July 7, 2025 • 30 mins
“With decades of promoting the local economy and hosting our largest events, Central PA’s top cheerleader, Sharon Seitz Myers heads Visit Hershey/Harrisburg."
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi. I'm Sylvia Moss, and this is Insight, a presentation
of iHeartMedia, where we really do care about our local
communities and all our listeners who live here. I don't
think I can remember a time when so many people
have been just dying to take a break, get in
some badly needed vacation time, and leave all the constant
stress behind, at least for a little while. Anyway, Well,
(00:22):
I've been thinking about that a lot, and my guests
and I got a little advice for you thinking about
jetting off somewhere. I don't know, do you realize how
many problems at airlines I've had lately driving several hours
to a beach destination. You think you're stressing out, Well,
I gonna like sitting for long hours on the freeway.
And how would you feel about spending some of those
(00:44):
relaxing days and a place that offers both family and
grown up attractions, a place where you can check out
things like history, nature, culture, awesome food and amusement and
water park fun events. And I could go on and
on and on. Blessed for all of this, because this
is in our own backyard. I want you to listen up,
(01:05):
because my guest today is probably the best cheerleader we'll
ever have here in central Pennsylvania, or across the whole
state for that matter. For the last ten years, Sharon
sitz Myers has been the executive director of the Pennsylvania
Farm Show Complex. As I was saying to you earlier, Sharon,
I hope you can come in and talk with Darryman
Dave about the farm Show in December. Prior to that,
(01:26):
she was the vice president of Operations for the Hershey
Harrisburg Regional Visitors Bureau, and just a couple months ago
she took on a new position when the board a
Visit Hersheyharrisburg dot Org voted unanimously for Sharon to become
their new president and CEO. And all I can say
Sharon is bravo. Nobody does it better than you. She's
(01:48):
brought along part of her crew with her. With Sharon
is Alison Roherbosch. She is the director of Communications for
Visit Hershey Harrisburg dot Org. I remember, Sharon, I first
met you. I guess it was about ten years ago.
You were, as I said, you were at the farm
Show and you were doing all the events for them.
(02:09):
Are you were in charge of putting all No, I
don't think that's what it is. Let me let me
ask you to tell you Because I know the farm
show is huge, You're always out promoting that. But what
people don't know is the farm Show Center and expos Center.
There are a lot of other events that go on there.
So do you are you the one that gets the vendors?
(02:30):
Are you the one that pulls it all together? Are
you the one cleaning up the everyone's what do you do?
What did you do at the farm show? I guess
I'm asking it.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Wow, that's quite the introduction, Sylvia. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
I think Dynamo always always.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Yeah. So I'll back up nineteen years. That's when I
started with the Hershey Harrisburg Visitors Bureau, which is now
known as Visit Hershey Harrisburg, so it's the same company.
I was there for nine years, left to go to
farm Show for ten and then back now for a
few months. So when I was hired for at the
Visitors Bureau the first time, my primary focus was to
(03:07):
book events for the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex, so it
was my sales market. So I was capable of you know,
I had the opportunity of going out doing trade shows,
talking to people that were doing shows and other facilities
and telling them about the fabulous asset that we have
right here in Harrisburg called the Pennsylvania farm Show Complex.
Was able to book events like Meekum Classic Car Auction,
(03:28):
which we have coming in in just a few weeks,
Keystone Regional Volleyball. There's a number of events that we
were responsible for. The horse shows, huge tip the National
Horse Show. They've been here for a long long time.
And so then I took on the role as the
executive director at farm Show. And it's everything from really
making sure the team has the tools they need to
keep the lights on, to doing some of the sales doing,
(03:50):
you know, working with the communications team to make sure
the right messages are out there. But we also stayed
really closely tied to the Visit Bureau. They act sort
of as our sales arm, and so just making sure
that we book all kinds of events. As you know,
the annual farm Show is the largest event the Farm
Show does. They do it from start to finish. They
(04:11):
book the acts, they do the floor plans, they sell
the booths, they get the food vendors in the right spots,
all of that and they do a fabulous job. But
outside of that, we do about two hundred other events,
and so that's really where the Visitors Bureau and the
Farm Show work collaboratively to book events, making sure the
schedules match, and just making sure that we drive as
(04:31):
much positive economic impact into Dauphin County as we possibly can.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
I'm glad you mention that. And it's worth about the
farm show is worth about what about seventy million dollars it.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Brings in the annual farm show. Yes, wow, wow.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Well, you know, I don't think people realize this is
there are four or five top industries in the state
that drive the economy. One is agriculture, the other one
is tourism. So let's talk a lot about tourism and
how they are similar. Like how much does the tourism Bureau?
I feel for give me for calm that, but that's
still in my mind. Hershey, Harrisburg dot org. How much
(05:06):
does that generate?
Speaker 2 (05:07):
So we specifically in Dauphin County generate about four point
one billion dollars in billion billion. That's not just what
we're responsible for, but it's all the tourism assets collectively
in the county itself. There's about eighty billion across the
entire state of Pennsylvania. So to your point, it's a
very large industry and it's one that for every dollar
(05:28):
you spend on marketing tourism assets in Pennsylvania, you get
a five dollar return on investment. That's a really good investment.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Wow, that's amazing.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
So we work with all the tourism assets, whether it
be again the Farm Show Complex, Hershey Resorts in our
Hershey Entertainment and Resorts, the National Civil War Museum, the
Whitaker Center, all of the tourism assets across Dauphin County.
