Splash

A dream had carried the boys so far from home, some 5,000 miles across the ocean to a cramped and dingy apartment in Philadelphia: a hope that ice hockey could change their lives. Ivan Pravilov could fulfill that dream, they were told. He could take them from the daily grind of post-communist Ukraine to the gleaming ice of the NHL. He'd done it before. He'd done if for Andrei Zyuzin, who went on to play for six NHL teams. He'd done it for Konstantin Kalmikov, a third-round draft pick of the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1996.

School's out, and for students from John W. Hallahan Catholic Girls' High School, 19th and Wood Streets, that calls for whooping it up in Logan Square's Swann Fountain. The girls took their dip after school let out for the summer yesterday.

The city has quickly repealed the patently ridiculous policies that kept young children and parents out of about 15 city swimming pools on the basis of gender. But the nonsensical, unfair rules that set up alternate "girls" and "boys" days in the pools apparently will take a little longer. The policies came to light when a mother complained to the Daily News that she wasn't allowed to enter a South Philadelphia pool with her 7-month-old son because it was "girls day. " Neighborhood recreation officials defended the "separate but equal" policies as necessary to prevent overcrowding and unpleasant incidents.

In olden times, you knew a team was from the East. For one thing, it was worth your life to get a rebound. For another, they played defense. Most apparent to the casual observer, though, was that the teams looked like basketball teams. The Celtics, 76ers and Knicks always dressed in classic, classy basketball uniforms, kind of like the Yankees in shorts. It was left to the denizens of some godforsaken Sun Belt town, flush with real estate money or some other barely legal fortune, to dress their players like clowns.

The horizontal Schuylkill River tree is now as big a memory as the mills that once lined the river's banks. With an Ed Rendell-like cannonball splash, the 30-foot-long tulip tree fell 15 feet from its horizontal perch in an archway of the Conrail twin bridges yesterday. "All went well," said park commission spokesman Tom Doyle. "It fell before they cut all the way through, and it was moved up and out of the river. " The Fairmount Park Commission, citing safety reasons, hired Bustleton Services Inc. to chain-saw the tree, which had become wedged under the second archway, near Midvale Avenue and Kelly Drive, since Hurricane Floyd tore through the area last fall.

Forget his negotiations with the city's labor unions. Never mind his budget-balancing act. For many City Hall observers, the high point of Mayor Rendell's term in office so far was his famous pool plunge of 1992. Rendell is expected to repeat the splash on Memorial Day, when Fairmount Park reopens the refurbished Kelly Pool after three long, dry years. The event is at 2 p.m. at the pool on Memorial Drive in the park. "The mayor is going to take a swim, and you know that always brings out the camera people, particularly because of his physique," said Fairmount Park spokesman Dick Nicolai.

The lifeguards are ready. Residents are ready. And yesterday afternoon so was the mayor as he jumped into the cool water of Kelly Pool in West Philadelphia to offically kickoff the city's pool season. There was much to celebrate. With a six-figure donation earlier this month to the city's Splash and Summer Fund, all of the city's 70 outdoor pools will open this summer. "It has real meaning for neighborhoods," said Parks and Recreation commissioner Michael DiBerardinis of having every city pool open, "for children and families to gather and enjoy themselves during a hot and sticky summer.

Young swimmers made their mark in South Jersey this season. Atlantic City freshman Colleen Callahan won two individual state titles and Cherry Hill East freshman Joe Petrone won an individual state title to highlight the youth movement. But it was a widespread development, especially on the girls' side of the pool. Callahan won the 200 individual medley (2:04.73) and 100 breaststroke (1:03.70) at the state meet. But she was just one of several young swimmers who made a big impact.

Jordan, who's 14 months old, is a traveling man. He can spend hours on the deck of his foster home, getting a grip on one object after another to move him along. When he realizes he has taken a few steps alone, he usually gets a look of surprise on his face and sits down. He also takes dips in the backyard pool. The water is cold enough to make him indignant at first, but after he's been pushed around in his tube ring, he starts splashing his feet and doesn't want to get out. This healthy, action hero weighs 20 pounds, 4 ounces and has four teeth, which come in handy when he's presented with french fries and animal crackers.

