit meat, fish and oysters. Although this year's fare might be a little different, dozens of vendors will be stationed at traditional locations around The Circle.

As usual, a highlight of Return Day will be a parade featuring the winners and losers of races for major office riding in the same conveyances -- including horse-drawn carriages, mostly from the Nutter Marvel collection. The parade, which begins at 1:30 p.m., will feature retiring state Rep. Tina Fallon, 89, as the grand marshal.

The parade will be followed by Ceremonies on the Circle, which will include the reading of returns and the hatchet burial ceremony. The event will end with the traditional scarfing of free open-pit barbecued ox sandwiches, the product of a roasting process that began the night before.

"Everybody's invited to get a free ox roast sandwich," Jones said, "and that should wind up the festivities for the day."

http://vh10018.v1.moc.gbahn.net/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=BL&Date=20061108&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=611080364&Ref=AR&Profile=1006&title=1
Kay Wood Bailey donned Colonial garb and carried an umbrella on a rainy Return Day on The Circle in Georgetown in 2004.

SUSSEX COUNTY RETURN DAY SCHEDULE

Today

6 p.m.: Three bands -- Bird Dog & The Road Kings, The Funsters and Whaley's Corner -- will play on the Courthouse parking lot, The Circle, Georgetown.

Thursday

9 a.m. to dusk: Arts, crafts and food vendors, North and South Race streets and North Bedford Street

10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.: Sussex County Youth Entertainment Stage, sponsored by Delaware Electric Co-operative, East Market Street

10:30 a.m.: Reception for honored guests, William A. Carter Partnership Center, Delaware Technical & Community College

Noon: Steel the Show (Steel Pan Band), main stage, in front of Courthouse

12:30 p.m.: Hatchet toss, Sussex County mayors, Old Courthouse, South Bedford Street

12:45 p.m.: Miss Delaware Jamie Ginn, main stage

1:30 p.m.: Parade, starting at Sussex Middle School, then West Market Street to the south side of The Circle, turning on East Market to South King Street, turning on East Pine Street and back to the school

3:45 p.m.: Ceremonies on the Circle, including burial of the hatchet

4 p.m.: Reading of the Returns

4:30 p.m.: Ox roast

http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061108/NEWS/611080364/1006/NEWS

[blorkishdork]

:previous:

Thats really interesting, I had no idea that existed, and I was born in Delaware! Its good to see things like that survive and also have the winners and losers come together and (try) not to be bitter towards one another.

[mglan80]

^^Only Sussex County offices gets that day off. I think it's a pretty unique tradition.

[xzmattzx]

Winners, losers bury the hatchet on Return Day
Georgetown custom harkens back to 18th century


Sitting in a carriage with your political opponent and parading in front of thousands of people might sound, well, awkward. But on Thursday the winners and losers of Election Day races did just that and continued a 214-year-old tradition in Georgetown.

Return Day, originally the day when election results were announced in Sussex County, was full of smiling politicians and their fans. Candidates -- the elected and the defeated -- said they had a great time and were happy to put the campaign season behind them.

Indeed, the event officially concluded with Sussex County Democrat, Republican, Independent and Libertarian party leaders literally burying a hatchet with sand.

"We need to take the spirit of this day and the healing of this day and spread it all over the country," said Sen. Tom Carper, who won re-election Tuesday.

In keeping with the tradition, Beau Biden, who won the race for attorney general, shared a small red and yellow carriage with his opponent, Ferris Wharton.

Although the race was full of negative ads, the two said they chatted amicably about dogs and bike riding.

"We've known each other for a while," Biden said.

Space was so tight that their knees almost touched.

Jan Ting, who lost to Carper, said the senator and his wife were very gracious to him during their carriage ride.

"I'm going to drop in on their party," he said.

Surrounded by the movers and shakers of his state at the ox roast sandwich stand, Dave Milsom, 64, noted that a tradition like Return Day would be hard to carry out in a big state like California.

"Here you can walk around and see your senator, your representative and your governor and say hello to them."

Plus, the retired plant manager from Newark said, "It's almost like tailgating."

Former Georgetown mayor and current (at least for Thursday) town crier W. Layton Johnson, 80, wore a tophat and bowtie as he belted election results from the balcony of the historic Sussex County Courthouse.

In 1792, when historians believe the tradition began, that would have been the first that people heard of election results.

State Rep. Tina Fallon, who is retiring after 28 years, was the grand marshal.

Even though it's November, some of the attendees wore short sleeves and sipped cool lemonade. Return Day Committee President Rosalie Walls said it was the best weather and the best turnout the event has seen since she became president in 1990.

"There's no comparison," she said, dressed in a flower print hoop skirt accented with a glittering broach.

Castle has ridden in 11 Return Days and attended many more.

"The ride was great," he said. "We had a very cooperative horse this year."

Return Day is meant to harken back to the late 18th century, but Thursday morning it seemed like the day might be a little more old-fashioned than expected.

The power was out in Georgetown. A car had hit an electrical pole at the intersection of U.S. 9 and U.S. 113.

"It would have been like an original Return Day," said Kevin Short, a member of the event's committee. "The town crier would have cried."

