K9 Protection Dogs in Lancaster, PA

Editor’s note: This story was updated to include information from Taylor Chip co-owner Doug Taylor, who returned a call from LNP | LancasterOnline after this story was posted.

Five Lancaster County businesses are set to receive a combined $1.2 million in federally funded agricultural grants as part of a statewide effort to stimulate growth in Pennsylvania’s food supply chain.

Gov. Josh Shapiro’s office last week announced an investment of $21 million in 77 farms and food manufacturers across the commonwealth.

“Pennsylvania is investing to feed our future through a stronger local supply chain, which means healthier communities, thriving businesses, more job opportunities, and more resilience in challenging times,” Department of Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding said in a news release Friday.

Funding for the grants comes from the state’s Resilient Food System Infrastructure Program, a partnership between Pennsylvania and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Through the program, the state provides grants that will match the investments of businesses trying to meet demand for local, seasonal and fresh foods.

Qualifying small businesses in historically underserved communities that are woman-owned or veteran-owned are required to match only 25% of the grant.

Two operations — Taylor Chip, a prominent cookie company based in Manheim Township, and Cedar Meadow Farm, a Martic Township business that grows vegetables and industrial hemp — received the bulk of the grant money.

Taylor Chip was awarded $510,971 to launch ice cream production and expand processing to new markets with support from local dairy farms, according to a state news release.

The company had planned to build a creamery in West Hempfield Township but abandoned that plan in April, citing rising construction costs. Taylor Chip had previously been awarded $870,000 in state and federal grants for the creamery project.

Co-owner Doug Taylor told LNP | LancasterOnline the $510,971 will replace the $870,000 from previous grants the company no longer has access to after changes to the project.

Cedar Meadow Farm received a $449,898 infrastructure grant for the construction of a packing house and cold storage to improve local produce quality and market access.

Gov. Josh Shapiro had previously visited Cedar Meadows Farm in June 2024 while highlighting state agricultural investments.

Steve Groff, the owner of Cedar Meadows Farm, said the packing house and cold storage facility will have multiple benefits for his business. Not only will the building be used to better store squash and tomatoes grown at the farm, it will be built partially using hemp fiber, including in the building’s insulation.

“We are doing it to showcase what can be done with hemp,” said Groff, an advocate for expanding the hemp industry in Pennsylvania.

Hemp, a cannabis plant that lacks the psychoactive chemicals found in marijuana, can be used to create textiles, biofuels and building materials, among other uses.

While the federal Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 legalized hemp, Groff said stigma around the plant has made some private investors hesitant to put their money into Lancaster County’s burgeoning Hemp industry.

Groff described the packing house as a proof of concept for how hemp fibers can be used in construction. Work on the new facility is expected to begin by year’s end.

“There is not a crop out there that has more potential for Lancaster County,” Groff said. “But there’s also not a crop out there with so much baggage.”

Other Lancaster County grant recipients include:

Some Susquehanna River accesses in Lancaster County, though not all, showed improvement in E. coli levels Thursday after tests run by a Pennsylvania water watchdog revealed high levels last week across the county.

The Lower Susquehanna Riverkeepers Association, a York County-based nonprofit, conducts weekly bacteria tests at nine Lancaster County accesses along the Susquehanna River and its tributaries every Thursday, from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

E. coli can cause diarrhea, urinary tract infections, pneumonia and sepsis, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Riverkeepers Association rates river accesses from low to high and recommends people use caution near water with moderate bacteria levels and avoid contact entirely with water that has high bacteria levels.

On Thursday, Lancaster County’s nine locations varied in their performance.

This is the first time since 2025 tests began on May 22 that any of the nine Lancaster County locations tested low for E. coli. Bacteria levels in water sources vary with rainfall, and this May was one of the wettest on record in a century in Lancaster County.

The data only applies to the exact day members collected samples, since E. coli levels change rapidly.

Piloted by the Riverkeepers Association in 2023, the nonprofit takes weekly samples from 22 locations across York, Cumberland, Dauphin and Lancaster counties. The samples incubate for 18 hours in a laboratory before researchers can see the results.

The next set of Lancaster County bacteria testing results from the Riverkeeper Association will be available Friday, July 4, at the soonest, on the association’s website at lanc.news/BacteriaMonitoring.

Riverkeeper Association director Ted Evgeniadis said Wednesday he follows the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s recommendations for bacteria monitoring, though the nonprofit doesn’t have a large enough dataset to calculate the mean average of their samples, as the EPA does, or predict E. coli levels for the weeks ahead.

Lancaster County tourists can get the true VIP experience the Amish way. The Amish Experience has connected visitors with a one-of-a-kind glimpse into the lives of the Pennsylvania Dutch.

The VIP, or “Visit-in-Person” tours bring small groups of up to 14 tourists to three authentic Amish properties. The tour kicks off at one of the dairy farms during milking time.

The second shop is at a craftsman’s workshop to learn about their trade. This could include visiting carriage makers, goat cheese artisans, wooden toy makers, or canning kitchens. The tour wraps up inside an Amish family’s home, where participants can ask them questions.