Balancing 18 water-filled champagne glasses on a tray, Sharon Allen eased up the steps to the stage and walked across it as if on a tightrope. The sparse crowd in the ballroom of the Atlantis Casino Hotel fell silent. "Sharon," announced the emcee, "entered the Best Casino Cocktail Server Contest because she felt it would be an enjoyable . . . (glasses tumble and splash) . . . experience. " Maureen Martinez took to the stage with her tray - 12 plastic champagne glasses on the bottom, six stacked on top. "Maureen entered the Best Casino Cocktail Server Contest . . . (splash!

Inquirer critic and culture writer Peter Dobrin tells you who's making news, noise and splash in the Philadelphia arts world and beyond at

The word birrificio may not yet quite roll off the tongue. But if Philadelphians continue to plunge into the exotic new beers that have recently begun appearing here from Tuscany, Piedmont, and Emiglia-Romagna, brewed with everything from chestnuts to barbera grapes, chinotto peel and myrrh, the Italian word for brewery should become a familiar one, indeed. The unfamiliarity is understandable. In a country better known for vino like Chianti and Barolo, the craft-beer industry is still in its infancy, dating only to 1996, when Teo Musso and Agostino Arioli opened their pioneering breweries in Piedmont, Birreria Le Baladin and Birrificio Italiano, respectively.

Sixteen years after it was first eyed as a prime spot for Wegmans to plant stakes in the Philadelphia area, a onetime golf course near King of Prussia mall opened to the public this week as home to the latest regional megastore in the chain, whose customers share a cultlike devotion. The parking lot at the Village at Valley Forge was jam-packed Monday, much as it had been when the store first opened Sunday, as hordes of the curious and the ravenous motored up to the 123,000-square-foot supermarket, visible from Route 422 and a stone's throw from the East Coast's largest shopping mall.

WILDWOOD - Carol "Dee Dee" Clowry has been a Jersey Shore beach bunny all of her life. But she doesn't limit her sand time to the summer anymore. On Saturday, she'll be among more than 600 people running into the ocean in Wildwood's fifth annual polar plunge. Think she's crazy? Maybe, but she's not the only one stripping down (though in costume) and plunging into the winter waters of the Atlantic Ocean. The Wildwood event, which benefits the Special Olympics of New Jersey, is one of a half dozen similar plunges scheduled along the Jersey coast this winter.

DALLAS - They were the Florida Marlins when the 2011 season ended, then became the Miami Marlins in November. Now it appears they want to be the Miami Heat. Like their NBA cousins, the Marlins are trying to gather a team of superstars in their effort to end the Phillies' divisional dominance and win a third World Series title. The fact that the Heat's quest for a championship came up short in the NBA Finals and everybody's favorite NFL dream team has crashed and burned right before the sore eyes of Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie has not deterred Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria.

THE FLORIDA MARLINS are interested in pursuing free-agent shortstop Jose Reyes, ESPN.com reported yesterday, citing a team official. The Marlins, who are moving into a new ballpark next season, also are interested in free-agent first basemen Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder, the team official said. The official told ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick that the Marlins have "reached out" to Reyes. If the Marlins were able to sign Reyes, shortstop Hanley Ramirez would change positions.

Unlike other large groups of young people swarming the streets of Philadelphia during the summer, the one composed of friendly clowns, vagabonds, pirates, and gangster's molls was welcomed everywhere it went, from Broad Street to Clark Park to Kensington. Not content to simply parade through the city on bicycle and foot, the ragtag artist collective Miss Rockaway Armada, which formed in Minneapolis in 2006 and traveled down the Mississippi on a flotilla of rafts assembled from scavenged parts, honored its origins by launching similar vessels on the Schuylkill.

Families and children with special needs can enjoy a Sunday evening of water fun at Sahara Sam's Oasis Indoor Water Park. During the three-hour event at the park in West Berlin, N.J., which begins at 6 p.m., children and adults can ride the slides, float on the lazy river in inner tubes, take family raft rides, and take part in other amusements. Doc Bresler's Cavity Busters will distribute literature on dental services for children. For guests with sound sensitivities, there will be special space, and arcade games at the park will be turned off. Guests with special dietary needs can bring their own snacks, and the park's café will be open.