Centre County organizations receive $960,000 to boost tourism efforts in Happy Valley

“Celebrating tourism” was the theme of this year’s Centre County Tourism Grant awards, as more than $960,000 in grants to bolster marketing efforts and enhance tourism were awarded to 77 organizations throughout the county.

The Centre County Commissioners and the Happy Valley Adventure Bureau held a ceremony Thursday at the Grange fairgrounds in Centre Hall to announce and celebrate the grant recipients.

The South Stage at the fairgrounds was a notable venue for the program, as the Grange Fair is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year. It was awarded $10,000 toward marketing a new documentary about the long Grange Fair tradition.

Centre Hall Mayor LeDon Young shared a trailer of the documentary and a snippet of the fair’s history. The first fair took place in September 1874 when Leonard Rhone organized it and invited local grangers to attend. About 3,000 people attended what was then called “Granger’s Pic-nik.” It was held annually and increased to several days, Young said.

“In order to accommodate those who were coming when the fair was held there in 1887, Leonard Rhone rented 50 tents from the National Guard and rented them out to organizations and attendees,” Young said. “Ten thousand tourists came to the picnic in 1887.”

The demand for tents increased and the first 25 acres of Grange Park was purchased in 1890, she said.

“This year we celebrate the 150th anniversary of that picnic. Joining us this year will be 1,000 tents, 1,500 RVs, 320 concessions, over 7,000 items will be on exhibit, nationally known entertainers will be at the grandstand,” Young said. “We have two additional venues for entertainment and for educational demonstrations. We have motorsports at the competition track, a premier equine facility — the best on the east coast — two ride vendors and over 200,000 tourists will be coming to the fair.”

Young said the Grange Fair and park have an annual economic impact of between $16 and $20 million.

The documentary will be a “keystone” of this year’s fair, she said. It will premiere at 8:30 p.m. Aug. 18 and will be available for purchase.

Other grant recipients highlighted during the event include the Columbus Chapel and Boal Mansion Museum and Bellefonte Victorian Christmas.

Anna Rupprecht, executive director of the Columbus Chapel & Boal Mansion Museum, said they plan to use this year’s grant to create a vestibule, construct additional restroom facilities and add more accessible spaces in the Boal Barn to better serve their guests and tourists.

The Boal Barn Playhouse has received a tourism grant for several years, Rupprecht said. Because of that, the Boal Barn is not only a “charming and historic” venue for drama, music and comedy, but it is also one of the most well attended and constantly upgraded venues.

“Last year’s grant allowed us to install additional insulation in the theater area, build up the audio description booth, provide supporting structures to the sound booth and so many more facets of improvements,” she said.

Phil Breidenbaugh is part of the planning committee for the Bellefonte Victorian Christmas. In its 43rd year, the HVAB helped with marketing, understanding the strategies behind it and measuring success of the event. The grant money was a “huge boost” to the event, he said.

“It gave us an opportunity to actually explore some different things. Last year we brought on folks to help us with our social media that also included some advertising,” he said. “The grant helped us to build a new tri-fold brochure that was crisp and clean and easy to distribute around locally and also further out into the regions and beyond.”

Having more exposure led to higher attendance, which benefited the local businesses. Breidenbaugh recalled one local restaurant even running out of food that weekend.

Because the event is mostly free, he said it can be hard to measure success based on attendance. But the HVAB helped with that, too.

“Happy Valley Adventure Bureau was also able to provide some information from cell phone data and a heat map and kind of compare the number of visitors that were there. It was really useful to us to make a quantitative assessment. And we actually had an … over 25% increase from the previous year in 2022 from last year, so a lot of the efforts were very successful,” Breidenbaugh said.

The funding for the annual grant program comes from the county’s hotel tax and provides marketing and supports nonprofit and for-profit organizations that have cultural, educational, historical and recreational assets that enhance and increase tourism in Centre County. The grants are awarded as determined by the Tourism Grant Review Committee and are administered by the HVAB and Centre County Commissioners.

This year’s grant program had a record grant pool of $960,200 and a record number of applicants submitted and approved. Out of 106 applications, 77 grants were awarded, 13 of which were first time recipients.

“We did have a record number of applications showing that our nonprofits and small businesses are continuously thinking of new and creative ideas to bring people together through welcoming events and intentional community spaces,” Centre County Commissioner Amber Concepcion said.