But most power returned shortly after 10 a.m.

http://vh10018.v1.moc.gbahn.net/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=BL&Date=20061110&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=611100352&Ref=AR&Profile=1006&title=1
Democrat Beau Biden (right), Delaware's attorney general-elect, and his Republican challenger, Ferris Wharton, ride around The Circle in Georgetown on Thursday in the traditional Return Day festivities. Statewide winners and losers took part in the 214-year-old tradition.

http://vh10018.v1.moc.gbahn.net/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=BL&Date=20061110&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=611100352&Ref=V2&Profile=1006&title=1
Sussex political leaders including Shirley Price (left) and Bill Lee bury the hatchet Thursday in Georgetown, putting the 2006 election season symbolically to rest.

http://vh10018.v1.moc.gbahn.net/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=BL&Date=20061110&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=611100352&Ref=H3&Profile=1006&title=1
Meoghan Swain, 3, watches on The Circle as politicians ride Thursday through the streets of Georgetown.


MORE PHOTOS:
http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Site=BL&Date=20061110&Category=PHOTOS01&ArtNo=611100801&Ref=PH&Profile=1006

http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061110/NEWS/611100352/1006/NEWS

[xzmattzx]

Seeing that the Wilmington development threads have been quiet recently as there isn't too much to talk about, I figured I might as well resurrect this so we Delawareans have something to talk about. So here's a question:

What's everyone's favorite bar in Wilmington? In Newark? At the beach?

[xzmattzx]

There's a house in Westover Hills for sale. It's only $7.75 million.:frog:

Ex-MBNA chief Cawley selling Del. estate
Retired banking exec says he's not cutting ties to state


Charles M. Cawley, founder of the former MBNA credit card bank, is selling his estate in the exclusive Westover Hills neighborhood. He's asking $7.75 million.

Cawley said Tuesday that he and his wife, Julie, decided to sell their 23,937-square-foot home after living in it for fewer than 20 days last year.

Since his retirement as CEO of the bank at the end of 2003, Cawley said he and his wife spend summers and autumns at their home in Maine. Winters and early springs are spent at their home in Florida, he said. They also travel frequently.

But Cawley, who made dramatic improvements to the 4.5-acre property at Berkeley Road and Kennett Pike since buying it in the early 1990s, said he is not abandoning Delaware.

"We don't intend to stop being in Delaware," Cawley said. "A lot of our dearest friends are in Delaware. We thought of moving into a smaller house, but we just haven't decided yet."

Because the property is so distinctive, Cawley said, he expects the house could take some time to sell.

"I'm not falling over in a big hurry," Cawley said.

But Stephen J. Crifasi of Patterson-Schwartz & Associates, the real estate agent who is handling the sale, said he has learned never to underestimate buyers in Delaware. He also expects to market the house regionally.

"There is a buyer for this property," Crifasi said. "Delaware is very surprising."

Crifasi said the property would be put on the market this week. Since it is an exclusive listing, it will not be posted in the multiple listing service database.

Besides the six-bedroom main house, there are a 7,029-square-foot carriage house and a 4,717-square-foot car barn, Crifasi said. The carriage house has 11 garages on the ground floor. On the second floor, there is a three-bedroom suite with kitchen, living area and large office. There is also a full-service beauty salon in the carriage house.

The car barn is an automobile showcase building that can accommodate 18 cars. The walls are paneled in teak and the floors are tile. Both the carriage house and car barn are air-conditioned.

Also on the grounds are a catering building with kitchen, a tennis court, gardens and a gazebo.

"You compare this to a house on the Main Line [outside Philadelphia], it would be $15 million or $20 million," Crifasi said.

In the years he ran MBNA, Cawley was a larger-than-life figure in Delaware society and one of the highest-paid corporate executives in the country. Under his leadership, MBNA was a major benefactor of charities and the arts. Bank of America, which took over MBNA in January 2006, has sold many of the artworks and properties MBNA had purchased under Cawley.

Buyers who want to see the house will have to be screened as qualified purchasers, Crifasi said.

Mary Beth Adelman, president and owner of Re/Max Associates in Wilmington, said the location of the property and the condition of the buildings should make it desirable to potential buyers.

"It's an incredible property. If I had that kind of money, I'd buy it," Adelman said.

http://vh10018.v1.moc.gbahn.net/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=BL&Date=20070103&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=701030362&Ref=AR&Profile=1006&title=1
Cawley's Greenville estate is priced at $7.75 million.

http://vh10018.v1.moc.gbahn.net/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=BL&Date=20070103&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=701030362&Ref=V1&Profile=1006&title=1
Charles M. Cawley has upgraded his Westover Hills property since buying it in the early 1990s.

http://vh10018.v1.moc.gbahn.net/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=BL&Date=20070103&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=701030362&Ref=V2&Profile=1006&title=1

http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070103/NEWS/701030362/1006/NEWS

[xzmattzx]

It looks like Google has better aerial images of Kent and Sussex Counties now. :)

[Evergrey]

Ian Snell, who went 14-11 in his first full season as a starter for the Pittsburgh Pirates, was named Delaware athlete of the year for 2006 by the Delaware Sportswriters and Broadcasters Association at its 58th annual banquet Sunday night. Snell is a 2000 graduate of Caesar Rodney High School near Dover, Del.

