Lehigh Valley InSite

Signs

On my way into work I pass signs, as does anyone. But on my particular route entering Allentown from the west I pass two signs; Playful City USA and Tree City USA.

Now, what do they mean?

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A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to visit several Lehigh Valley attractions on a familiarization tour with a bus full of people who were visiting the region. Everyone aboard the bus is responsible for planning group getaways for their area (Shamokin, Pa.).

The day was very busy, it started with a tour of the Martin Guitar Factory and Museum, followed by Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem and ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks. The last stop was Vynecrest Winery and it was the perfect way to end the tour.

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This past wednesday I finished a 10.5 hour hospitality and tourism certification program called “Destination Lehigh Valley,” which is conducted semi-annually by Northampton Community College (NCC) and Discover Lehigh Valley. The course is intended to provide new hires to the tourism industry with a greater understanding of the importance that superior customer service and hospitality have in our industry. With roughly 23,000 jobs in Lehigh Valley revolving around tourism, this course could really be beneficial for a lot of service industry businesses in Lehigh Valley.

David Schweiger, the director of the Hotel and Restaurant Management Program and Hospitality Career Institute at NCC (he might also hold the Guinness World Record for longest job title ever), conducted this certification in conjunction with Mike Stershic, President of Discover Lehigh Valley.

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“Remember you can’t eat meat on Friday.”  Growing up these words were often overheard throughout my house during Lent. Being a native of the Scranton area (Blakely exactly), I had the privilege of some of the greatest pizza in the world. For anyone who disagrees, next time in the Scranton, PA area take a trip down Main St. in Old Forge and grab yourself a tray (yes, “Scrantonites” call it a tray). Let me know what you think.

A Lehigh Valley resident for the past 15 years, I long for the pizza from the Northeast. I’ve tried a bunch of pizza shops over the years.  

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For some people the first sure sign of spring is seeing a robin. For others it’s a patch of crocus peeking through the ground. For me, it’s having friends and family gathered at my house about to embark on our yearly tradition…Lehigh Valley Wine Trail’s March Madness Passport Program.

Friday night I pulled the pile of passports out of the drawer where they had been stored since Thanksgiving, then set out my wine socks, bracelet, earrings and pins. I’ve waited all year for this and I was READY!

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Each year around this time Discover Lehigh Valley heads out to the two North Coast Golf Shows in the Mid-Atlantic area to promote its Lehigh Valley Stay & Play Golf Packages. My personal experience at this year’s shows at the Garden State Exhibit Center in Somerset, NJ and at the Greater Oaks, PA Expo Center reinforced the fact that Lehigh Valley has a ton to offer when it comes to golf. While golfers of all ages attended both shows, it’s my recollection that the Greater Oaks, PA golf show really impressed as far as overall attendance and in the amount of Lehigh Valley information we handed out.

Courtesy of C. F. Martin & Co., Inc.

My boss is a huge fan of Martin Guitars. He owns at least five of them and he’s been on the free factory tour numerous times (he says it never gets old). So one Friday, he took me to the Martin Guitar factory over in Nazareth to help me fulfill one of my New Year’s resolutions: Take a factory tour of Martin Guitar.

Our tour guide handed out individual headphones and battery packs for all of us in the group to wear, that way no matter where we were in the tour we could hear what he was telling us, and we were off.

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Tomorrow is the 51st Annual Christmas Peace Pilgrimage in Lehigh Valley. It’s a 10-mile walk from Nazareth to Bethlehem, two of the most historically relevant towns in local Moravian heritage.

According to my mom, who did the “peace walk” last year, the purpose is to encourage peace rather than violence in a non-political setting. With a friend from church by her side, Mom drove to Bethlehem to meet the bus that would take her to the starting off point for the pilgrimage at Nazareth Moravian Church in Center Square. Then as the clock struck noon, Mom and 240 other “pilgrims” began their walk along Route 191toward Bethlehem.

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A couple years ago, my friends and I attended Nouveau Weekend at three Lehigh Valley wineries for the first time. Considering the Lehigh Valley Wine Trail will be celebrating Nouveau Weekend this weekend, November 20 – 21, I figured a look back at my inaugural experience was warranted … especially since I won’t be making it this year given that Rosie is still a good 19 years away from the legal drinking age.

We did the Northern part of the Lehigh Valley Wine Trail, stopping at Franklin Hill Vineyards, Sorrenti’s Cherry Valley Vineyards and Big Creek Vineyard. Each winery had their new harvest wine and a food pairing.

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Last Saturday was “Ladies and Gents Day Out” in Lehigh Valley. Now, as I tell you about our day out, keep in mind I already set everything up and it ran smoothly, so feel free to use this as an itinerary for you and your friends.

Around 4 p.m. on Saturday, 15 or so of us met at Mazezilla in Saylorsburg. I had allotted 2 – 3 hours there because they have so much to do: corn maze, pumpkin sling shot, pumpkin patch and hayride.