Commissioner Steve Dershem recalled a few years ago when tourism here was in “dire straits,” and the board of commissioners used some discretionary COVID-19 funds to help the HVAB get through the rough patch.

“If you would have said back at that time, we’d be generating a million dollars in revenue, I would not have believed it because those were some lean times. So we have the opportunity now to make a big change, a big difference and bring tourism back,” Dershem said.

The Centre County Tourism grant program has provided support for 25 years. Centre County Commissioner Mark Higgins thanked the volunteers and people who work in the hospitality industry for making Centre County a great place to live and visit.

“As I was driving over, I was realizing that some of our most fun times are when we’re tourists, whether we’re out of our area, or as I like to be, a tourist in my own county. So many wonderful places here, so many places to enjoy art and history and laugh and enjoy good food and great times and wonderful music. So I really want to put out heartfelt thanks to all the people in hospitality, the thousands and thousands of you here in Centre County,” Higgins said.

2024-25 Tourism Grant recipients:

• Philipsburg Historical Foundation Board - $7,500 (America250PA Liberty Bell project)

• Happy Valley Comics & Collectibles Convention - $12,000 (Marketing the third annual event)

• Centre County Grange Encampment and Fair - $10,000 (Grange Fair documentary marketing)

• Bellefonte Victorian Christmas - $10,000 (Marketing the 2024 event)

• Columbus Chapel & Boal Mansion Museum (tourism enhancement) - $20,000 (Improvements to the Boal Barn Playhouse)

• Howard Volunteer Fire Company (Howard Punkin Chunkin) - $4,000 (Marketing the 2024 festival)

• Palmer Museum of Art - $23,000 (Marketing the new museum and special exhibitions)

• Centre County Grange Encampment and Fair - $25,000 (Marketing the 2024 Grange Fair)

• Centre County Historical Society - $21,000 (America250PA Liberty Bell project)

• Central PA Tasting Trail - $18,000 (Marketing of Trail events and passport sales)

• People’s Choice Festival - $15,000 (Marketing the 2024 festival)

• The Dead Canary Brewing Company (tourism enhancement) - $25,000 (Outdoor beer garden and collaborative community space)

• Tussey Mountain - $10,000 (Marketing Wingfest)

• Bellefonte Art Museum for Centre County (tourism enhancement) - $8,000 (New website)

• Roland Curtin Foundation for the Preservation of Eagle Furnace - $12,000 (Marketing events at Curtin Village)

• Tempest Productions - $10,000 (Marketing the 2025 Central PA Theatre & Dance Fest)

• United Baseball Inc. (tourism enhancement). - $5,000 (seating accommodations at the Potter Township Athletic Complex)

• Pennsylvania Environmental Council - $1,000 (Marketing the Public Lands Ride event)

• Philipsburg Revitalization Corporation - $10,000 (Marketing PRC events)

• The State Theatre - $35,000 (Marketing events)

• The Makery of Central Pennsylvania (tourism enhancement) - $3,000 (Window boxes on Fraser Street Shops)

• Wildlife for Everyone Endowment Foundation - $4,500 (Marketing the Great Outdoor Picnic)

• The Art Alliance of Central Pennsylvania - $4,500 (Marketing to expand the arts in HappyValley, PA)

• Downtown Bellefonte Inc. - $15,000 (Marketing DBI events)

• Wildlife Leadership Academy - $2,500 (Marketing events and training)

• Downtown State College Improvement District - $9,000 (Marketing Sips & Sounds Downtown)

• Philipsburg VFW Post 3450 (tourism enhancement) - $5,000 (Placement of Honor our Veterans Mural)

• The Arboretum at Penn State - $10,000 (Marketing fall and winter events)

• Central PA 4th Fest - $45,000 (Marketing the 2024 celebration)

• Happy Valley Improv - $18,000 (Marketing the Fourth Annual Happy Valley Improv XL festival in May 2025)

• Clearwater Conservancy - $4,000 (Promote Centered Outdoors)

• Gorinto Co. LLC - $10,000 (Marketing the 2025 Rhoneymeade Fest)

• Centre Film Festival - $30,000 (Marketing the 2024 festival)

