Monthly Archives: June 2019

To celebrate D. Patrick Welsh Real Estate’s 60th year in business, we are offering free appetizers, desserts and drinks June 7th from 5-7pm at our office – 16 Park Avenue, Swarthmore, PA 19081! Please join us to share your happy memories of the community!

I decided to sit down with our broker, Dave Welsh, and ask him what it was like to grow up in real estate and how he feels about the company’s many years in Swarthmore! 

Tell us about how D. Patrick Welsh Real Estate got started. Why did your dad want his own firm?

Dad graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and began working in the conveyancing department for Albert M. Greenfield Real Estate in Philadelphia. When he decided he would like to sell real estate, he came back to Delaware County, where he grew up. His father-in-law was James Lukens, a local builder and developer, so he began working for him. Then he decided strike out on his own.

Why did he choose Swarthmore?

Some of our family members grew up here and my dad was very fond of Swarthmore. Because of its unique nature as a small college town, Dad felt it was the ideal place to sell homes. He never looked back and neither have I.

What was it like to grow up in a real estate household?

I was one of five kids. Dad was busy 24/7. He loved his work, but he didn’t think we should get into the business just because he was in real estate. He would tell us, “Seek your own path.”

But you didn’t listen! Did you always know you wanted to run the family business?

After college I had a myriad of sales and construction jobs, all of which seemed to lead me straight back to real estate. In 1986 my dad finally summoned me home to join him at D. Patrick Welsh Real Estate. I think he saw that the market was improving. And he could see that clearly I was not to be deterred. But he wanted to make sure I paid my dues. When I started out, if I didn’t have work for a client, he would make me drive around Delaware county for hours each day so that I would know every single street. He really felt we should know and love our community.

What was it like to take over the business?

It was very easy for me to walk right into the business because my dad had such a great reputation. He used to tell me about his very first sale. He bought an ad in The Swarthmorean, of course, and held an open house. A man came from Philadelphia and bought the house by noon. My dad liked to say that he then took the rest of the day off – because he had no other listings or clients yet! But, of course, it wasn’t always that easy. He didn’t mind hard work though, he was literally selling the American dream.

Sixty years is a long time! What has changed about the business in that time?

Everything. We used to have a real estate book that came out each week with the new listings. Then we would all drive around to see them. By midweek you were so anxious for the next edition that if you saw an agent from another firm you might follow them to see if they were headed to a house that was newly for sale! Property listings going online was a great change for us and for our customers. And there have been huge strides ethically in the business too – the Fair Housing Act, the advent of buyer agency, and so many more changes that make the market better for customers. Ultimately this is a people business – no matter how things may change digitally we’re still meeting people and helping them achieve their dreams.

What is D. Patrick Welsh looking forward to in the coming years?

With the rate of change that we’ve seen in the last five to ten years in this industry, no one could possibly predict the technological changes! We’ll enjoy learning new things, taking advantage of advancements and adapting. But D. Patrick Welsh Real Estate will stay independent and focused on our clients – those values are our constant.

Tell us about your celebration!

On Friday, June 7th we’ll be having wine & cheese and hors d’oeuvres and sharing memories with our clients here at 16 Park Avenue in Swarthmore from 5-7pm. Come visit and celebrate with us! We couldn’t have done this without you and we’re very grateful!

Donn Guthrie & Elizabeth Si perform The Arabian dance from The Nutcracker (photo courtesy of Arbour Guthrie)

In the year 1989, Tim Berner-Lee made a proposal for an information system that would become the World Wide Web. The wreck of the Bismarck was found. Driving Miss Daisy  was declared Best Picture. The Berlin Wall came down.                                                                                                                                                                     

And, in a picturesque Arts & Crafts style edifice that was once the home to the Swarthmore Women’s Club, Swarthmore Ballet Theatre was born.

Artistic director, Lori Ardis, had been dancing and teaching professionally for many years already. But something magical happened when she brought her love for the craft to Swarthmore. Since 1989, SBT has nourished thousands of students with self-discipline and joyful learning, and treated audiences to wonderful performances through the non-profit that shares SBT’s home, The Lori Ardis Ballet Company. 

