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Cool Down at Arts Fest’s Craft Beverage Expo
This story originally appeared in The Centre County Gazette. STATE COLLEGE — Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts kicked off another year of arts and entertainment on Wednesday, July 9, with Children & Youth Day. The annual festival will continue to run from Thursday, July 10, through Sunday, July 14, featuring not only art vendors and musicians, but also a Craft Beverage Expo, hosted by Central Pennsylvania Tasting Trail. The expo will take place on Friday, July 12, and Saturday, July 13. The Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts has been a summer staple since 1967, spanning four days and featuring art vendors, live...
Centre County Natives Matt and Tyler Greer Delight Fans as the Corner Brothers
By Mariah Lucas This story originally appeared in the July 2024 edition of Town&Gown magazine. For more than a decade, Matt and Tyler Greer’s music has echoed from the bars of downtown State College, where they perform as the Corner Brothers. Toting an acoustic guitar and an electronic drum pad, the brothers play popular cover songs at the outdoor stage of their favorite venue, Café 210 West, every Friday night from 6 to 9 p.m. Their style, they say, is shaped by the people for whom they perform. “We are a chameleon band,” older brother Matt says. “We adapt to different venues depending on...
DuBois Official’s Corruption Case Repeatedly Delayed as the City He Left Behind Grapples with $1M Deficit, Secret Bank Accounts
This story was produced by the State College regional bureau of Spotlight PA, an independent, nonpartisan newsroom dedicated to investigative and public-service journalism for Pennsylvania. Sign up for our north-central Pa. newsletter, Talk of the Town, at spotlightpa.org/newsletters/talkofthetown. A federal judge has repeatedly granted delays in the case of a former public official accused of corruption as the Pennsylvania city he once ran and allegedly fleeced grapples with the fallout and a nearly $1 million budget deficit. Last November, federal authorities charged Herm Suplizio, DuBois’ ex-city manager, and his former secretary, Roberta Shaffer, with felony conspiracy and federal program theft. Officials allege Suplizio diverted...
Arts Festival Offers Variety of Food, Entertainment
The Sidewalk Sale and Exhibition featuring artists from around the country is the linchpin of the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts. But it's far from the only way to spend your time at the 58th annual event Thursday through Sunday in downtown State College and on the Penn State campus. Images 2024, the festival's juried fine art exhibition in Schlow Centre Region Library, street painting on Foster Avenue and public art walks add to the artistic fun, while BookFest PA (10 a.m.-4 p.m. on Saturday at Schlow) and the Sue Crowe Memorial 5k and 10k races on Sunday add extra...
Penn State Football Positional Previews: Running Backs
Run to setup the pass; pass to setup the run. Penn State will look to do both this year as it tries to bounce back from a somewhat lukewarm season offensively in 2023 and attempts to leave a mark in a new Big Ten and breakthrough to make the newly expanded College Football Playoff. On the ground, the Nittany Lions will lean on the combination of Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen, a pairing which is turning into one of the more successful one-two punches in Penn State's storied history. Running the ball will be key in 2024, like it is...
Penn State Football Positional Previews: Running Backs
Run to setup the pass; pass to setup the run. Penn State will look to do both this year as it tries to bounce back from a somewhat lukewarm season offensively in 2023 and attempts to leave a mark in a new Big Ten and breakthrough to make the newly expanded College Football Playoff. On the ground, the Nittany Lions will lean on the combination of Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen, a pairing which is turning into one of the more successful one-two punches in Penn State's storied history. Running the ball will be key in 2024, like it is...
Harpers to Open Second Shop in Renovated Nittany Lion Inn
Two longtime staples in the State College community are teaming up starting this fall. Downtown clothier Harpers will operate a smaller, second location inside the renovated Nittany Lion Inn when it reopens for guest stays in September, according to a news release on Wednesday. "We are proud to be part of the revitalized Nittany Lion Inn," Brian Cohen, third-generation owner of Harpers, said in a statement. “It feels like a natural partnership.” Harpers has specialized in fine clothing for nearly a century in State College. Today at its multi-level store on East College Avenue, it offers men's and women's apparel such as suits, sport...
