Increases seen in outdoor recreation a ‘pleasant problem’

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Mass shutdowns in 2020 brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic pushed people outside.

Camping skyrocketed. Outdoor recreation entities reported banner years.

Was 2020 a blip on that radar or part of a new trend?

Even with 2021 in the books, it may be too soon to tell.

“The general narrative that we have heard is that 2021 rec use was a touch below 2020 but higher than 2019,” Rich Hatfield, Bradford District Ranger on the Allegheny National Forest, said.

Staff at Chapman State Park told the Times Observer that “park attendance and reservations were still up in 2021 over their historic averages of 2019 and prior, but the 2021 numbers did not surpass 2020.”

That was a trend seen across the state park system, they said.

“The tourism scene heading into 2022 has never been healthier in terms of outdoor recreation,” Warren County Visitors Bureau Executive Director Dave Sherman added.

“We’ve had businesses tell us they’ve broken records in 2021 or 2020. Some have told us they can’t absorb any more customers on summer weekends.

“That’s a pleasant problem.”

The Warren County Chamber of Business & Industry ran several events in 2021, highlighted by a food truck festival, the Industrial Softball Tournament and Jakes Rocks Trail Fest. They’re also now managing Warren County Winterfest, set for the weekend of Feb. 4.

All of those events share at least one thing in common — they’re outside.

“We focused our event schedule in 2021 primarily around outdoor activities and we were extremely pleased with the turnout that we saw at our events,” John Papalia, the Chamber’s director of operations and tourism, explained. “I think for many people, coming out to an event was a welcomed change after the lockdowns.

“We worked to do events and activities as safely as possible. An event such as the Jakes Rocks Trail Fest saw thousands of mountain bikers that were able to spread out through the trail system.”

Fee-based recreation sites on the ANF are privately managed by Allegheny Site Management and numbers provided by Hatfield show a revenue increase from $965,480 in 2020 to $991,648 in 2021.

Willow Bay, Red Bridge and Buckaloons were the sites that generated the most revenue, each topping $200,000.

Getting a handle on usage for ANF sites that don’t charge a fee, Hatfield explained, “is a little bit trickier.

“I tried to compare a couple sites in which we have good data over the last couple years. The biggest difference was in March-May 2020 when schools closed and a lot of people were looking to get out of the house,” he said. “That’s when we saw the biggest bump in non-developed rec use (e.g. trails).

“2021 numbers may be down a bit from 2020 — I hesitate to conclude much, though.”

Action in Washington is providing much-needed funding to attempt to capitalize on the growth of the last two years.

“The Forest is working hard to put together strong proposals to rebuild some of our circa 1960s recreation assets,” Hatfield said. “The Great American Outdoors Act and the Infrastructure Bill have provided us literally a once in a generation opportunity to rebuild our infrastructure and improve the Forest’s recreation assets.”

“In 2022, the ANF will benefit from additional Great American Outdoor Act funding,” ANF Operations Staff Officer Tim Vetter said. “We anticipate breaking ground this season or early 2023 on significant investments, which include the reconstruction of Longhouse Scenic Drive, Jakes Rocks Road, Kiasutha Campground and the Irwin Run Canoe Launch.

“These investments are in addition to the routine maintenance and minor improvements the Forest is able to make on an annual basis with our traditional allocations from Congress.”

Hatfield said planning has started for rehabilitation of the Dewdrop Recreation Area, as well, and that a new section of trail will link the Jakes Rocks system to Dewdrop.

The ANF is also “going to put a focus this year on our Boat-To Campgrounds (Morrison, Pine Grove, Handsome Lake, Hopewell and Pine Grove,” he explained. “The sites have fallen a bit into disrepair — this summer we want to spend some time dealing with deferred maintenance in the sites and improving the visitor experience.”

One site that’s still a bit up in the air is the Kinzua Point Information Center.

“It’s hard for me to say right now what the vision is for Kinzua Point Information Center,” Hatfield said. “Warren County and the Warren County Chamber of Business and Industry have commissioned a study to look at various options for the site and of course we will involve our partners with the Warren County Visitors Bureau in any future decisions regarding the visitor center.

“For sure, there is a future for the site,” he stressed. “The views from there are absolutely amazing and a frequent stopping point for both residents and visitors passing through. The good news is that we might be able to get the restrooms re-opened next summer. This fall we were able to get the water system tested and everything looked good. In the spring, we’ll fire up the water system and as long as everything passes inspection, we’ll be able to open the restrooms.”