[Joey D]

Ian Snell, who went 14-11 in his first full season as a starter for the Pittsburgh Pirates, was named Delaware athlete of the year for 2006 by the Delaware Sportswriters and Broadcasters Association at its 58th annual banquet Sunday night. Snell is a 2000 graduate of Caesar Rodney High School near Dover, Del.

I know his sister.

[xzmattzx]

I know his sister.

That's Delaware for you. Everyone knows everyone.

I know Kevin Mench's half-sister. My friend went out on a date with her. She was too chatty though and he cut the night off short.

I also know a guy at my gym who has an in-law that's related to Ron Rivera, who will be coaching in the Super Bowl on Sunday.

I also know a kid that swam on the swim team I swam for who is the son of George Thorogood's drummer.

[xzmattzx]

Steel and concrete ar rising out of the ground for the Washington House condos in Newark. I'll take some photos soon.

[DEBOI302]

i didnt really notice this until the other day while driving that the suburbs or towns or whatever are like getting small rise office towers like christiana, bear, and unincorporated towns have like small office towers and taking a trip through new castle i was amazed at the historic district i never really noticed it until the other day... oh yea... didnt there used to be a darth vador statue somewhere in delaware i cant remember where but i did see it before lol

[xzmattzx]

i didnt really notice this until the other day while driving that the suburbs or towns or whatever are like getting small rise office towers like christiana, bear, and unincorporated towns have like small office towers and taking a trip through new castle i was amazed at the historic district i never really noticed it until the other day... oh yea... didnt there used to be a darth vador statue somewhere in delaware i cant remember where but i did see it before lol

I am not really aware of any low-rise towers down in Bear or Christiana. Where are they in these places? I'm never in Bear so I know nothing about that area, but my friend lives near Christiana and I don't remember anything.

The only low-rise I am aware about is the Artisan's Bank headquarters going up at the intersection of Lancaster Pike and Centerville Road between Wilmington and Hockessin.

DEBOI, you should register on SkyscraperCity; I have some nice Delaware threads in the Northeast section, and as a new moderator over there, I'm trying to create a larger Delaware presence. (You should also use better grammar, because your sentences are hard to read.)

[DEBOI302]

I am not really aware of any low-rise towers down in Bear or Christiana. Where are they in these places? I'm never in Bear so I know nothing about that area, but my friend lives near Christiana and I don't remember anything.

The only low-rise I am aware about is the Artisan's Bank headquarters going up at the intersection of Lancaster Pike and Centerville Road between Wilmington and Hockessin.

DEBOI, you should register on SkyscraperCity; I have some nice Delaware threads in the Northeast section, and as a new moderator over there, I'm trying to create a larger Delaware presence. (You should also use better grammar, because your sentences are hard to read.)well christiana has many medical centers along route 4, but along 95 that insurance building i believe its nationwide not 100% sure but bear has a few medical centers that are about 6 stories high and so on around glasgow... and there is a low rise building on centerville road right before the artisan headquarters they are building i forgot what its called though

[Evergrey]

Dover is kicking ass!

http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/images/NA-AM121_HOUSIN_20070215195655.gif

[xzmattzx]

I didn't even realize that Dover was a metro area.

Those housing prices are probably going up from two things: 1) general growth in the Dover area, and 2) people who work in Wilmington moving farther and farther away from Wilmington. I would think that the Dover metro area includes Smyrna, at the northern end of Kent County. That place is getting built up like crazy. As Smyrna gets built up, some people are moving to Dover and just commuting from all the way down there.

[soynog]

I'm been wondering about the Dover housing boom myself. Bank of America made the deepest cuts here (percentage wise) when they merged with MBNA. Playtex is moving plants to North Carolina and Malaysia. :( It doesn't have a big year-round tourist economy (Nascar being a brief boon each year).

I dunno, I'm no sure the new houses and home values are sustainable. Maybe people are using it as a long-suburb into the Christiana area (a suburb of Wilmington).

[xzmattzx]

I think some people are commuting from Dover to Northern Delaware. I know of plenty of people who live in the Dover area but work and "play" in Newark or Wilmington: they use Northern Delaware amenities like schools, swim teams, etc.

Dover is a bit of a drive though. Of course, Dover isn't that much of a drive from Smyrna, so if people commute from Smyrna, then commuting from Dover isn't too much of a stretch.

This increase in housing prices not only shows demand, but probably is testament to lower housing prices and property values than places like Bear or Pike Creek or Brandywine Hundred.

[xzmattzx]

Khadijah Rushdan and Elena Delle Donne were both named first-team Parade All-Americans today. Both go to school in Wilmington: Rushdan at St. Elizabeth's, Delle Donne at Ursuline Academy. Delaware is the only state to have two first-team All-Americans. In addition, Delle Donne is the only first-team All-American that is not a senior.

http://www.parade.com/articles/editions/2007/edition_04-08-2007/Girls_Basketball