We work with them to make sure that we're telling
the right story, we're sending the right message, to make
sure people understand we have some really fabulous things here
(05:57):
for you to see in Dauphin County.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
And I wanted to I know you from knowing you
forever that what's real, real, important to you, and I
valued this through and what makes the engines run. Our
partnerships tell us about that.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Yeah, So we are a partner based organization. However, we
really do cross lines right because our job is to
sell tourism in its totality in Dauphin County. We want
to make sure that the visitor, first of all, doesn't
understand county lines. They don't know where Cumberland starts or
where Lebanon starts. So we work really collaboratively with the
other tourism tourism bureaus as they are called, or you know,
(06:34):
across you know, across the state. We work with them
to make sure that the visitor coming here has a
full experience. We want them to stay in Dauphin County
to see what's here in Dauphin County. But if they
ask us about something happened in Cumberland or Franklin or
you know, yourk Lebanon, even Lancaster, we try to make
sure that they do get the information.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
I want to ask you too, when you're saying hershey, Harrisburg,
how does that include northern Dauphin County? Does that include
like a little Buffalo State Park? Al those? Okay, so
we know that. Now I wanted to ask you this anything,
and we don't really have. Everybody talks about target audience
and niche and everything else, but we really don't have
(07:15):
that because we've got we've got it all right.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
We do. We absolutely do. I mean, we certainly focus
on family fun because we do have our largest assets
have that, but we we cross all demographics, you know.
We we like to say that, you know, multiple generations
can come here. We are welcoming to all different cultures
and we have something for everyone, whether it be you know,
(07:40):
if you're interested in breweries, which we can talk about,
Oh yeah, want to go out, but you want to
get that history, you know, we have the museums and
if you're a car enthusiast, we have everything from the
Antique Auto Museum and Harshey to the shows that happen
at farm Show where cars are you know, front and center.
So yes, we really do have something for all different ages,
(08:01):
cultures and you know, just every demographic here.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
I think you will find this too. And you have
found this too, and Allison you as well. It's like
people that live in New York City have never been
to the Empire State Building, or they've never been to
you know this or that. That is a lot of
the case here, isn't it. So that's one of the
reasons I wanted to do this problem with you guys,
is to remind people of what's out there. So how
(08:26):
about if I mentioned some things and start with Harrisburg
and you guys can comment about what you know about it.
Either one of you jump in whenever you feel like.
How about the State Capitol. It's supposed to be the
most beautiful state capitol in the country.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
True, it is, absolutely is. If you've not seen the
State Capitol, you need to take the tour. It's free.
Lots of people see it for the first time when
family comes to town. Quick. Yeah, it's a big thing.
Let's see what we can find. Take family out. But
it's scorgeous. I mean, it really could be a museum
of its own.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
It is as amazing. And I was talking to a
gentleman not too long ago who was responsible for taking
care of any of the things that were on the wall.
I mean, it's a big job. It's it's meticulous. Liked that.
Oh my gosh. How about the State Museum. My ex
husband had something hanging in the State Museum. How about that?
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Yeah, the State Museum is a fantastic place. It really
tells the story of all of Pennsylvania from so many
different aspects. Something really really fantastic that's actually coming up.
State Museum. We open as normal up until after the
twenty twenty six festivities next year for two point fifty
and then it'll close for a little while a couple
of years. They're doing a huge renovation project. They will
(09:38):
completely reimagine the visitor experience to really bring it into
the kinds of experiences that a visitor wants. Now, you know,
everything from the restroom facilities to meeting space, which is
fantastic for our industry in a lot of different ways,
not just for the visitor but for people who you know,
we're trying to bring here for meetings and conventions and
that sort of thing. There will be viewing spaces, there
(10:01):
will be new terraces that are out on the fifth
floor for it, and it is a huge, huge project
that will will take a long time to do, so
we encourage everybody get to the State Museum now until
that planned closure that's happening. They they'll have to shut
it down in order to do everything that they need
to do there. They're going to rehabilitate and reimagine at
(10:23):
least fifty percent of the exhibits there. So there's that.
There's also a project that they're doing over at the
old Archives building to make that a visitor experience as well,
where you can have some viewing situations from from one
of I believe it's between the fifteenth and seventeenth floor.
They'll be taking out the sixteenth the sixteenth ceiling to
(10:44):
make these you know, floor to ceiling viewing spaces that'll
be a visitor attraction, so you see these beautiful vistas
of Harrisburg and really bring people into it that way.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Oh my gosh, I didn't know that happened. It's very recent.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
They just announced that two weeks ago.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Okay, so it was.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
It was a wonderful, wonderful thing to hear.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
Well, another thing I want to talk and I know
a lot of nonprofits love this place. In fact, there's
one in particular, the lady that runs wolf Stock, which
is the largest outdoor what do they call it fair
whatever for dogs in their owners, and that is down
at Riverfront Park. There's a lot goes on at Riverfront Park.
Talk to us about that.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Yeah, Riverfront is another great asset that we have. And
I think sometimes you know, when you when you drive
into Harrisburg, or you drive through Harrisburg, or even if
you live in the city, you forget that you're right
on the river and the beautiful views. There's there is
wolf stock that happens there. If you're a pet owner,
it's fabulous. We also just finished art Fest earlier this summer.
(11:43):
Capona will be later this summer, and it's just one
of those places that you know, we had food trucks
there this past weekend. It's one of those it's you know,
it's green, it's lush, it's it's beautiful, and it attaches
to City Island right so you can cross the bridge,
go right into City Island, watch a senator's baseball game,
watch a sunset, you know, grab yourself some ice cream.
