If going out for a bike ride is on your to-do list this summer, consider joining the Brandywine Conservancy for our sixth annual Bike the Brandywine event on September 23. Offering routes of 25, 45 and 62 miles, Bike the Brandywine is a fully supported ride that showcases the beautiful scenery of our area and the work the Conservancy has done in protecting open space and clean water. Registration is now open and includes a ride t-shirt, snacks and hydration at ride rest stops, as well as a pint of 2SP beer (for those 21 and older) and hot food at the end of the ride.

We hope you will join us later this year! In the meantime, ride safe and we’ll see you on the back roads of Chester County.

The third round of awards for Brandywine Creek Greenway’s (BCG) Mini-Grant Program is underway! Applications for this round are being reviewed and we look forward to announcing the awards in September. 

 

Information on the Brandywine Creek Greenway’s (BCG) Mini-Grant Program and previously funded projects can be found on the Mini-Grant Program website.

Eligible applicants include Pennsylvania non-profit organizations with tax-exempt status 501(c)(3), municipalities, counties and some educational institutions.

We hope to have another round of funding announced this fall to grant awards of $2,000 to $25,000 for projects that will support and advance the goals and objectives of the BCG’s Strategic Action Plan (2014). Stay tuned for details!

Staff of the Brandywine Conservancy’s Municipal Assistance Program attended the bustling Upper Uwchlan Township Block Party on June 17 to solicit input from residents on the update to the municipality’s Comprehensive Plan, receiving over 500 responses both in-person and online!

Click here to take the Borough of Downingtown’s community survey and share your ideas and priorities for the Borough.

Your feedback will inform the Borough’s Comprehensive Plan which will guide the Borough’s vision and efforts for the next 10 years.

The third annual Pennsylvania Pollinator Photo Challenge is officially underway, hosted by the Brandywine Conservancy's Penguin Court Preserve and the Westmoreland Pollinator Partners! To enter, submit your best photos of pollinators found and photographed in Pennsylvania, such as bees, beetles, butterflies, flies, hummingbirds, moths or wasps. New this year will be a contest category dedicated to monarch butterflies in all their life stages. A maximum of three submissions per photographer are allowed, with categories available for adults and youth. Prizes will be awarded for first, second and third place in both categories.

All photo entries must be submitted electronically by August 4, 2023. Click here to learn more about how you can participate.

In June, Birmingham Township unveiled a new historic marker on the Brandywine Conservancy's Birmingham Hill Preserve—one of 15 new signs to be installed throughout key sites relating to the Battle of Brandywine as a part of the new Brandywine Battlefield Heritage Interpretation and Connectivity Plan (Brandywine Conservancy 2022).

This project was a partnership between the Brandywine Battlefield Taskforce, 15 local municipalities, and the Pennsylvania Society of Sons of the Revolution and its Color Guard. The Sons of the Revolution also generously provided the funds for this work.

We hope you take some time to read this new historic marker during your next visit to Birmingham Hill Preserve.

The new Kennett Library will feature a mural that highlights the strengths, history, communities and character of the region. A survey was released with an extended deadline of August 28. 

The library envisions this mural as a vibrant panorama celebrating Kennett and its surrounding community’s history.

Time to share your voice! Who and which events should be depicted on the mural? We have some ideas, but we want to hear from the community. Please share widely!

Header Image: Photo by Andrea Grigoropol

Mini-Grant Program: Photo by Alan Goodman

PA Pollinator Photo Challenge: Photo by Dan Hunter