About Pennington Day -- A Rich History
For press inquiries, please contact Andy Beloff at 609-737-0035 or anybeloff@penningtonday.com.
Pennington Day is held in downtown Pennington Boro along Main Street and adjacent roads intersecting Main Street.
This popular community event has become a positive force for the town, Hopewell Valley and local area businesses and organizations. Pennington Day's origins date back to January 1980 when a huge fire occurred at the Pennington School's four-story O'Hanlon Hall. The electrically-started blaze brought 19 fire companies to the scene to fight the unfolding disaster. In its aftermath, the borough and its residents came together in an effort to decide what they could do to help the school recover from its tragedy. From the ashes of O'Hanlon Hall sprang the first Pennington Day later that year; the proceeds of which helped the prep school recover from its disaster.
Since that time, Pennington Day has become one of the most important dates on the borough and Hopewell Valley's annual calendars. Pennington Day's mission is to further the borough's community spirit and identity as a community and enhance its quality of life, while providing community groups, civic organizations and businesses throughout Hopewell Valley an opportunity to inform the community of their mission, allowing community organizations from within Hopewell Valley to raise funds through their sponsorship of Pennington Day events and/or the booths they set up, and finally, to disburse any funds in excess of expenses to charitable organizations within the Hopewell Valley in the form of annual grants.
On an average year, approximately $10,000 in annual grants are awarded to deserving organizations by Pennington Day, Inc., a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. In 2009 (for 2008), $5,000 in seed money (out of a total of $10,000 in grants awarded in 2008) was given to the newly formed Pennington Farmers Market and an equal amount to the Hopewell Valley YMCA Capital Fund account to help finance the building of a new Y for the community.
Interest in Pennington Day has expanded way beyond its borders. The day now draws people from up and down the East Coast, and many years the "day" has expanded to an entire weekend - from Friday night to Sunday - with everything from a pancake breakfast to an event at a local winery sponsored by the Hopewell Valley Historical Society.
The goal and theme of Pennington Day is to bring a strong community theme to the event, focusing on local vendors, artists and the Pennington community.
A Board of Trustees is the administrative arm of Pennington Day, which consists of at least six, and not more than 13 volunteers from the local community, at least one of whom must be a past Pennington Day chair. The term of office is three years. A trustee may hold consecutive terms not to exceed six years.
The Board of Trustees president is currently Albert Teixeira and its chair for 2010 is Heather Wurtz.