Flexibility and fresh thinking will still be required on the tourism front as we head into 2022.

“I think we will continue to see people adapt with how the pandemic has played out,” Papalia said. “I think one thing we and most everyone has learned over these last couple years (is) to be adaptable.

“For most of our community events, or other chamber initiatives we take a look and say what does ‘normal’ look like and plan for that. If we need to make changes because cases are up we can adapt to our plan B or C. I think being adaptable certainly falls into the ‘new normal,’and we try to be prepared for various situations.

Sherman also emphasized the role that county residents play in promotion and growth in the tourism sector.

“Stop. Complaining. About. Everything,” he said. “When visitors arrive here, they’re happy. When they are recreating or visiting here, they’re happy. They don’t complain about our parking prices or restaurant prices. Many times the visitors chuckle at the prices — especially the parking.

“Visitors want to be told what they don’t know — who serves good wings, where is a quiet place to hike, where is there river access for my kayak? They don’t want to hear complaints. They left complaints at home. Welcome them. Encourage them. They are listening to us. We can be positive or negative.”

Love and scandal among Hertfordshire’s Victorian elite

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Hatfield House, Ashridge and Panshanger Park, with its glorious former mansion, are three of the great country houses that feature in a new historical biography looking at a late-19th century group of glamorous and clever friends who were torn apart by a scandal.

Nicknamed ‘the Souls’ because of their love of conversation, culture and clever games, they were a mixture of politicians, writers and artists who disliked the restrictive formalities of upper–class society. They scorned ‘philistine’ pursuits such as gambling and racing, favoured by the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII) and his circle, and gathered at ‘Saturday to Mondays’ at lovely houses to talk, play and flirt.

The group stemmed from the friendship that began in 1881 between 17-year-old Margot Tennant (later wife of Liberal Prime Minister, HH Asquith) and Arthur Balfour, 33. On the face of it they had little in common.

Ettie Grenfell (later Lady Desborough; courtesy Ivo Mosley) - Credit: Courtesy Ivo Mosley

Balfour was a Conservative politician, who had entered the House of Commons in 1874 as MP for Hertford and belonged to one of Britain’s most powerful aristocratic families, the Cecils. Balfour’s uncle Robert, Marquess of Salisbury, of Hatfield House, was three times Conservative Prime Minister. When he resigned in 1902, Balfour would assume that role.

By contrast, Margot was a Liberal and the daughter of a Scottish industrialist, rather than an aristocrat. She was noted for her originality and directness, Balfour for his erudition and intellect, and they found each other interesting. Margot’s family did not believe politics should stand in the way of friendship and they welcomed interesting people of all persuasions to their home.

By 1887 the Souls included George Curzon, the future Viceroy of India, and artist Violet Manners, later Duchess of Rutland. Another prominent Soul was Ettie Grenfell (nee Fane), who had just married William Grenfell and become chatelaine of his mansion, Taplow Court.

Violet Granby (courtesy Jason Cooper) - Credit: Courtesy Jason Cooper

After losing her immediate family in childhood, Ettie was cared for by her aunt and uncle, the Earl and Countess Cowper, who made her their heir. She became a noted hostess, entertaining swathes of society.

At her Christmas party at Panshanger in 1888, she presided over a Souls’ favourite game, Dumb Crambo (similar to charades), in which one female Soul wore breeches and boots to be Napoleon crossing the Alps, and Ettie played the horse. Such games were far from the usual polite parlour games of Victorian society and gave the women the excuse to dress less formally than was otherwise acceptable.

Arthur Balfour (Tucker Collection - New York Public Library) - Credit: Tucker Collection - New York Public Library

Balfour believed platonic friendship between the sexes was possible. He remained single but maintained a life-long and intriguingly close relationship with a married Soul, Lady Elcho.

A form of courtly flirtation developed among married Souls, the code defined by an outsider as ‘Every woman shall have her man but no man shall have his woman.’ But sometimes things went further than stolen glances and extravagant letters.

Passions raged behind their courtly code. Married Souls discreetly bore their lovers’ children, and public figures got away with worse. However, it was the brilliant and handsome bachelor Harry Cust, MP for Stamford, and (at a time when MPs were not salaried) a revered newspaper editor, who caused the central scandal of the book.