Amish Experience President Clinton Martin says that the Amish have a very powerful social network.

“They’re all like one big grapevine,” said Martin.

When the tour company started out with one or two families participating. But it wasn’t hard to be introduced to others, and the Amish Experience is now connected to 30 to 35 different households.

For larger groups also seeking a similar authentic experience. The Meal in an Amish Home Tour takes bus groups of fifty to 100 people to eat a hearty meal of Amish cuisine in a barn.

The tour company connects with an Amish family-owned catering business to provide traditional meals, such as pot roast, coleslaw, corn, baked chicken, or shoofly pie.

The Meal in an Amish Home tour also recently started letting smaller groups of people participate. It so far has been proving itself a success.

“It’s really been working out well, I’ve been pleased at the response,” says Martin.

Read more about the tours on The Amish Experience’s website.

A glimpse into The Amish Experience.

Editor’s Note: This post first appeared on DELCO Today in June 2023.

The School District of Lancaster’s healthy buildings initiative supports its vision for smarter, more connected educational environments.

Supporting a safe return to classrooms, long-term community health and successful students

Indoor air quality (IAQ) has become a top priority for education institutions that want to instill confidence in parents, students and teachers. However, the benefits of improving IAQ far exceed virus mitigation as clean air also fosters healthier, more comfortable educational environments and more focused, successful students.

The School District of Lancaster, PA, experienced these benefits firsthand. Like many U.S. school districts in late 2020, the district was preparing for the safe return of students and staff to its buildings with the right combination of funding, expertise and technology. When government funding and COVID regulations made health and safety upgrades a priority, the district’s leadership team turned to its longtime partner, Johnson Controls, for support.

Learn more about the work we do

Read the case study to learn more

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Award-winning pastry chef Cedric Barberet is firing back at the business partner who is suing him for misappropriation of funds, countersuing the partner for not consulting him on major business decisions.

The counterclaim, filed Monday, says Ben Frank and his parents were developing Altana, a rooftop lounge, in the same building at 26 E. King St., Lancaster, that houses Barberet’s namesake restaurant and bakery, Bistro Barberet.

Frank’s parents, Shelvy and Joseph Frank, are not named individually as defendants; they are officials in two business entities suing Barberet.

Although the Franks initially described Altana to Barberet as a rooftop lounge, “it became a full-service restaurant, which clearly conflicted with the Bistro and could only reduce revenue at the Bistro,” the counterclaim says.

Shelvy Frank directed LNP | LancasterOnline to attorneys for the Orsini Group and Amalfi Properties. The Orsini Group is one of the Franks’ business entities, and Amalfi is their business entity that owns the property.

In a statement emailed to LNP | LancasterOnline Monday evening, Matthew Glazer, an attorney for Frank and his companies, said they were reviewing the counterclaim and believe it to be without merit.

The bistro and bakery remain open with no staff turnover “and our team continues to deliver the exceptional quality and service our patrons expect,” the statement said. “Out of respect for the judicial process, we will not litigate this matter in the media.”

Ben Frank and the business entities sued Barberet in April, claiming he misappropriated more than $200,000 and used restaurant equipment, supplies and staff for what was initially called Barberet Coffee Shop, now The Coffee Bar.

On June 23, Lancaster County Judge Jeffrey Conrad temporarily barred Barberet from working in any Lancaster County restaurant or food industry while the lawsuit continues.

Barberet denies misappropriating any funds and other allegations in his filing Monday.

In his counterclaim, Barberet alleges breach of fiduciary duty and breach of contract by Ben Frank and is seeking unspecified damages.

Barberet also claims Ben Frank continues to hold on to some pastry equipment he had shipped over from France. And he said Ben Frank wrongfully continues to use Barberet’s likeness, and that of his wife, Estelle Barberet, in advertising the bistro and bakery.

According to the counterclaim, the agreement he signed when he went into business with the Franks “left Mr. Barberet with no effective ownership interest in Orsini, while remaining responsible for a disproportionate share of the expenses. … It became clear that the real motivation for having Mr. Barberet as a member was to assist the Franks regarding the Altana bar/nightclub for Ben Frank.”

The counterclaim alleges that the Franks required Barberet to provide Altana’s food and to pay for half the building’s expenses, even though Barberet used only 1½ floors of the four-story building.

Barberet said communication with the Franks was poor and “got much worse when Ben Frank, who at the time was twenty-two (22) years old, took over the day-to-day management and operations of Orsini.”

Bistro Barberet was supposed to open in late 2014, but did not open until August 2015.

The Franks, the suit said, invested in Altana and ignored Bistro Barberet except one time when they needed to spend money to make sure they could continue using the liquor license for Altana.

“It became clear that Orsini never viewed Mr. Barberet as a member. Rather, he was viewed simply as a means to have the debt service on the building paid,” the counterclaim said.

Joseph Frank is Penn State Health’s regional hospital president, which includes Lancaster Medical Center and St. Joseph Medical Center in Reading. Shelvy Frank is a health care consultant.