Halloween on Penn Sign Up<\/a>.<\/p>\nSaturday, November 21 \u2013 Holiday Parade (10 a.m. start time)<\/p>\n
The annual Holiday Parade on Penn Street will kick off the holiday season.<\/p>\n
Winter Wonderland Free Community Ice Skating \u2013 will kick off immediately following the Holiday Parade and run through January.<\/p>\n
The city says it is excited to bring back Winter Wonderland free ice skating at the Santander Arena. This will run from November through January. More details will be shared in October, including the scheduled dates and how to sign up.<\/p>\n
Reading officials encourage the Downtown businesses to participate in events whenever possible \u2014 whether it\u2019s through vending or through special promotions, decorations, extended hours, or activities.<\/p>\n
Small Business Saturday \u2013 November 28th<\/p>\n
The city encourages all Downtown Reading businesses to start preparing now for this important opportunity to invite customers to Shop Small and Shop Downtown.<\/p>\n
\u201cThink about what you can offer that day \u2014 special promotions, holiday shopping incentives, limited-time offers, events, demonstrations, new products, or other experiences that encourage customers to visit your business,\u201d the release says.<\/p>\n
Downtown Reading is also working on ways to continue highlighting Downtown businesses by showcasing your specials, events, products, and unique offerings to encourage residents and visitors to support local.<\/p>\n
The city says more information on how businesses can participate and share their Small Business Saturday offerings will be coming soon. In the meantime, continue to tag the City of Reading in your content that directly relates to your specials, products, offerings, customer experiences, etc. Captions are strongly encouraged if reels are not filmed in English. Any inappropriate language in music will also affect their ability to reshare.<\/p>\n
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Chad Blimline | WFMZ-TV<\/p>\n
City of Reading\u2019s Second Story Development Grant Update<\/p>\n
The City of Reading extends thanks to everyone who applied for the Second Story Development Grant Program. Applications are currently being reviewed by the City\u2019s Community Development Department. Once the initial applications have been evaluated, if funding remains available, the city will announce an expansion of the program to additional areas, including portions of North and South 5th Street.<\/p>\n
Streetscape & Penn Street Improvements<\/p>\n
The city says it has also been working on several improvements to the streetscape and overall experience on Penn Street.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are currently working with BARTA and MetEd to remove three non-operational bus shelters and two non-operational public phone structures located along the 400 and 500 blocks of Penn Street,\u201d the city says.<\/p>\n
Officials say additionally, all bus shelters throughout the Downtown area have No Loitering signage. The goal is to ensure these shelters remain available and welcoming for their intended purpose \u2014 providing safe and accessible places for transit riders traveling to and from Downtown. This also helps the city\u2019s Downtown Team and Police Department enforce the loitering issues that many have shared.<\/p>\n
Another improvement will be made to the planters in the courtyard on 6th Street, between Court and Penn Streets, will have seasonal flowers\/plants added in early October. This will be the start of seasonal plantings in this area, according to the release.<\/p>\n
Business Opportunity: AI, Market Research & Resources for Small Businesses<\/p>\n
The Kutztown University SBDC, in partnership with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and ASSETS\/Women\u2019s Business Center, is hosting a free, in-person workshop that will focus on AI, market research, and connecting small businesses with resources that can help them grow.<\/p>\n
Wednesday, September 23 | Kutztown University<\/p>\n
City officials say a highlight of the program will be an AI training led by Dr. Carl Sheperis, Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies at Kutztown University. The training will go beyond simply introducing AI tools and focus on how entrepreneurs and business owners can use AI more intentionally, strategically, and effectively in their work.<\/p>\n
The program will also include market research information and opportunities to connect with organizations and resources that can help businesses make stronger decisions and continue moving forward.<\/p>\n
The city says there is no cost to attend, and food and refreshments will be provided.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a great opportunity for Downtown business owners and entrepreneurs who are interested in learning how AI and other resources can support their businesses,\u201d the release says.<\/p>\n
Register for this event using this link: https:\/\/pasbdc.ecenterdirect.com\/events\/33879<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"READING, Pa. – The fall season has arrived \u2014 and with it, a full lineup of events and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291078,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[100289,14510,92073,120685,732,2129,22009,128,130,129,120686,23096,22963],"class_list":["post-291077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-book-fair","tag-community-events","tag-downtown-reading","tag-glow-run","tag-halloween","tag-hispanic-heritage-month","tag-holiday-parade","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news","tag-reading-public-library","tag-small-business-saturday","tag-winter-wonderland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291077\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}