Tangled Souls by Jane Dismore. - Credit: Jane Dismore

Harry was heir to his cousin Earl Brownlow who owned magnificent Ashridge, where the Souls often gathered. There, Harry conducted an affair with poet and artist Nina Welby-Gregory, also single, who had long loved him. When she said she was pregnant, horror swept through the Souls, for his seduction of a single woman of the same class broke the rules. Balfour persuaded Harry he must marry Nina, otherwise they would be social outcasts. For the rest of their lives, they would fight to rebuild their reputations and maintain the marriage they were pressurised to enter. Here is pre-war society at its most colourful and most conflicted.

Harry Cust (courtesy Artemis Cooper) features in Tangled Souls. - Credit: Courtesy Artemis Cooper

Tangled Souls: Love and Scandal Among the Victorian Aristocracy by Jane Dismore is published by The History Press on February 17. It is available to pre-order at https://smarturl.it/TangledSouls

BREAKING: Stone faces minimum of 10 years after jury finds him guilty of aggravated assault

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Knuckle Puck announce EP ‘Disposable Life’

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Knuckle Puck, one of the aggressive pop-punk genre’s preeminent forces have today announced a brand new EP “Disposable Life” (produced by Seth Henderson to be released 4th February 2022 on Wax Bodega.

The record opens with “Gasoline,” which premieres today. A mid-tempo pop punk thunder clap that hammers home the record’s thesis on its chorus and plans for a radical new reality: “With every day spent in the shade, think I’ll watch it burn/Throw gasoline on an open flame,” calls Taylor.

The five song EP, which comprises four originals and a scorching, faithful cover of blink-182’s “Here’s Your Letter” from the trio’s 2003 untitled LP, is a recommitment to the band’s founding sound—the tight, manicured, major-key chaos of ripping guitars, sprinting bass, airtight drums, and harmonised vocals—but it’s also a recommitment to an idea: that every day and moment has meaning, and every life has value.

Vocalist Joe Taylor describes the EP, which follows last year’s LP 2020, as a throwback to when the band first started. “It feels like we’re kind of rebooting Knuckle Puck,” says Taylor. “Making this music has been the most fun we’ve had in a really long time.” That feeling is in part due to the break in working forced by the pandemic, but it’s also a product of a freer approach to writing and recording outside of label pressure. “It was fresh and exciting again,” says Taylor. “It was like ‘Oh man, this feels like it did in 2013.’ We captured some of that magic.”

The result is a record that Taylor says bridges the gap between KP sounds of past and present. The title, Disposable Life, nods to this stretch of time in its own way: what does it mean to lead a meaningful life?

Disposable Life is a reintroduction to Knuckle Puck: it’s a celebration of the past decade of the band and a supercharged mission statement for the future. It’s a sharp inhale, a spring-loaded blast off the starting blocks after the tumult of the past two years. It’s a sign of good things yet to come.

Disposable Life Tracklisting

Gasoline

Levitate

Lonely Island

In The Bag

Here’s Your Letter (cover)

Pre-order here

The band will be on the road from February 2022 with some of the most exciting bands around right now Full dates are below.