(12:05):
And then we also have some outfitters that we represent
as well. You know that you can run kayaks and
go out on the river. And we're also really excited
the Pride of the Susquehanna is to be back in
the river again this summer. We don't have a date
exactly as of yet, but it will be back in
as you know, it was off last year. So I'm
really excited to have them back in the water because
it's certainly something that people ask for.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
One of the buildings a historic home in Harrisburg is
the John Harris Simon Cameron mansion. Somebody told me. This
was somebody who was specialized in history of this area
told me that governor or not governor, President Grant was
visiting there and he was so big they had to
take both doors of the mansion off the front door
(12:47):
for him to get out. Honey, you like that little
kitty or tidbiddy a bit of information, I mean, Allison's laughing.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
Well, it's a beautiful place in history there, and everything
that was done to kind of reimagine and bring in
some influences from other countries really a neat spot. So
you know, we always kind of encourage people to look
for the tour hours because it's not every day all day,
so you do have to navigate that a little bit.
But if you have that opportunity, because it is a space,
(13:17):
it's it's near the riverfront, and there's so much Duffin
County history right around there as well, from obviously you know,
the founding of Harrisburg and things of that nature, so
lots of history with markers and spaces through that part
of Riverfront Park and then going up into the mansion
and getting that tour if you can.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
Anybody who has ever been to the National Civil War
museum has told me it's very it moves you. It's
a very solemn place. Can you talk to us about
that either view.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Yeah, I mean it is. It's a beautiful museum. It
sits at the highest point in Harrisburg, you know, so
the views from there are great as well. And it
does it tells that story that, you know, how Harrisburg
was involved and everybody thinks Scattysburg, you know. But it's
a great museum. It's it's one of the that we
have here and you know, we're expecting big things from them.
In twenty twenty six. They have a new executive director
(14:05):
coming in, a gentleman that we love, Wayne Mott's he
was there before. I've never heard a man speak about
history the way he does. So really excited to have
him come back and tell the story of the of
the Civil War here in Harrisburg.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
And I'm writing his name down and get in touch
with them.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Oh, for sure, he's a great that'll be a great
conversation one everyone will want to tune in for for sure.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
It seems that every so often when I have someone
in here talking about it, I learned something more about Harrisberg.
Like you mentioned, about the Civil War. I didn't realize
that we were like a big deal and to turn
in the Civil War around we helped probably this area
because of where our location close to the water pretty
(14:49):
much and the trains. Pennsylvania's loaded with trains, how about it.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
Yeah, yeah, there was an expectation that the Harrisburg area
would be the next big battle area. Gettysburg happened because
of the events that unfolded there. So you know, the
war didn't get this far north. But certainly, you know,
everything over near the Broad Street market, in camp Curtain
housing and preparing with two hundred to three hundred thousand
(15:13):
Union soldiers stationed here, you know, would have played obviously
a very big role. But Gettysburg happened the way that
it did, so fortunately, you know, fighting fighting did not
make its way here.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
You know, when my son was growing up, we spend
a lot of time here, and I used to tell
my in law, my sisters in law and brothers, it
got to get the kids down there, because it's wonderful.
And it gets more and more and they keep adding
more and more to the Whittacker Center. Could you talk
about what's going on there at this point where it
is located and what's going on.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Yeah, So the Whitacker Center is right downtown Harrisburg. It's
actually attached to Strawberry Square, and the Hilton is right there.
So if you come in, you stay at the Hilton.
You know, you can walk right over to the Whitacker Center.
They change their exhibits out frequently, and then they also
have an imax, which is my favorite.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
Part of Oh yeah, me too, Me too.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
You know.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
I like to take my grandson there. So it's just
it's again a great place hands on science. You know,
kids get to touch and feel and see what's going
on versus you know, just reading a book or learning
about it through a story. So again, it's just a
really good place to go.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
I don't think many people know that here in Harrisburg
we have a fire museum. Talk to us about that,
because I only started hearing about there a few years ago.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
They do a fantastic job to tell the story of
certainly fire history here in Harrisburg. But then they also
do a very good job on the memorial for nine
to eleven and things of that nature. So to go
in there and be able to be very close to
those just I'll say beautiful you know the beautiful you
(16:47):
know engines that we're here in Harrisburg. Until learn about
the history of that here is neat. I want to
back up for just a moment, if we can't Corker
Center and the attached Sonoko Performance Theater. That's something I
think a lot of people might overlook as well. Right
there in the heart connected to Whitaker Center is this
performing art space. So it's not just local theaters that's there,
(17:08):
but it's also great you know, big names that come through.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
You know, can you I can I'm trying to think
while we're sitting here, I'm thinking so many times i'd
see these big names and I think at the Wackers
Center one right.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Well, very recently that there was a queen tribute that came.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Out and that was fantastic.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
So there are a lot of tributes that come through,
but also also names and they're escaping me at the moment,
but certainly, you know, those are all the things that
are on our event's website as well.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
For Michael to Fla, wasn't Michael there? And I'm trying
to think one of.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
Those I can't conn, but they do come through for sure.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
That's amazing. I want to relax. I want to take
in nature. Where will I go? What do you think
is Sharon? I know you know this one right a
top of the go ahead.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
Yeah. So you know, one of the things that I
didn't mention earlier when we talked about you know, we
represent Dauphin County is we do also represent Perry County,
right and Perry County doesn't have the large tourism assets
such as Hershey Park, which we'll talk about a little
bit later, but it does have all the nature trails,
it has the covered bridges they have. So it's we
(18:15):
actually on our website, which is visit Hershehirsburg dot org,
we do have an adventure trail and there's hiking, biking,
there's Hawk Rock which is up there, and so it
really is that nature portion that we represent so well. Again,
you know, we do have again the riverfront, we do
represent northern Dauphin, but we do represent Perry as well,
and it's really nice. It gives us again you talked
(18:39):
about it earlier, we're able to cover all types of experiences.