What to Know About Parking, Traffic During Arts Fest
The Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts returns Wednesday, July 10, through Sunday, July 14, marking the busiest days of the summer in downtown State College and Penn State's University Park campus. The 58th year of the festival kicked off with Children and Youth Day from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Wednesday. Festivities continue on Thursday with the start of the Sidewalk Sale and Exhibition (10 a.m.-7 p.m. Thursday through Saturday; 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday) along with a wide variety of food, free entertainment and activities. Booths and stages lining the streets and approximately 125,000 attendees mean a number of parking,...
Tornado Watch Issued for Centre County
The National Weather Service at State College has issued a tornado watch on Wednesday for a swath of Pennsylvania, including Centre County. Encompassing 32 counties in central and northern Pennsylvania, along with parts of New York and Vermont, the watch is in effect until 9 p.m. A watch means tornados are possible in the designated area. A warning would be issued if a tornado is sighted or indicated by radar. A few tornados are possible in the watch area, along with isolated hail up to a half-inch in size and scattered wind gusts of 70 mph, according to the NWS. Centre County also remains...
Penn State’s AstroFest Celebrates 25th Year
When the sun goes down and booths have closed for the night at the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts, art lovers and stargazers alike can rejoice in continuing to enrich their minds by visiting the Davey Laboratory on Penn State’s campus for the 25th anniversary of the ever-popular AstroFest. The free event presented by the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics starts Wednesday, July 10 and runs through Saturday, July 13, from 8:30 to 11:30 p.m. each night. AstroFest was started in 1999 by undergraduate students Karen Knierman, Jane Rigby and Nahks Tr’Ehnl. Tr’Ehnl, an instructional technology specialist in the department, still leads...
Analyst Frank Leonard Is Penn State Coach James Franklin’s Ride or Die
Penn State head coach James Franklin is often seen out and about in town or on campus. Stopping by his favorite Starbucks on West College Avenue (“two venti iced quad sugar-free vanilla lattes with oat milk”), dining with recruits, near-daily walks through downtown State College and along the campus borders. And, seemingly more often than not, he’s with his ride or die — analyst Frank Leonard. Franklin and Frank. Two peas in a pod. I’ve seen the duo strolling back to Lasch Building from evening training table, licking ice cream cones with big smiles on their faces. Along Fraser Street, leaving lunch...
How a ‘Life-Changing’ Subsidy Gave a Child Care Worker More Time with Family
This story first appeared in How We Care, a weekly newsletter by Spotlight PA featuring original reporting and perspectives on how we care for one another at all stages of life. Sign up for free here. Pennsylvania needs more child care providers. Earlier this year, Spotlight PA reported that there were “about 6,400 certified child care centers or home-based programs in the state,” which is nearly 9% less than before the COVID-19 pandemic. Other states are in the same position. Nationally, parents struggle to find and afford quality child care, while providers are limited in their ability to pay competitive wages — due in part to high...
Centre County to Host 2026 State Games of America
A national, Olympic-style sports festival is coming to Happy Valley. Centre County will play host to the State Games of America July 28 to Aug. 2, 2026, the Happy Valley Sports and Entertainment Alliance (HVSEA) announced with the National Congress of State Games and the Keystone State Games on Tuesday. The event is expected to draw more than 8,000 amateur athletes competing in more than 30 sports. Like the Ironman 70.3 Pennsylvania Happy Valley, the State Games of America it marks another effort by local tourism leaders to bring national sporting events to Centre County. “Similar to Ironman, hosting the State Games of...