Knuckle Puck Spring Tours 2022

With Hot Mulligan, Meet Me @ the Altar, and Anxious

Thur. Feb 10, 2022 – Cincinnati, OH – Bogarts

Fri. Feb 11, 2022 – Bloomington, IL – Castle Theatre

Sat. Feb 12, 2022 – Minny, MN – Varsity

Sun. Feb 13, 2022 – Kansas City, KS – Granada

Tue. Feb 15, 2022 – Denver, CO – Gothic

Wed. Feb 16, 2022 – Salt Lake City, UT – Complex

Fri. Feb 18, 2022 – Vancouver, BC – Imperial

Sat. Feb 19, 2022 – Seattle, WA – Crocodile

Sun. Feb 20, 2022 – Portland, OR – Hawthorne

Tue. Feb 22, 2022 – Sacramento, CA – Ace Of Spades

Wed. Feb 23, 2022 – Santa Ana, CA – The Observatory

Thur. Feb 24, 2022 – Los Angeles, CA – The Belasco Theater

Fri. Feb 25, 2022 – San Diego, CA – The Observatory North Park

Sat. Feb 26, 2022 – Phoenix, AZ – The Pressroom

Mon. Feb 28, 2022 – Austin, TX – Empire Garage

Tue. March 1, 2022 – Dallas, TX – Gas Monkey Bar & Grill

Thur. March 3rd, 2022 – Atlanta, GA – Center Stage

Fri. March, 4 2022 – Tampa, Florida – Orpheum

Sat. March 5, 2022 – Orlando, FL – The Abbey

Sun. March 6, 2022 – Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle

Tue. March 8, 2022 – Boston, MA – Big Night Live

Wed. March 9, 2022 – Philadelphia, PA – Theatre Of Living Arts

Thur. March 10, 2022 – Baltimore, MD – Soundstage

Fri. March 11, 2022 – New York, NY – Irving Plaza

Sun. March 13, 2022 – Cleveland, OH – House Of Blues Cleveland

Mon. March 14, 2022 – Toronto, ON – The Opera House

Wed. March 16, 2022 – Detroit, MI – Saint Andrew’s Hall

Thur. March 17, 2022 – Pittsburgh, PA – Mr. Smalls Theatre

Fri. March 18, 2022 – Chicago, IL – Concord Music Hall

Ticket onsale 3rd December 12pm local time

Buy tickets here

UK/EU dates with Hot Mulligan

Sun. May 22, 2022 – Cologne, Germany – Club Volta

Tue. May 24, 2022 – Hamburg, Germany – Headcrash

Wed. May 25, 2022 – Berlin, Germany – Cassiopeia

Fri. May 27, 2022 – Eindhoven, Netherlands – Dynamo

Sun. May 29, 2022 – Birmingham, UK – o2 Academy

Mon. May 30, 2022 – Glasgow, UK – The Garage

Tue. May 21, 2022 – Cardiff, UK – The Globe

Wed. Jun 1, 2022 – London, UK – o2 Academy Islington

Sun, Jun 5, 2022 – Southampton, UK – The 1865

Ticket on sale 3rd December 10am GMT

Buy tickets here

The band will also play Slam Dunk 2022

3rd June- Leeds Temple Newsam

4th June – Hatfield Park

Meet Me @ The Altar announce their debut album will arrive this year

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Meet Me @ The Altar have announced that their debut album will be released sometime this year.

The US pop-punk trio – comprising guitarist Téa Campbell, drummer Ada Juarez and singer Edith Johnson – aren’t giving too much away, but they have assured fans that their first full-length project will definitely arrive in 2022.

“American pop punk band ‘Meet Me @ The Altar’ will release their debut full length album in 2022,” the band said in a tweet on Friday (January 7).

The yet-to-be-titled album will follow last year’s acclaimed ‘Model Citizen’ EP, which NME‘s Jenessa Williams called “the work of a band who are absolutely for the now” in a four-star review.

“The pop-punk revival so far may have platformed big-budget solo artists – including Willow, Machine Gun Kelly, and Olivia Rodrigo – but with ‘Model Citizen’, Meet Me @ The Altar prove there is still nothing quite like rocking out with your best mates, and confronted with the burden that they are what so many needed as younger fans, the weight on their shoulders could have been too heavy to bare,” the review reads.

“But to constantly tie them to the regrets of yesteryear is to deny what is painfully obvious; ‘Model Citizen’ is the work of a band who are absolutely for the now. Mom, this pop-punk thing definitely isn’t just a phase.”

American pop punk band ‘Meet Me @ The Altar’ will release their debut full length album in 2022. — Meet Me @ The Altar 🏅 (@MMATAband) January 7, 2022

The band will return to the UK this spring for a run of tour dates. Following their debut UK live shows with All Time Low last year, Meet Me @ The Altar will embark on a European tour with State Champs, which reaches the UK in May.

The band will take in shows at Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham as well as two gigs at London’s Electric Ballroom. The band are also scheduled to play Slam Dunk and Download Festival this summer. You can see their full list of tour dates below.

MAY 2022 (w/State Champs)

08 – Bristol, Marble Factory

09 – Southampton, Engine Rooms

11 – London, Electric Ballroom

12 – London, Electric Ballroom

14 – Glasgow, SWG3 Galvenisers

15 – Manchester, O2 Ritz

17 – Leeds, Beckett Students Union

18 – Birmingham, O2 Institute

JUNE 2022 (festivals)

03 – Leeds, Slam Dunk festival

04 – Hatfield Park, Slam Dunk Festival

10 – Donington Park, Download Festival

You can get tickets for the shows here.