We're able to tell you know, people can come here
and do a variety of things. And having the ability
to represent Perry County gives us that extra nature piece
that we really need.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Well, you know what else too while we're park that's
beautiful too. And that's that's a by Hack, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
It is Yeap, just a little bit north of hack Okay.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
And I understand, Well, here's something else that I had
a gentleman in here a couple of weeks ago. The
net Smith Center that is amazing up there. You can
do anything up there.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
The trail system up there has a couple miles worth
of trails. There's also the actual nature center that you
can go into as well. So and again when we
talk about all year round, you can visit these places
when the leaves turn just beautiful, beautiful spots there to
take family on hikes. It's fairly level graded. So that's
(19:30):
another thing about what we have as far as some
outdoor situations is that so much of it is family
friendly where you can go out and do an out
and back that's a short quarter mile or a half mile.
And then you have things that are more challenging, like
Sharon mentioned before with Hawk Rock that if you do
want to take it up a notch, you can really
kind of challenge yourself for those outdoor adventures as well.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
You know, I love it that you guys you're getting
right into technology. And one of the areas has to
do with the art Museum, Sasquaan Art Museum and all
the art places you can. You guys have an app, right,
how do you get a hold that app? And what
are you going to find when you use the app?
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Yeah? So right now, we do have the Arts District.
We have the Arts District which is on our website
and we're leading away from the app on the arts
portion just because of the people don't want to check
in quite as often as you do on the Beer
trail get ap. But yeah, right, but we do have
the Arts District on the AM.
Speaker 3 (20:30):
I right, I think you might be using the trail.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
So the Arts District app is something that we do
have and it's a free app. You can download it
from our website, visit Hershey, Harrisburg dot org and any
of the tabs for the Arts District. And with that,
it does have links to suggested mural trail walks, suggested
places where you can see all the different museums and
places for arts. And it's not necessarily a place where
(20:58):
you check in The app isn't designed for check in
for the art district. It's more designed for you to
You can go in and make an itinerary so you
can save things that you want to see and the
map will come up so you can kind of map
out your day or as we like to say, your
whole weekend or maybe even a long weekend to visit
all of those things, because there is more to see
than just a day. You can make it a weekend,
(21:19):
you can make it a half a day, or you
can truly spend. There are enough assets cultural and live
music and live entertainment to really fill up your time
when you're visiting that section of Harrisburg. And that Arts
District is a walkable space. It's about a mile from
midtown down to the edge of where the Capital District
is and into the Soma area, so it incorporates small
(21:41):
businesses and it incorporates all of those things, tremendous number
of murals to see along that stretch where you don't
even have to deviate off a third street that much
to see that beautiful public art. The Sweet Street Trail
is one where we are transitioning a little bit. We've
got a lot of content on our website, people think
about out Hershey, and obviously you think about Hershey Company,
(22:02):
but there are so many little spots where chocolate artisans
and bakeries, So we want to be able to tell
that story as well, that people may be influenced from Hershey,
influenced just in a way that baking and making these
sweet treats is an art in and of itself, and
those are places that are fantastic to stop and see
while you're doing other things all throughout Hershey and Harrisburg
(22:23):
as well.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
Before oh yeah, don't forget, oh yeah, my gosh, my gosh.
Of course, one of the things before we transition into
talking a little bit about Hershey is when I'm out
and I I love talking about this area because I mean,
it's I tell everybody it's it's a hub for everything.
You know, it's great raising kids here, blah blah blah blah.
But people keep asking me about that's that you liberty
(22:48):
in this Squehanna. What's the story on that?
Speaker 3 (22:51):
How did that sw years ago? And forgive me because
I don't have the date in my mind, but there
were some local folks who had this plica of a
statue of Liberty and they paddled out to an old
river bridge pylon. Yeah, if if you're coming toward Harrisburg
and you know you're looking off to your right, there
(23:12):
it They put it up on there and it has
it has been there so you can see it. I
actually hiked a little while ago. Cove Mountain Preserve is
over on the other side of the river, so if
you can picture, you know that mountain area that sits
over across. When you hike up to the top of
Cove Mountain, there's a beautiful view of that Mani statue
of Liberty. So it's a neat spot.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
Do people ask you guys about it? We do.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
We hear questions about it, for sure. It's one of
those neat, little you know only here kinds of things.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Right that.
Speaker 3 (23:41):
Where can you see a mini statue of Liberty? It's
in the blink of an eye when you're driving by.
There are kayak routes that come down there. There are
some rifles there, and it is a spot where you
have to be careful because the river can can get
so you want to be not a beginner paddler if
you're taking that route. You want have a little bit
more experience because of how you need to see it there.
(24:03):
But it's something that you can see from the water.
It's something you can see from Cove Mountain and if
you're not driving, look over and you can see it
from three twenty two as you come in.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
When people ask me, where are you from? Harrisburg? Where
Hershey top the most, I mean it's Hershey Park. On
tell us what don't people know about Hershey Park?
Speaker 2 (24:25):
I think I think probably the greatest thing in the
last couple of years is Hershey is so walkable now.
