Trenton Downtown Association

Trenton tied Connecticut for the number 10 spot in the Martin Prosperity Institute's ranking of the best cities in the country for young singles between the ages of 20 and 29. Trenton's key Attributes? It's among the best small cities for singles, gays, and lesbians, has a high number of physicians per capita and high percentage of workers with a bachelor degree or above.

“It is for its willful, bold defiance…that Passage Theater’s production of “Instructions for Breathing,” by Caridad Svich, is such a noteworthy and fascinating piece of theater.”

“…genuinely funny and human…”

“Director Daniella Topol’s deft and nuanced directing doesn’t miss a beat…”

“I have to say, Passage is doing work that feels like nothing else you’ll see on New Jersey stages. It is intimate, passionate, and built to inspire and interact with daily life on a constant basis. Artistic Director June Ballinger has created something incredible in Mill Hill.”

-John Elliott, US 1

At least 31 area artists and 100 contemporary poets have been pondering clothing in a companion exhibit and anthology: Threads, on view at Trenton’s Gallery 125 through May 2, and Eating Her Wedding Dress: A Collection of Clothing Poems (Ragged Sky, $15, edited by Vasiliki Katsarou, Ruth O’Toole and Ellen Foos). ”There are poems about clothing as identity — which can be altered, loosened, unloosed, or unleashed,” writes Ms. Katsarou, a seamstress’s daughter, in the introduction to the anthology, which is divided into four sections: Presentation, Alteration, Selvage and Sheer. “There are poems about clothing as a consumer item, and about clothing styles as objects of desire that can never be attained. Clothing also serves as memento, and as metaphor for the body itself, as a second skin.”

On any weekday, some 20,000 state workers go through the Lunch Hour Ritual in Trenton. Some sit at their desks, chowing down PB&J sandwiches. Some take power walks through the streets of the capital. And a few indulge their passions at Classics. Classics is Trenton's downtown second-hand bookstore, a nook of a place stretching from the show- stopping storefront on South Warren Street into the deep interior of the building. Here you might meet book lovers from the Governor's Office or the Department of Agriculture or Community Affairs. They come to Classics to feast, not on calories, but on printed words.

After spending eight months traveling around the state, providing local and national historic perspectives on why we eat what we eat, the Smithsonian exhibit, "Key Ingredients: America by Food" has arrived in Trenton.
National food history, as well as the Garden State's heritage of blueberries, M&Ms and tomato pie, will be featured, along with tasting and visual events focused on Trenton, says Mary Rizzo, associate director for the New Jersey Council for the Humanities. "We've saved the best for last," said Rizzo.

Not only can Santa Claus deliver toys to millions of children in a single night, but apparently he can bake prize- winning holiday pies as well. At least, one of his many helpers can. Brian O. Hill of Trenton, director of The Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie, also is known to thou sands of children as Santa Claus. About this time of year he dons his trademark red suit (no fake beard necessary) and begins making ap pearances as the jolly old elf. But year 'round he has another talent, which won him first place in this year's Holiday Pie Contest sponsored by the Trenton Downtown Association.

"Ms. Reim’s photograph is part of the group show The Art of Summer, at Gallery 125 in Trenton, through Aug. 2. The exhibit features 31 painters, photographers and mixed media artists and was curated by Margaret O’Reilly, assistant curator of Fine Art Collections and Exhibitions at the New Jersey State Museum."

(Ceclia's Tea Party is a) modest but ravishing new piece of theater well served by the Passage Theater Company’s production in Trenton.

"Twas the morn after Christmas and all through the city
Not a creature was stirring, not even a ditty.
Till Tom Paine cried out, like a voice from the shoals
'These are the times that try men's souls."