What’s the Weather Forecast for Arts Fest? Here’s What to Expect
After a hot and humid start, some relief will be in store for a few days as Centre County summer festivals get fully underway this week. Centre County is under a heat advisory through 8 p.m. on Wednesday with temperatures expected to approach 90 degrees and heat index values — what the temperature feels like to the human body when relative humidity is combined with the air temperature — reaching 100. On Wednesday, as the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts gets underway with Children and Youth Day and Philipsburg Heritage Days begins, expect higher humidity than on Tuesday and the possibility of...
Art in the Orchard: Centre County’s Newest Festival Week Tradition
When Way Fruit Farm held its first Art in the Orchard in 2021, co-owner Jason Coopey didn't envision it as a recurring event. After all, the festival only came about because Centre County's well-established mid-July events — Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts, People's Choice Festival and Philipsburg Heritage Days — canceled for the second consecutive year months in advance because of uncertainty related to COVID-19, and Coopey and his wife, Megan, wanted to offer something for vendors and the community. "I was just planning on doing it one year and no one would let me quit," Coopey said with a laugh....
James Franklin’s Pool of Penn State Coaches Just Got Bigger; Why Dan Connor Can Be an LBU Tutor
James Franklin’s pool of coaches for practice and game day just got bigger, thanks to new rules established by the NCAA. As a result, Penn State staff analysts like former two-time All-American and ex-NFL linebacker Dan Connor — Penn State’s all-time leading tackler — is now eligible to help coach players like Tony Rojas and Kobe King, who are looking to follow in Connor’s considerably large footsteps at LBU. Is that part of James Franklin’s thinking, as the Nittany Lions count down to summer practice? “How Penn State plans to deploy this is still yet to be determined,” Greg Kincaid, assistant athletic director...
Wet Your Whistle at These Wineries and Craft Beverage Producers During People’s Choice
This story originally appeared in The Centre County Gazette. CENTRE HALL — The annual People’s Choice Festival of Pennsylvania Arts & Crafts will return for its 30th year from Thursday, July 11, to Sunday, July 14. The festival, which started as a small local event, has grown into a Centre County tradition, drawing in more than 110,000 visitors from near and far to celebrate the arts, music, food and more. This year will feature a wide range of art vendors, food stands and wineries. Each winery is from Pennsylvania and will offer a variety of wines for attendees to try. “Being a proud Pennsylvania...
Will a Former Landfill Become PA’s Next Stargazing Mecca?
This story first appeared in PA Local, a weekly newsletter by Spotlight PA taking a fresh, positive look at the incredible people, beautiful places and delicious food of Pennsylvania. Sign up for free here. A former landfill in Pennsylvania’s least populated county may become the state’s newest stargazing attraction. Officials with Cameron County and the Lumber Heritage Region of Pennsylvania promotional group are working together to revamp the county-owned site. Proposed enhancements include a trail, parking, a wildlife viewing area, a dark sky observation field and more. The 99-acre site is an hour away from the internationally renowned — and often very crowded — dark...
Don’t Believe Everything You See: Media Literacy Is as Critical as Ever
Happy anniversary, dear reader. My first column on these pages was published 10 years ago on July 1, 2014, and in the decade since then, I’ve covered many different topics, offered up a little of my personal for-what-its-worth wisdom, and opened up a can of proverbial worms on more than one occasion. An every-other-Tuesday reading extravaganza, as it were. As I look back over those columns, it seems the times I’ve written about our cars – zipper-merging while driving, and car inspections – created the most interest. Which makes a bit of sense as daily driving is not only a great...
Centre County Seeking Grant Funding to Support Homelessness Prevention, Mental Health Initiatives
New grant funding could give a boost to Centre County's homelessness prevention and mental health services. The county's Office of Adult Services plans to apply for a $232,575 grant from the federal HOME-American Rescue Plan Supportive Services Program administered in Pennsylvania by the Department of Community and Economic Development. The grant opportunity comes "at a pretty unique time" as the Office of Adult Services enters its second cycle of having and Emergency Solutions Grant-funded homelessness prevention and emergency shelter program, Faith Ryan, deputy human services administrator, said at the Board of Commissioners July 2 meeting. It also following the end of the...
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