Saturday July 15th, ​

Saturday March 25th, was an accomplished morning spent sprucing up the Colonial Cemetery on Lakewview Drive in Allentown.  Such fun!  Make sure to stop by and take a look!

A special thanks to all community members who volunteered:  
Mike Michaud, Lara Michaud, Carla Lebentritt, Dan Zorovich, Lynne Meara, Phil Meara, Alice Wikoff, Abigail Abbott, Wil Borkowski, Kelly Owens, two great little kids, and Martha Ploshay!

​Every day the volunteers of The Allentown Village Initiative (TAVI) help to beautify the village main streets, restore historic charm, help the downtown commercial district thrive, and strive to make Allentown, NJ a better place to live and enjoy. 
 

​At TAVI we are always looking to the future to better our community and at present we are investing resources into street parking signage to beautify the town and help our businesses.  If you would like to help contribute to this or any other project, we encourage you to please reach as a volunteer or donate:
 
Volunteer:  http://www.allentownvinj.org/volunteer.html
Donate: http://www.allentownvinj.org/donate.html
 
To give you a taste of what’s to come here is a look back at some of TAVI's best moments of 2016:

DECEMBER
December was the peak of 2016 and the biggest month for contributions from TAVI.  We got social and launched our Facebook page, engaging with more and more community members.  At the historic Imlay House we had another event in collaboration with the local business: Branching Out.  Later in the month we displayed our newest holiday life-sized figures and finally we released the newly finished: A Short History of Allentown.  ​

Make sure you check out A Short History of Allentown, now available for download.

​

Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 3,4 ​ at the Imlay House in Allentown, Branching Out hosted a wonderful weekend of local entertainment, history of the John Imlay, and high school student art exhibit.

​Despite the storm "Matthew", the Fall Harvest Festival was a success for The Allentown Village Initiative!

Kurt Wayton, Madeline Gavin, Carla Lebentritt, and Martha Ploshay, our booth volunteers we were able to share stories, memories, TAVI project information plus: stuffed animals, balloons, stickers, and postcards with members of the community.  We hope for anyone that stopped by - you found it to be informative, interesting, and a worthwhile cause!

Special Thanks To:

• Kurt Wayton for displaying historic buildings, creating the logo stickers and organizing the TAVI presence at the festival
• Martha Ploshay for the stuffed animals, balloons and organizational support  
• Jeff Ploshay for putting together book marks of the banner and TAVI information cards
• Lara & Michael Michaud for creating the postcards

Please come visit our booth at the annual Allentown Fall Festival ​we look forward to meeting you. 


​All of us at The Allentown Village Initiative are looking forward to sharing with you our latest projects and hearing from you on what you would like to see us work on next to help fulfill our goals of :

• Educating the community in the principles of sustainability, economic development, natural resource protection, historic preservation, and village planning; 
• Revitalizing the economy and sense of community with increased emphasis on the arts, culture, and history;
• Preserving and protecting a greened, historic village 
• Thoughtfully designing and planning for a quality aesthetic - both in design particulars and for a common, cohesive vision of how we want our community to look and feel, and; 
• Developing solutions to address pedestrian and vehicular traffic and circulation issues that satisfy and enhance both the real needs of commerce and a residential quality-of-life while making the village more pedestrian-friendly.

More information on the fall festival....
http://allentownnj.com/fall-festival/

It was a warm Saturday evening on September 10th and The Allentown Village Initiative fundraiser was a hit on all sixes!   The townsfolk of Allentown, NJ were a set of swanky flapper dolls and dapper gentlemen as we celebrating the Jazz Age through its history, music and artifacts.
Antique cars lined the driveway and set the scene for the beautiful vintage 1930’s vintage Tudor home on 143 South Main Street.  Guests were greeted by our handmade-figure crafted by local artisans from inspiring the playful whimsy of Allentown.

Out in the garden among the blooms the Allentown High School Jazz band serenaded guests to Jazz while the antique photo booth provided a back drop for fun memories.  

Throughout the home and among the garden history was woven into the fabric of the night including photos and articles from the 1920's and 30's plus a screen projected classic movies from the period.  

There was also a silent auction supported by the local businesses and residents.  

This enchanting evening was capped with information on The Allentown Village Initiative contributions to the community as well as upcoming projects the town can look forward to.  All in all it was a magical night.
On behalf of The Village Initiative we thank our sponsors for their donations, our attendees for supporting our cause and our community for being something worth preserving.

​A special thank you to the following:

• Martha Ploshay for organizing a fun and jazzy event
• Christine and Pedro for sharing your home the evening
• Gloria Riccardi for delicious cookies
• Fulton Bank for donating the sangria
• The Allentown High School students who served savory and sweet treats
• The Allentown High School Jazz band for providing music for the evening
• Bloomers ‘n’ Things for sharing a beautiful autumn floral bouquet
• Nancy Tindall for the silent auction Peddie greens fees and cart
• The Green Lace Lion for the silent auction gift basket including paint class for two
• Bruno’s Bicycles for the silent auction Electra Beach Cruiser
• Our silent auction winners for their contributions
• And support from Christine Riccardi, Melinda Brown, Nancy Tindall, Ellen Sortore, Jim Bruno, Heather Saracen, Joan Ruddiman, Kelli Bearer, Lara Michaud, Karen Dahms, Carla Lebentritt, Deanna Pfeiffer, Jeff Ploshay, Richard Fitzpatrick, Kurt Wayton, Jolene Bauer, Ann Garrison, and Bill Lull for your generous donations, time, ideas and expertise ensuring a successful TAVI fundraiser