47th Annual Civic Trust Awards

On November 7th the BIP held its 47th Annual Civic Trust Awards program at Elpedio’s at Seipsville Inn in Palmer Township.  Prior to the dinner, Jeff Young, President of the BIP welcomed the members present and the recipients. After dinner, Chairwomen of the Awards Committee Debra Young presented the 2024 Civic Trust Awards recipients.

booster award – Robert Blanchfield

This award recognizes outstanding contributions to the Palmer Township community. It is presented to the person who has exhibited outstanding service to others thus distinguishing Palmer Township through their contributions to their fellow man, business community or political environment.

.tBooster Award – Bob Blanchfield

We honor Bob Blanchfield with the 2024 Booster Award to recognize his many years of involvement and volunteerism within Palmer Township.

Bob’s list is quite extensive, and I will do my best to incorporate his dedication, foresight and commitment into this introduction.

I recall my first memory of Bob was with the Palmer Municipal Fire Department. Bob was on the initial Palmer Days committee working with Eddie Grube as the representative for the fire department. Bob was instrumental, along with Bob Lammi, to plan and coordinate the first Firemen’s Muster at Fairview Park as part of our community weekend, which continues to promote and inspire current and future firefighters in our area. Bob was a Fire Prevention Officer where he coordinated visits to our grade schools and the annual fire prevention display at Palmer Park Mall.  He was very active and achieved the rank of Captain and is a proud Life Member of the department.

Other boards that Bob formerly served on include Suburban EMS and Baker Federal Credit Union. He also served on the Palmer Township Planning Commission for 33 years, where he was the chairman for a number of years. He was awarded the Citizen Planner by the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission.

Currently, Bob is a Palmer representative to the Easton Area Joint Sewer Authority, serving as Treasurer of the Authority and is active on the Engineering, Finance and Industrial Pretreatment committees.  He is also the chairman of the Palmer Township Stormwater Authority. 

And now to BIP!  Long time and active member of BIP, Bob has been our Board Member, is a Past President, currently Vice President, and has spearheaded many of our projects. These include benches and doggie waste stations along the bike path, benches and landscaping in front of the Palmer library, safety lights at the cross-walk on Greenwood Avenue and he also is our popcorn guru for Palmer Days.

I have been speaking about Bob for a few minutes now, and just think, this is all about his volunteer work! I have not yet spoken about his real job! I’m not sure how he found the time, but Bob worked in the environmental field most of his professional life and is Co-founder and President of Advanced Environmental Recycling Corporation managing four recycling facilities across the United States.

Although Bob grew up in Phillipsburg, he has called Palmer Township home for 50 years. He lives with his long-time partner, Terri Dech. Bob has two fantastic daughters, Jami & Lori – who all celebrate him tonight.

There are a couple of words that I have repeated over again in this introduction of Bob – they are serve and active. Bob has served our community with Volunteerism at its quality level and he has put action to ideas for the betterment of our community. For this, we recognize you, Bob, and present the Booster Award to you with our gratitude.

community service award
EARTH STEWARDS OF PALMER TOWNSHIP

The Community Service Award recognizes individuals and/or groups who by the service to others or contributions to the Palmer community help to distinguish Palmer as a caring community.

Earth Stewards of Palmer Township

 Palmer Township is fortunate to have a group of like-minded individuals to lead and educate our community with forward thinking and environmentally friendly actions. They strive to instill pride in our community and pride in private property.

The vision of the Earth Stewards of Palmer Township is to see this land as not belonging to us, but entrusted to us, for the benefit of future generations. They put into action the concept to think globally, but act locally. The liaisons and partnerships formed with other civic minded volunteer groups has strengthened their mission to protect all waters through removal of litter from our streets and riverbanks and promote sustainability and biodiversity through composting and use of native plants. 

Since their inception in 2017, the Earth Stewards of Palmer Township have removed 15 tons of litter from our trails and roadways, they have removed 178 tires from the environment and assisted in planting numerous trees within the Bushkill Stream’s riparian areas and borders along the creek near Mill Race Park. This group consists of 9 core members and 16 auxiliary members who assist as their schedules permit. They work closely with Palmer Township’s administration, Bob Williams and his staff, to ensure issues are addressed and rectified. They support our local government by volunteering at community and county recycling and waste collection events. Our Public Works Department assists with large item removal and provides trash bags for their use.

