digging out from one of the worst snowfalls the region has seen in several years<\/a>.<\/p>\nIn a neighborhood off Union Boulevard in west Bethlehem, Hannah Finelli took a snow blower to retirees Brian and Sharon Wiles-Young\u2019s neighboring property.<\/p>\n
Finelli said she looks forward to snow days \u2014 she enjoys the camaraderie of neighbors all out on the streets, working toward one shared goal: digging their way out of the snow.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love the snow, so this is a fun time,\u201d she said. \u201cThe kids are enjoying it to the fullest, and we were out all day yesterday, just helping the neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jeannie McFarland, who works at a retail store on Bethlehem\u2019s Broad Street that was open during the storm, said she watched through the store\u2019s window Sunday as the snow continued to pile up, trapping her small Toyota in a foot of snow. Only with the help of friends was she able to access her car and return home after her shift.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would say this is worse than the last blizzard we had,\u201d McFarland said.<\/p>\n
It hardly seemed possible, but the red, white and blue flag fluttering over Let\u2019s Go Coffee Co. in Emmaus \u2014 the flag with the word \u201cOpen\u201d across the center bar \u2014 hadn\u2019t been left out by mistake before the storm.<\/p>\n
The cafe really was open Monday, and Pablo Farnan, co-owner with his wife, Mandy Seiss, was behind the counter, smiling and ready to serve.<\/p>\n
He was, as far as a foot-slogging survey of the borough\u2019s downtown could determine, the only merchant doing business Monday morning.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really for the community,\u201d Farnan told a visitor who asked why on Earth he opened in the wake of a snowstorm that brought the Lehigh Valley to a virtual standstill.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s shovelers,\u201d Farnan said. \u201cThere\u2019s walkers. Our goal is to be open as much as possible and be a safe spot for people.\u201d<\/p>\n
The borough streets were by and large deserted except for a few people shoveling or running snowblowers. Barbara Dwyer was walking down the middle of Third Street with her 10-year-old dog, Jack, a big and friendly mutt with the color scheme of an Oreo.<\/p>\n
\u201cI slipped twice yesterday,\u201d said Dwyer, who nonetheless continued to brave the weather for Jack\u2019s sake.<\/p>\n
Some unknown Good Samaritan with a plow had cleaned up around her house, she said. The neighborhood is like that, full of friendly and conscientious people.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf they see I need help crossing the street they\u2019ll help me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Amy Fallock and her daughter, Kinsley Fallock, took advantage of the Monday snow day near the Family Dollar on Broad Street in Bethlehem, where Kinsley took a sled up and down a large snow bank, skidding through the empty parking lot.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe snow is very big, so I get to go super far down,\u201d Kinsley said.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere in Bethlehem, Aykroyd Hardware opened Monday with a \u201crock salt sold out\u201d sign on the door and an owner who said he had too much snow clearing to do to talk as he worked to re-clear the path to the street he\u2019d opened Sunday.<\/p>\n
Matti Sing, operator of Jack\u2019s Beverage, said they managed to stay open Sunday. He called Sunday\u2019s business \u201cnot bad, not good.\u201d<\/p>\n
They opened at 9 a.m. Monday, and Sing was clearing the walk to get a clear path to the outside ice machine while he waited for his \u201csnow guys\u201d to show up with trucks to clear the parking lot. Overall, Sing said, \u201cI like summer better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alithia Klados, owner of a building at the corner of New and Goepp streets in Bethlehem that houses her hair salon and a taqueria, said shoveling is just a \u201cresponsibility of having property.\u201d She had earbuds on to enjoy music as she worked to clear the sidewalk Monday morning.<\/p>\n
Klados didn\u2019t expect to open her salon Monday, and the taqueria is regularly closed Sunday and Monday, she said.<\/p>\n
She said she spent a \u201cperfect\u201d snow day Sunday. \u201cI watched movies. Binged on snacks. I cuddled with my cat.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you were out for a cup of coffee in Bethlehem on Monday morning, you\u2019d encounter mainly closed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":97309,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154,433,182,139,434,28,432,1133],"class_list":["post-97308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news","tag-lehigh-county","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-northampton-county","tag-pennsylvania","tag-top-stories-tmc","tag-weather"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97308","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=97308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97308\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}