They have so many restaurants and coffee shops and again
breweries and you know, the museum, the Hershey Story is
downtown Hershey, so you know, you really can hers She
has always had such amazing tourism entities, you know with
(24:47):
Hershey Park, the Hotel Hershey, the Hershey Lodge, but getting
you know, having Hershey downtown Hershey now be you know
this beautiful walkable town is you know, people love it
and so you know you can stay in a hotel
and literally walk, you know, to the Hershey Story and
to many restaurants and attractions.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
And they also had the Butterfly Museum. People are nuts
about that too.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Yeah, so Hershey Gardens, which is right up the hill.
It's right close to the hotel. They have the Hershey
Gardens and they do have butterflies there as well, and
it's very very popular. We actually were just out there
for a meeting a couple of weeks ago, and what
a great place. The birds are chirping and you get
to see the roses blooming. And who would have thought buying,
you know, Milton Hershey buying you know, some roses for
(25:35):
his wife would lead to this beautiful garden that we
have here in Hershey.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
I'm glad you said that about Milton Hershey. What things
have you learned about history? Even about Milton Hershey, We
don't know. Tell me about that, John, I love that.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
Well.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
You know, you talk about agriculture and tourism being you know,
one and two in the state, and you know, certainly
that's where it started. It started with agriculture, right, So
you know, he came here because we had the milk,
you know, to make the milk chocolate, and it all
started there. And then you know, they unfortunately weren't able
to have children, so then they did start the Milton
Hershey School and so they have all the children, and
(26:07):
Milton Hershey had just done such a fabulous job, and
it's why Hershey exists. And you know, and he kept
he was always about community, always about giving back. Even
during the Great Depression, you know, when everyone else was
laying off, he was making sure that he was hiring people.
That's when he built you know a lot of the
assets that are in Hershey right now. So just a
(26:27):
great human being that always wanted better for the community.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
Didn't I read somewhere where he tried and tried and
tried over and over again. He never gave up. Yeah,
and that we don't see that kind of stuff nowadays.
We don't see integrity nowadays. We don't see people very
often caring nowadays. But he really really didn't. And I
can tell you talking to a lot of the people
who graduated from the Hershey School, all of them they're phenomenal,
(26:53):
they're all dedicated. And I said, where does this come from? Well,
either I remember, I forget who was a Gary Gilliam
may have said, well, my grandma and Milton Hershey, we
all get that drilled into us. But who cares. I mean,
the man was wonderful, a wonderful human being.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
That's how Hershey Park got started. He built that for
his employees. He wanted his employees to have a place
to spend the day on the time they weren't working.
He wanted them to be able to have fun. And
that's how Hershey Park got started.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Oh, I want you to tell me more stuff, Sharon.
This is exciting. We're going to be running out of
time shortly, and I wanted to met with I thought
to myself, we got too much to talked about to
do this and in a half an hour program, let's
make it two parts. So we're going to wrap things
up and talk to the girls again. But before what
we're gonna do is we're gonna find out more about
these things that are going on around Hershey's some of
(27:42):
the hn gems that are going wrong. You know a
lot of people like antiquing. I remember one time seeing
a story about Ron Howard being at one of the places.
Everybody knows Ron Howard. He's Opie and he's also Richie Cunningham,
and he was he was antiquing. Here. There's an awful
lot go on about Hershee. We're going to talk about that.
Also going to talk about the impact of the beer industry.
(28:05):
And this thing that Sharon has going on, what is
it called the brue Baron's Beer Trail. So much more
and what's going to happen in twenty twenty six. It's
so exciting. I don't even know where to start with it.
But anyway, girls, thanks for being with it. You're going
to stick around for COVID mids. We're going to have
part two. And to my listener, don't forget you can
always check Insight out on one of our ten iheartstations,
(28:27):
one airs or on your favorite podcast staff. I'm Sylvia Moss.
This has been Insight. Listen to part two next week.
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The Parkinson's Foundation Better lives Together
Hi. I'm Sylvia Moss, and this is Insight, a presentation
of iHeartMedia, where we really do care about our local
communities and all our listeners who live here. I don't
think I can remember a time when so many people
have been just dying to take a break, get in
some badly needed vacation time, and leave all the constant
stress behind, at least for a little while. Anyway, Well,
(00:22):
I've been thinking about that a lot, and my guests
and I got a little advice for you thinking about
jetting off somewhere. I don't know, do you realize how
many problems at airlines I've had lately driving several hours
to a beach destination. You think you're stressing out, Well,
I gonna like sitting for long hours on the freeway.
And how would you feel about spending some of those
(00:44):
relaxing days and a place that offers both family and
grown up attractions, a place where you can check out
things like history, nature, culture, awesome food and amusement and
water park fun events. And I could go on and
on and on. Blessed for all of this, because this
is in our own backyard. I want you to listen up,
(01:05):
because my guest today is probably the best cheerleader we'll
ever have here in central Pennsylvania, or across the whole
state for that matter. For the last ten years, Sharon
sitz Myers has been the executive director of the Pennsylvania
Farm Show Complex. As I was saying to you earlier, Sharon,
I hope you can come in and talk with Darryman
Dave about the farm Show in December. Prior to that,
(01:26):
she was the vice president of Operations for the Hershey
Harrisburg Regional Visitors Bureau, and just a couple months ago
she took on a new position when the board a
Visit Hersheyharrisburg dot Org voted unanimously for Sharon to become
their new president and CEO. And all I can say
Sharon is bravo. Nobody does it better than you. She's
(01:48):
brought along part of her crew with her. With Sharon
is Alison Roherbosch. She is the director of Communications for
Visit Hershey Harrisburg dot Org. I remember, Sharon, I first
met you. I guess it was about ten years ago.
