Before Easton residents call the public works department, text their neighbors or search Google, many turn to the Everything EASTON Facebook group.

– – – – – – – – –

April 21, 6:11 p.m.

Anonymous “How do I get my baby started into modeling?”

April 22, 10:46 a.m.

Faith Marie “Looking for an excellent realtor. Prefer one with Pennsylvania Dutch heritage.”

April 22, 4:48 p.m.

Easton Area Community Center “Want to learn table tennis /ping pong ?  We have an expert among us.”

April 27, 9:08 a.m.

Larry Gerencser “What’s with all the sirens?”

– – – – – – – – –

The Everything EASTON group, which receives hundreds of posts every day, has become something of a digital town square for Easton and beyond. Some 90,000 people, many Lehigh Valley locals, use it to trade mechanic recommendations, promote their small businesses, ask for advice and, every so often, pick fights.

Maintaining order of the group is founder and admin Anthony Marraccini, who patrols the page under the pseudonym “Amend Wun.” Marraccini, a decades-long Easton resident and owner of downtown Connexions Gallery, founded the page in 2022 with hopes of creating a “hub” for the community.

“I try to tell everybody who will listen that Easton is unique,” said Marraccini, lounging in a small chair on the sidewalk outside his gallery. The classically trained artist could only speak for a few minutes at a time, so routinely was he interrupted by passing friends and acquaintances who wished to chat.

“I came down here in the early ‘90s to try and get my sh-t together,” he continued. “I was definitely running afoul. I had to figure out what I was gonna do. And this town embraced me.”

Sensing a void in the city’s communication channels, Marraccini set out to create a space to elevate the community that had so graciously received him. Just over four years later, the group has amassed a membership about three times the city’s population.

The group isn’t the only Easton-related page on Facebook, but it is by far the largest. Marraccini is somewhat notorious among chronically-on-Facebook locals for his no-nonsense management style and strict rulings on political posts. Pages like “Literally EVERYTHING EASTON” and “EASTON PA POST Uncensored” are rife with complaints about Marraccini, often accompanied by name-calling.

Ed Lamontagne, the admin of EASTON PA POST Uncensored, said he created his group after tiring of seeing his opinions censored because they “did not match the admin of the pages.” He said he aims to keep his own group “civil and open to dialogue.”

“A community group is supposed to be a mix of people,” Lamontagne wrote in a Facebook message. “When they are only allowing certain comments on Facebook posts that are aligned with the admin or the followers of the city government, it’s not a true community.”

Marraccini has no problem being the bad guy. He compared deleting posts, freezing comment sections or leaving stern messages reminding users of the rules to “weeding a garden.”

“Proper moderation sets up boundaries,” Marraccini said. “And people will respect the fact that you have boundaries, because it allows them to feel like they can express themselves without feeling they’ll be attacked.”

“They can get mad about it,” he added. “I have a busy life. No one’s paying me.”

“He runs a tight ship,” said Easton City Councilman Frank Pintabone.

Pintabone said he typically visits the page multiple times a day, not to scroll, but to view the many posts in which his constituents have tagged him. Users tagged him in a post last week asking for a specific downtown pile of trash to be cleared away; Pintabone said he reported the pile to the public works department.

His name, and those of some of his fellow council members, are so common on the feed that Pintabone said he also gets tagged in problems across Palmer, Forks, Bethlehem and Allentown. Sometimes, when Marraccini shuts down a comment section that has become too rowdy, Pintabone will request it be reopened so he can see who tagged him. Marraccini always complies.

“People just want information,” Pintabone said. “They’re more engaged now than they’ve ever been because of social media.”

There’s a lot of upside for Pintabone, too. A Facebook post is a more convenient and cost-effective way to advertise a town hall or a new initiative than buying an ad in the paper or renting a highway billboard. Plus, residents have an easy, shared channel to ask questions and express concerns.

“I genuinely wish this was a public asset,” said Easton-resident Luke Gumbrecht, who joined the page in October. Gumbrecht was speaking from the yard of another Eastonian, where he was doing yard work for a little extra cash; the gig was one he’d found through the Everything EASTON group.

“I’ve gotten so much free furniture that I otherwise wouldn’t have been able to afford,” he said. “I’ve had opportunities to meet my neighbors, to receive help from my neighbors.”

Gumbrecht said he’s not a big fan of Facebook’s corporate parent, Meta, but his membership has been such a “net benefit” that he can’t help but try to persuade friends to join.

“The whole reason that that group exists is because of community,” Marraccini said. “If you don’t have community, you have nothing.”