| Press Enterprise Online

Soybean facility nearly doubling size, cutting truck traffic

RUSH TWP. — A rail expansion at the Boyd Station soybean processing facility is in full swing and should be completed by February, company officials say.

In January of this year, the soybean processing business learned it had won a $2.6 million grant to fund the railway expansion.

The project will include the construction of four new tracks and installation of commodity handling equipment for the plants, according to Boyd Station President Bryan Cotner.

Southern works to ease morning gridlock

FRANKLIN TWP— Traffic forms a gridlock around Southern Columbia Area School District during morning dropoffs and afternoon pickups at the schools, and officials hope to meet with PennDOT to figure out how to ease traffic.

The district has reached out to the transportation department previously, said Superintendent Jim Becker at a Monday meeting.

Airplane crashes but festival continues in Benton

BENTON — A pilot moving a small airplane just before the Benton Fly-In Pig Out festival Saturday morning crashed in a nearby field, splintering his tiny wood and fabric craft.

Joe Farwell, who previously worked as a part-time pilot for the Press Enterprise helicopter, was flown to the hospital by LifeFlight with what appeared to be broken legs and a cut to his head, his younger brother Will Farwell said.

But the Fly-In festival went on. It’s what Joe would want, said Will Farwell, who pulled him from the wreckage.

Chicago's music doesn't care about time at Bloomsburg Fair

Chicago’s music is timeless.

Heavily jazz-influenced, with tinges of classical in the slower numbers, the songs, some now more than 50 years old, likely still will be popular and as evocative 50 years from now.

That was the message from Chicago’s concert Friday headlining Bloomsburg Fair’s grandstand.

Starship, replacing Pat Benatar at fair, makes sure audience doesn’t have a bad date

Your dream date to the prom stands you up at the last moment, and a girl you’ve barely thought of agrees to go. It might not have been what you thought you wanted, but darned if you don’t have a good time — and who knows, maybe a better time.

That was the story Wednesday, when Pat Benatar pulled out of her show at Bloomsburg Fair grandstand, only to be replaced by 1980s Jefferson Airplane legacy band Starship.

Pat Benatar cancels tonight's Bloomsburg Fair concert; Starship to replace her

Pat Benatar, the 1980s hitmaker who was to headline Bloomsburg Fair grandstand tonight, has canceled, citing “an upper respiratory illness unrelated to COVID,” according to a statement from Benatar’s management.

Replacing Benatar will be Starship, the 1980s Jefferson Airplane offshoot band with singer Mickey Thomas, best known for the No. 1 gold hits “We Built This City” and “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us.”

The show starts at 8 p.m. There is no opening act.

Tickets for Starship are $22-$40, available at www.bloomsburgfair.com.

REVIEW: Crowder captures believer’s journey in Bloomsburg Fair show

Christian roots-rocker Crowder’s show headlining Bloomsburg Fair’s grandstand Tuesday was outstanding because of the music he played — from booming, forceful rock to the intricate, subtle, bluegrass-tinged music for which he may be best known.

But what made his show even better was that, in a too-short 18-song, 90-minute set, Crowder and his excellent four-man band seemed to capture the virtual essence of every stage of a believer’s journey.

Traffic light taken out in Bloom accident

BLOOMSBURG —A tractor trailer driver who told police he was misled by GPS tried to turn from East Street onto College Hill Tuesday morning, taking out the traffic light at East Street’s intersection with Main Street at Lightstreet Road.

The traffic light that controls traffic heading north onto Route 487 and South on Route 11 from East Street was knocked over. It still functioned, changing color as the pole leaned against the truck.

REVIEW: Darci Lynne at fair moves past her puppets

BLOOMSBURG — Since winning “America’s Got Talent” in 2017, teen ventriloquist Darci Lynne has been giving voice to her puppets for the past four years.

But the not-so-secret element to Lynne’s success is her own voice — her singing voice, that is; a surprisingly strong talent that shone through her performance Monday headlining Bloomsburg Fair’s grandstand.

It should be no surprise that Lynn, who in two weeks turns 17, has made music part of her stage act: It was her “singing” puppets that helped win her “America’s Got Talent.”

REVIEW: Bloomsburg Fair concert could have used more life in Pardi

County music hitmaker Jon Pardi frequently trades on his name being a homonym of “party.”

And his concert to open the grandstand shows at Bloomsburg Fair on Friday certainly had enough attendees to make the night a celebration (fair Grandstand Superintendent Brian Wawroski said the audience of 4,997 was the most ever for a first-Friday show at the fair).

But the party — and the Pardi — could have used more life.

Backed by a seven-member band, Pardi did many things right in his 19-song, 90-minute show.