KENNETT SQUARE: Some business changes

A few random observations from downtown Kennett Square:
1. Chantilly Blue, the ladies' clothing store, has moved just across the street from 120 West State Street to 117 West State Street.
2. Mala Galleria will be taking over the vacant storefront at Broad and State Streets that used to house the Longwood Art Gallery.
3. The fish tacos at Michoacana Grill at Cypress and Union Streets, Kennett Square, are so delicious. And should you feel the urge for La Michoacana ice cream while you are in West Chester, Noelia, the owner, tells me she has opened Tropical Delight Homemade Ice Cream at 125 North Church Street (the former soft pretzel shop). They feature La Michoacana ice cream!

The fish tacos at Michoacana Grill.

ELKTON: Cecil County Fair

The Cecil County (Md.) Fair opens July 21 and runs through July 29. It's quite an experience: barns full of prize animals, flowers, vegetables, baked goods and crafts as well as carnival rides, a demolition derby, tractor-pulling competitions, live music, farm equipment displays, and food vendors (I cannot recommend the deep-fried Oreos). The people-watching alone is worth the price of admission.
The fairgrounds are located at 4640 Telegraph Road (Route 273) in Elkton.

MARSHALLTON: Keeping cool

A Marshallton friend reports that her refrigerator broke and she had to wait two weeks to get it fixed -- apparently it needed a special, and expensive, part. Living without a fridge was especially challenging given that she had guests staying with her.
I was reminded of the hot-weather advice given in "Domestic Cookery," written in 1845 by Avondale resident Elizabeth Ellicott Lea: "Where persons live a distance from market, and have no fresh meat but what they kill, it is important to know how to keep it fresh... In the summer, if you have an ice-house, you can keep it without trouble. If rubbed with salt and pinned in a cloth, it will keep in the cellar two days; or by lowering it down your well, attached to a rope, and changing the cloth every other day, it will keep good a week in hot weather."
My friend used a cooler.
Another of Mrs. Lea's household tips: to keep water cool, store it in "a large stone vessel" wrapped in a wet cloth. "This will keep it cool for some hours, which is a comfort in warm weather."