You were, as I said, you were at the farm
Show and you were doing all the events for them.
(02:09):
Are you were in charge of putting all No, I
don't think that's what it is. Let me let me
ask you to tell you Because I know the farm
show is huge, You're always out promoting that. But what
people don't know is the farm Show Center and expos Center.
There are a lot of other events that go on there.
So do you are you the one that gets the vendors?
(02:30):
Are you the one that pulls it all together? Are
you the one cleaning up the everyone's what do you do?
What did you do at the farm show? I guess
I'm asking it.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Wow, that's quite the introduction, Sylvia. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
I think Dynamo always always.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Yeah. So I'll back up nineteen years. That's when I
started with the Hershey Harrisburg Visitors Bureau, which is now
known as Visit Hershey Harrisburg, so it's the same company.
I was there for nine years, left to go to
farm Show for ten and then back now for a
few months. So when I was hired for at the
Visitors Bureau the first time, my primary focus was to
(03:07):
book events for the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex, so it
was my sales market. So I was capable of you know,
I had the opportunity of going out doing trade shows,
talking to people that were doing shows and other facilities
and telling them about the fabulous asset that we have
right here in Harrisburg called the Pennsylvania farm Show Complex.
Was able to book events like Meekum Classic Car Auction,
(03:28):
which we have coming in in just a few weeks,
Keystone Regional Volleyball. There's a number of events that we
were responsible for. The horse shows, huge tip the National
Horse Show. They've been here for a long long time.
And so then I took on the role as the
executive director at farm Show. And it's everything from really
making sure the team has the tools they need to
keep the lights on, to doing some of the sales doing,
(03:50):
you know, working with the communications team to make sure
the right messages are out there. But we also stayed
really closely tied to the Visit Bureau. They act sort
of as our sales arm, and so just making sure
that we book all kinds of events. As you know,
the annual farm Show is the largest event the Farm
Show does. They do it from start to finish. They
(04:11):
book the acts, they do the floor plans, they sell
the booths, they get the food vendors in the right spots,
all of that and they do a fabulous job. But
outside of that, we do about two hundred other events,
and so that's really where the Visitors Bureau and the
Farm Show work collaboratively to book events, making sure the
schedules match, and just making sure that we drive as
(04:31):
much positive economic impact into Dauphin County as we possibly can.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
I'm glad you mention that. And it's worth about the
farm show is worth about what about seventy million dollars it.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Brings in the annual farm show. Yes, wow, wow.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Well, you know, I don't think people realize this is
there are four or five top industries in the state
that drive the economy. One is agriculture, the other one
is tourism. So let's talk a lot about tourism and
how they are similar. Like how much does the tourism Bureau?
I feel for give me for calm that, but that's
still in my mind. Hershey, Harrisburg dot org. How much
(05:06):
does that generate?
Speaker 2 (05:07):
So we specifically in Dauphin County generate about four point
one billion dollars in billion billion. That's not just what
we're responsible for, but it's all the tourism assets collectively
in the county itself. There's about eighty billion across the
entire state of Pennsylvania. So to your point, it's a
very large industry and it's one that for every dollar
(05:28):
you spend on marketing tourism assets in Pennsylvania, you get
a five dollar return on investment. That's a really good investment.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Wow, that's amazing.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
So we work with all the tourism assets, whether it
be again the Farm Show Complex, Hershey Resorts in our
Hershey Entertainment and Resorts, the National Civil War Museum, the
Whitaker Center, all of the tourism assets across Dauphin County.
We work with them to make sure that we're telling
the right story, we're sending the right message, to make
sure people understand we have some really fabulous things here
(05:57):
for you to see in Dauphin County.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
And I wanted to I know you from knowing you
forever that what's real, real, important to you, and I
valued this through and what makes the engines run. Our
partnerships tell us about that.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Yeah, So we are a partner based organization. However, we
really do cross lines right because our job is to
sell tourism in its totality in Dauphin County. We want
to make sure that the visitor, first of all, doesn't
understand county lines. They don't know where Cumberland starts or
where Lebanon starts. So we work really collaboratively with the
other tourism tourism bureaus as they are called, or you know,
(06:34):
across you know, across the state. We work with them
to make sure that the visitor coming here has a
full experience. We want them to stay in Dauphin County
to see what's here in Dauphin County. But if they
ask us about something happened in Cumberland or Franklin or
you know, yourk Lebanon, even Lancaster, we try to make
sure that they do get the information.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
I want to ask you too, when you're saying hershey, Harrisburg,
how does that include northern Dauphin County? Does that include
like a little Buffalo State Park? Al those? Okay, so
we know that. Now I wanted to ask you this anything,
and we don't really have. Everybody talks about target audience
and niche and everything else, but we really don't have
(07:15):
that because we've got we've got it all right.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
We do. We absolutely do. I mean, we certainly focus
on family fun because we do have our largest assets
have that, but we we cross all demographics, you know.
We we like to say that, you know, multiple generations
can come here. We are welcoming to all different cultures
and we have something for everyone, whether it be you know,
(07:40):
if you're interested in breweries, which we can talk about,
Oh yeah, want to go out, but you want to
get that history, you know, we have the museums and
if you're a car enthusiast, we have everything from the
Antique Auto Museum and Harshey to the shows that happen
at farm Show where cars are you know, front and center.