• Bellefonte Art Museum for Centre County - $15,000 (Marketing the exhibition schedule and Underground Railroad permanent exhibit)

• Haines Township (Dutch Fall Festival) - $4,000 (Marketing the 2024 festival)

• Moshannon Valley EMS (Philipsburg Heritage Days) - $14,000 (Marketing the 2024 festival)

• Center for the Performing Arts at Penn State - $15,000 (Marketing 50 years of performances at Eisenhower Auditorium)

• Happy Valley Women’s Cycling -$17,000 (Marketing Seasons of Rothrock and Grit GravelGrinder)

• Penns Valley Pedals and Pints - $5,000 (Marketing events)

• Pennsylvania Chamber Orchestra - $5,000 (Marketing the 2024-25 season)

• CentreBike - $5,000 (Renew and market Ride with GPS)

• Penn State University/PSU - $6,000 - (Marketing the Local Groove Music Festival)

• Nittany Mountain Biking Association (tourism enhancement) - $20,000 (Complete the “start hub” area of the bike park at Harvest Fields Community Trails)

• Way Fruit Farm - $6,000 (Marketing the 2024 Art in the Orchard event)

• Lemont Village Association (tourism enhancement) - $4,000 (Replace the emergency decking of the Thompson Granary)

• Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts - $75,000 (Marketing the Arts Fest and First Night State College)

• Rotary Club of State College Downtown - $1,000 (Marketing the Ninth Annual Ice Cream Festival)

• Apple Hill Antiques - $3,000 (Development of a Centre County Antiques Trail)

• Centre County Library and Historical Museum (tourism enhancement) - $35,000 (Renovate the Miles-Humes-Potter House

• Discovery Space of Central Pennsylvania - $20,000 (Strategic marketing initiatives, including expanded event marketing)

• Centre LGBT+ - $10,000 (Marketing the 2025 State College Pride)

• 3 Dots Downtown - $21,000 (Marketing the Secret Planet Music Series)

• Bellefonte Sunrise Rotary - $1,000 (Marketing the 2024 Talleyrand Fall Festival)

• Bryce Jordan Center - $25,000 (Incentives for concert promoters)

• The Makery of Central Pennsylvania - $3,000 (Marketing)

• Rowland Theatre (tourism enhancement) - $4,700 (Installation of followspot lighting)

• Millheim Borough - $15,000 (Marketing events, including Route 45 Getaways and SummerFest)

• Bellefonte Historical and Cultural Association - $12,000 (Marketing various events)

• Pennsylvania Chamber Orchestra (tourism enhancement) - $5,000 (New website)

• Center for the Performing Arts at Penn State (tourism enhancement) - $15,000 (Digital signage)

• Center Volunteers in Medicine - $20,000 (Marketing events, including the 2024 Nittany Valley Half Marathon)

• Penn State Centre Stage - $25,000 (Marketing the 2024-25 season)

• Boalsburg Village Conservancy - $3,500 (Marketing Boalsburg Hometown Christmas)

• Boalsburg Heritage Museum (tourism enhancement) - $1,000 (Education signage on the grounds of the museum)

• The Crooked House (tourism enhancement) - $8,000 (Continued support for the multi-phase public art project)

• Clearwater Conservancy (tourism enhancement) - $15,000 (Clearwater Community Conservation Center)

• Advent Historical Society - $3,000 (Marketing Historical Society events)

• Penns Woods Music Festival - $4,000 (Marketing the festival)

• Mountaintop Area Swimming Pool Association (tourism enhancement) - $40,000 (Swimming pool upgrades, enhancing the ability to serve visitors to the nearby campground and bed & breakfast)

• Nittany Knights - $1,000 (Marketing the 2025 Spring Festival)

• Nittany Valley Symphony - $6,000 (Marketing the 2024-25 concert season)

• Strawberry Fields - $2,500 (Marketing the Scraps & Skeins Fiber Arts Showcase)

• Centre County Sports Hall of Fame - $4,000 (To relocate key exhibits)

• America’s Wrestling Cup - $10,000 (Marketing the October event)

• United Baseball Inc. (marketing grant) - $8,000 (Marketing the upcoming tournament, date TBD)

• Special Olympics Pennsylvania - $5,000 (Marketing the April 2025 Beaver Stadium run)