In celebration of SBT’s 30th anniversary, Mrs. Ardis and her daughter, Amber Flynn, have choreographed a sumptuous production featuring the absolute fan-favorite dances from three decades of performances. This production soars from the sweet strains of The Nutcracker to the drama of Giselle, and everything in between – including The Dream Weavers conceived by Ardis & Flynn, and two ballets composed by SBT fixture, Ray Lindsey.

The anniversary collection program allows SBT to highlight many more dancers than in a single ballet production. Behind the scenes over one hundred volunteers are responsible for dozens of sound cues, hundreds of beautiful costumes and thousands of hours of classes and rehearsals to culminate in a performance that will take your breath away!

Eleanor Runiewicz & Donn Guthrie – The Firebird (photo courtesy of Arbour Guthrie)

The production opens with a pas de deus from The Firebird. Eleanor Runiewicz is magnificently birdlike in her manner. She and Donn Guthrie as the Prince perform thrilling lifts and dance with a crisp formality appropriate for a man accepting a magical feather from a fantastical fowl. Other wonderfully dramatic dances include the death-defyingly difficult Arabian pas de deux from The Nutcracker (Elizabeth Si and Donn Guthrie), a swift and spine-tingling pas de deux between The Black Swan and the Prince from Swan Lake (Mia Davis and Donn Guthrie) and a dance from Giselle that has veteran SBT ballerina, Grace Hodges, descending believably into madness in a solo that puts the final episodes of Game of Thrones to shame.

 

The production is bursting with amazing solos including two lovely performances by Ellen McCullough as Aurora from Sleeping Beauty, Michaela Venuto’s lively tarantella from La Boutique Fantasque, Geraldine Leach’ssweetRaymonda, Naomi Nelms’s delightful jester from Cinderella,and Leticia Prosser’s hauntingly beautiful Odette from Swan Lake.

 

The audience is understandably excited by the sheer volume of incredible pieces. The

Lillian Hodges & Alex Voelker – Swan Lake (photo courtesy of Kristen Herzel)

energy in the intimate space is at its peak during joyful dances like Kitri and Basilio and their tornado of pirouettes in Don Quixote (Rose Hodges and Theo Runiewicz), The Hungarian from Swan Lake  (Lillian Hodges and Alexander Voelker) and the stageful of energetic dragonflies from Cinderella. 

 

Though we seldom think of the ballet as a place to go for laugh-out-loud humor, SBT’s classic light touch gets roars from the audience in dances like the hilarious musician with the ballerina playing all his mischievous instruments  from Cinderella (Mia Davis and Theo Runiewicz) and the rescue scene from Coppelia, in which Dr. Coppelius (William Hodges) tries to make a doll (Elizabeth Si) into a real girl and is tricked by Swanilda (Naomi Si) into believing he has accomplished this goal so that she can rouse Franz (Theo Runiewicz) and get him out of the house. The delusional doctor learns within two minutes of having a “real daughter” exactly how frustrating parenting can be. Swanilda’s antics and the doctor’s dismay absolutely bring the house down.

 

Mia Davis & Donn Guthrie – Swan Lake (photo courtesy of Arbour Guthrie)

In all, Ardis and Flynn fly the audience through forty-three dances from fourteen ballets in a tight two hours that feels much, much shorter. The small stage is transformed again and again, and is occupied by dozens of dancers who are each fully committed to his or her role. It is a daring production that delivers a performance worthy of the decades of dance it represents.

 

Coveted SBT tickets can be hard to come by, but a few seats are available for the performance this Saturday, June 8th at 7:30pm. Be sure to arrive half an hour before curtain to secure your ticket, first come, first served.

And if you really want to remember to get tickets early next year – sign yourself or your children up for classes! Learn more about taking dance classes at SBT here!

Above: Letitia Prosser  and Elizabeth Miller as silly step-sisters Haughty & Flighty – Cinderella Below: Naomi Si – La Boutique Fantasque (photos courtesy of Arbour Guthrie)

Naomi Nelms as the Jester – Cinderella (photo courtesy of Arbour Guthrie)