So yes, we really do have something for all different ages,
(08:01):
cultures and you know, just every demographic here.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
I think you will find this too. And you have
found this too, and Allison you as well. It's like
people that live in New York City have never been
to the Empire State Building, or they've never been to
you know this or that. That is a lot of
the case here, isn't it. So that's one of the
reasons I wanted to do this problem with you guys,
is to remind people of what's out there. So how
(08:26):
about if I mentioned some things and start with Harrisburg
and you guys can comment about what you know about it.
Either one of you jump in whenever you feel like.
How about the State Capitol. It's supposed to be the
most beautiful state capitol in the country.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
True, it is, absolutely is. If you've not seen the
State Capitol, you need to take the tour. It's free.
Lots of people see it for the first time when
family comes to town. Quick. Yeah, it's a big thing.
Let's see what we can find. Take family out. But
it's scorgeous. I mean, it really could be a museum
of its own.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
It is as amazing. And I was talking to a
gentleman not too long ago who was responsible for taking
care of any of the things that were on the wall.
I mean, it's a big job. It's it's meticulous. Liked that.
Oh my gosh. How about the State Museum. My ex
husband had something hanging in the State Museum. How about that?
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Yeah, the State Museum is a fantastic place. It really
tells the story of all of Pennsylvania from so many
different aspects. Something really really fantastic that's actually coming up.
State Museum. We open as normal up until after the
twenty twenty six festivities next year for two point fifty
and then it'll close for a little while a couple
of years. They're doing a huge renovation project. They will
(09:38):
completely reimagine the visitor experience to really bring it into
the kinds of experiences that a visitor wants. Now, you know,
everything from the restroom facilities to meeting space, which is
fantastic for our industry in a lot of different ways,
not just for the visitor but for people who you know,
we're trying to bring here for meetings and conventions and
that sort of thing. There will be viewing spaces, there
(10:01):
will be new terraces that are out on the fifth
floor for it, and it is a huge, huge project
that will will take a long time to do, so
we encourage everybody get to the State Museum now until
that planned closure that's happening. They they'll have to shut
it down in order to do everything that they need
to do there. They're going to rehabilitate and reimagine at
(10:23):
least fifty percent of the exhibits there. So there's that.
There's also a project that they're doing over at the
old Archives building to make that a visitor experience as well,
where you can have some viewing situations from from one
of I believe it's between the fifteenth and seventeenth floor.
They'll be taking out the sixteenth the sixteenth ceiling to
(10:44):
make these you know, floor to ceiling viewing spaces that'll
be a visitor attraction, so you see these beautiful vistas
of Harrisburg and really bring people into it that way.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Oh my gosh, I didn't know that happened. It's very recent.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
They just announced that two weeks ago.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Okay, so it was.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
It was a wonderful, wonderful thing to hear.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
Well, another thing I want to talk and I know
a lot of nonprofits love this place. In fact, there's
one in particular, the lady that runs wolf Stock, which
is the largest outdoor what do they call it fair
whatever for dogs in their owners, and that is down
at Riverfront Park. There's a lot goes on at Riverfront Park.
Talk to us about that.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Yeah, Riverfront is another great asset that we have. And
I think sometimes you know, when you when you drive
into Harrisburg, or you drive through Harrisburg, or even if
you live in the city, you forget that you're right
on the river and the beautiful views. There's there is
wolf stock that happens there. If you're a pet owner,
it's fabulous. We also just finished art Fest earlier this summer.
(11:43):
Capona will be later this summer, and it's just one
of those places that you know, we had food trucks
there this past weekend. It's one of those it's you know,
it's green, it's lush, it's it's beautiful, and it attaches
to City Island right so you can cross the bridge,
go right into City Island, watch a senator's baseball game,
watch a sunset, you know, grab yourself some ice cream.
(12:05):
And then we also have some outfitters that we represent
as well. You know that you can run kayaks and
go out on the river. And we're also really excited
the Pride of the Susquehanna is to be back in
the river again this summer. We don't have a date
exactly as of yet, but it will be back in
as you know, it was off last year. So I'm
really excited to have them back in the water because
it's certainly something that people ask for.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
One of the buildings a historic home in Harrisburg is
the John Harris Simon Cameron mansion. Somebody told me. This
was somebody who was specialized in history of this area
told me that governor or not governor, President Grant was
visiting there and he was so big they had to
take both doors of the mansion off the front door
(12:47):
for him to get out. Honey, you like that little
kitty or tidbiddy a bit of information, I mean, Allison's laughing.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
Well, it's a beautiful place in history there, and everything
that was done to kind of reimagine and bring in
some influences from other countries really a neat spot. So
you know, we always kind of encourage people to look
for the tour hours because it's not every day all day,
so you do have to navigate that a little bit.
But if you have that opportunity, because it is a space,
(13:17):
it's it's near the riverfront, and there's so much Duffin
County history right around there as well, from obviously you know,
the founding of Harrisburg and things of that nature, so
lots of history with markers and spaces through that part
of Riverfront Park and then going up into the mansion
and getting that tour if you can.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
Anybody who has ever been to the National Civil War
museum has told me it's very it moves you. It's
a very solemn place. Can you talk to us about
that either view.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Yeah, I mean it is. It's a beautiful museum. It
sits at the highest point in Harrisburg, you know, so
the views from there are great as well. And it
does it tells that story that, you know, how Harrisburg
was involved and everybody thinks Scattysburg, you know. But it's
a great museum. It's it's one of the that we
have here and you know, we're expecting big things from them.