Members have attended various training and educational events, providing input into the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission, PennDoT and Palmer’s MS4 Citizen Advisory Committee.

I often wonder when I hear residents complain or post on social media that the township has such stringent rules with signs or parking large work trucks in front of their house, or campers set up in driveways – and I think-  what if everyone did that?  How would our community look?  Learning more about this organization has made me think; What if they didn’t do that?  What if they didn’t care so much about our environment and didn’t remove the litter strewn about our neighborhoods, trails and waterways?  How would our community look?

We recognize your hard work and dedication to our clean environment, not just for today but for many years to come. We present the Earth Stewards of Palmer Township with our Community Service Award. Accepting on behalf of the organization is John Marks and Ken Starace.

civic trust award
THE COOP BAR & KITCHEN

The award is the highest tribute that the association of professionals can pay to a business, corporation or individual conducting commerce within the township boundaries of Palmer. It is intended to recognize significant physical improvement to existing properties, as well as new structures, which through the free-enterprise system in turn make an outstanding contribution to the business climate of the township.

The Coop Sports Bar & Kitchen

We recognize The Coop Sports Bar & Kitchen with our Civic Trust Award, for the improvement and upgrade of an existing building. Located at 2722 Freemansburg Avenue, the former site of Fat Jacks and before that, Mammy Morgans Tavern, this location is no stranger to a sports bar. After the purchase in August of 2023, the renovations began.

They redid the entire interior, the ceiling was replaced, fresh paint and lighting created a welcoming atmosphere. New cooking equipment was installed in the kitchen along with new refrigeration. In the bar area, new refrigeration was installed for the beer and booze, the bathrooms were replaced and a new security system was installed. A state-of-the-art Television and sound system was added to provide a great viewing destination for all sports enthusiasts 7 days a week. The exterior was painted and new signage was installed.

With a menu featuring delicious pub grub, mouthwatering dishes from their smoker, daily specials, live entertainment and a pool table, the owners have reached their goal to continue the proud tradition of a neighborhood sports bar.

The partners in this venture in addition to Chaz Patrick are Mike Tuskes, Scott Mahorski, Rick Bower, Henry Newton and Tim Howell.

BIP welcomes you to Palmer Township and wishes you many years of success.

CIVIC TRUST AWARD
JOHN & TRACY TRUPIANO
BUILDING COMPLEX

John & Tracy Trupiano

With 30 years of experience in the glass business, John & Tracy Trupiano have provided the Lehigh Valley with Commercial, Auto and Residential glass needs as ABE Area Glass. Operating their business for the past 17 years in Palmer Township, in October of 2022, John & Tracy Trupiano had the opportunity to purchase the property located at 4041 & 4055 William Penn Highway, where they had been renting a portion of the one buildings to operate their business. This purchase included both buildings on the corner of William Penn Highway between S. Nulton Avenue and Marblehead Chowderhouse.  They had a vision for both properties, and they went right to work.

The building closest to Marblehead was first – to improve the exterior of the building, they intended to replace the faded siding, but once the old was removed, they found the same stone that was on the bottom continued up on the entire building. Seeing that, they chose to paint it. They also replaced old windows, cleaned up and updated the landscaping and replaced the signage. This all brought new life to an old building. The interior also needed much TLC; a new office area was created, new cabinetry installed, and the workspace that was previously in a detached garage area, was incorporated within the building to allow for conducive work functionality. Additional office space was created which now houses a business called Studio Arts Dental. That building also has 2 apartments upstairs.

The other building, which probably most of us remember as the Miller Paint’s & Wallpaper location, was totally gutted and fit out to accommodate a new business to Palmer Township – Giacomo’s Italian Market and Grille. You truly need to stop in to see the improvements and experience that transformation. The floor was replaced and with new paint on the walls, walking in it is clean and bright. Offering an eat-in seating area looking out the windows to William Penn Highway, there is a grocery area with Italian fare, refrigeration to offer homemade sauces, variety of cheeses and specialized pasta’s A large deli counter with a large menu including hot and cold sandwiches, along with assortment of homemade sausages to purchase. The heating and air conditioning was totally replaced. Outside, an old shed was removed to make room for the refrigeration unit and a handicapped ramp was also installed for easy access. These improvements set the stage leading to the success of a new business in our community.

BIP Congratulates John & Tracy, for the improvements of both buildings and we wish you continued success.