When you live in State College it often feels like everyone comes to visit you to get his or her little piece of Happy Valley.
People flock to Centre County for Memorial Day, alumni reunion weekends, summer camps, the Central PA 4th Fest, Arts Festival, Grange Fair, and to utilize the state parks and world famous fishing locations. But that is just a prelude to the start of Penn State classes, football season, and the on-campus lectures, shows and athletics events that attract hundreds of thousands of visitors back to the area.
Good friends and Penn State alumni Steve and Eileen Smith live part of the year out west and part in Happy Valley. When Steve and I chat he always refers to Happy Valley as ‘The Vortex’ and ‘the center of all that is good in the world,’ and he can’t wait until his next trip home. Steve and Eileen even have one of those single family homes in the Village at Penn State that looks out on Beaver Stadium and Mount Nittany.
So if so many people want to come to Happy Valley to get their “fix,” then it just makes sense for those of us living in the State College area that it must also be a great place for a ‘staycation.’ Who can argue with that?
There are the wineries (Mount Nittany, Seven Mountains and Happy Valley); the theaters (Nittany Theatre at the Barn, The State Theatre, State College Community Theatre, and the Center for the Performing Arts); the golf courses (Toftrees, Mountain View, Skytop Mountain, Nittany Golf Course, and the Penn State courses); the parks and outdoor activities (Centred Outdoors, Rails to Trails, Black Moshannon Summer Festival, Bald Eagle State Park, Stone Valley, Spruce Creek, Fisherman’s Paradise, The Sky’s The Limit hot air balloon rides, Ridge Soaring Gliderport) and many other reasons to just stay put for your vacation. The Central Pennsylvania Convention and Visitors Bureau can help you discover amazing options available whether you live here or are coming back to visit “The Vortex.”
This past week I visited with a number of former players and friends who were back teaching camps or whose kids were attending camps. I got to play golf with former Icer goalie Brian Gratz, who is the head coach of the ECHL’s Greenville Swamp Rabbits minor league hockey team. I also got to spend time with former Icers Rich Podulka and Chris Cervellero, whose kids were attending hockey camps at Pegula Ice Arena.
Dan Hollis, who grew up just five houses away from me in Penn Hills, is currently the president of the Junior Hurricanes Hockey program in Raleigh, N.C. and he brought 10 players from his organization with him to Penn State Hockey camps. We spent time talking about the good and the bad of running youth hockey programs, as I was a founder of the Amateur Penguins organization in Pittsburgh. We reminisced about Dan’s interest in hockey that was no doubt influenced by the Battista brothers, who helped create a neighborhood fascination with the sport back in the late 70s. Dan’s parents probably still haven’t forgiven us for all the money they spent on hockey over the years, especially because Dan became a goalie.
Dan was one of many Western Pa. kids, along with the Battista boys, who got their start in hockey at the old Monroeville Mall Ice Palace. It was one of the first indoor ice rinks to be built inside the massive shopping malls being constructed in the 1970s and ‘80s. The Ice Palace was in the national news recently because of the death of legendary director and Pittsburgh native George Romero. His 1978 cult film classic, “Dawn of the Dead,” used the Monroeville Mall as its main set and it prominently featured the Ice Palace.
Another Penn State Icer alum, Loren Remetta, also spent time learning the game at the Ice Palace. Coincidentally, we are vacationing with Loren (PSU ’00) and his wife Noelle (PSU ’01) on Long Island this week. They live and work in the financial world in London and have a vacation home in the Hamptons. By the way their children, Rafael, Matteo, and Caroline, have the coolest British accents. Loren’s parents, Jim and Connie, were also staying in the house in Westhampton and the stories of our times spent in “The Vortex” dominated the conversation.
So what does one set of Penn Staters give as a gift to their hosts who are also Penn State alumni? A little piece of Happy Valley, of course.
We delivered Grilled Stickies, Penn State T-shirts, a Big Ten Hockey Championship poster, a bottle of Mount Nittany Winery Lion Country Blush, and a framed Penn State Poem from the Nittany Quill to bring a piece of ‘the mothership’ to Long Island.
On the first day of our vacation former Icers Steve Westfall (PSU ’88) and brother Tom (PSU ’99) stopped by for a visit. Belly-laugh-generating Penn State and Icer stories that spanned the late 1970s through the early 2000s ensued. Great times, with great friends.
Whether you are returning to ‘The Vortex’ in person, or delivering reminders to good friends elsewhere, a little piece of Happy Valley is always good for the soul.