In twenty twenty six. They have a new executive director
(14:05):
coming in, a gentleman that we love, Wayne Mott's he
was there before. I've never heard a man speak about
history the way he does. So really excited to have
him come back and tell the story of the of
the Civil War here in Harrisburg.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
And I'm writing his name down and get in touch
with them.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Oh, for sure, he's a great that'll be a great
conversation one everyone will want to tune in for for sure.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
It seems that every so often when I have someone
in here talking about it, I learned something more about Harrisberg.
Like you mentioned, about the Civil War. I didn't realize
that we were like a big deal and to turn
in the Civil War around we helped probably this area
because of where our location close to the water pretty
(14:49):
much and the trains. Pennsylvania's loaded with trains, how about it.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
Yeah, yeah, there was an expectation that the Harrisburg area
would be the next big battle area. Gettysburg happened because
of the events that unfolded there. So you know, the
war didn't get this far north. But certainly, you know,
everything over near the Broad Street market, in camp Curtain
housing and preparing with two hundred to three hundred thousand
(15:13):
Union soldiers stationed here, you know, would have played obviously
a very big role. But Gettysburg happened the way that
it did, so fortunately, you know, fighting fighting did not
make its way here.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
You know, when my son was growing up, we spend
a lot of time here, and I used to tell
my in law, my sisters in law and brothers, it
got to get the kids down there, because it's wonderful.
And it gets more and more and they keep adding
more and more to the Whittacker Center. Could you talk
about what's going on there at this point where it
is located and what's going on.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Yeah, So the Whitacker Center is right downtown Harrisburg. It's
actually attached to Strawberry Square, and the Hilton is right there.
So if you come in, you stay at the Hilton.
You know, you can walk right over to the Whitacker Center.
They change their exhibits out frequently, and then they also
have an imax, which is my favorite.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
Part of Oh yeah, me too, Me too.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
You know.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
I like to take my grandson there. So it's just
it's again a great place hands on science. You know,
kids get to touch and feel and see what's going
on versus you know, just reading a book or learning
about it through a story. So again, it's just a
really good place to go.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
I don't think many people know that here in Harrisburg
we have a fire museum. Talk to us about that,
because I only started hearing about there a few years ago.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
They do a fantastic job to tell the story of
certainly fire history here in Harrisburg. But then they also
do a very good job on the memorial for nine
to eleven and things of that nature. So to go
in there and be able to be very close to
those just I'll say beautiful you know the beautiful you
(16:47):
know engines that we're here in Harrisburg. Until learn about
the history of that here is neat. I want to
back up for just a moment, if we can't Corker
Center and the attached Sonoko Performance Theater. That's something I
think a lot of people might overlook as well. Right
there in the heart connected to Whitaker Center is this
performing art space. So it's not just local theaters that's there,
(17:08):
but it's also great you know, big names that come through.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
You know, can you I can I'm trying to think
while we're sitting here, I'm thinking so many times i'd
see these big names and I think at the Wackers
Center one right.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Well, very recently that there was a queen tribute that came.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Out and that was fantastic.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
So there are a lot of tributes that come through,
but also also names and they're escaping me at the moment,
but certainly, you know, those are all the things that
are on our event's website as well.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
For Michael to Fla, wasn't Michael there? And I'm trying
to think one of.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
Those I can't conn, but they do come through for sure.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
That's amazing. I want to relax. I want to take
in nature. Where will I go? What do you think
is Sharon? I know you know this one right a
top of the go ahead.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
Yeah. So you know, one of the things that I
didn't mention earlier when we talked about you know, we
represent Dauphin County is we do also represent Perry County,
right and Perry County doesn't have the large tourism assets
such as Hershey Park, which we'll talk about a little
bit later, but it does have all the nature trails,
it has the covered bridges they have. So it's we
(18:15):
actually on our website, which is visit Hershehirsburg dot org,
we do have an adventure trail and there's hiking, biking,
there's Hawk Rock which is up there, and so it
really is that nature portion that we represent so well. Again,
you know, we do have again the riverfront, we do
represent northern Dauphin, but we do represent Perry as well,
and it's really nice. It gives us again you talked
(18:39):
about it earlier, we're able to cover all types of experiences.
We're able to tell you know, people can come here
and do a variety of things. And having the ability
to represent Perry County gives us that extra nature piece
that we really need.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Well, you know what else too while we're park that's
beautiful too. And that's that's a by Hack, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
It is Yeap, just a little bit north of hack Okay.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
And I understand, Well, here's something else that I had
a gentleman in here a couple of weeks ago. The
net Smith Center that is amazing up there. You can
do anything up there.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
The trail system up there has a couple miles worth
of trails. There's also the actual nature center that you
can go into as well. So and again when we
talk about all year round, you can visit these places
when the leaves turn just beautiful, beautiful spots there to
take family on hikes. It's fairly level graded. So that's
(19:30):
another thing about what we have as far as some
outdoor situations is that so much of it is family
friendly where you can go out and do an out
and back that's a short quarter mile or a half mile.
And then you have things that are more challenging, like
Sharon mentioned before with Hawk Rock that if you do
want to take it up a notch, you can really
kind of challenge yourself for those outdoor adventures as well.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
You know, I love it that you guys you're getting
right into technology. And one of the areas has to
do with the art Museum, Sasquaan Art Museum and all
the art places you can. You guys have an app, right,
how do you get a hold that app? And what
are you going to find when you use the app?
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Yeah? So right now, we do have the Arts District.
We have the Arts District which is on our website
and we're leading away from the app on the arts
portion just because of the people don't want to check
in quite as often as you do on the Beer
trail get ap. But yeah, right, but we do have
the Arts District on the AM.
Speaker 3 (20:30):
I right, I think you might be using the trail.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
So the Arts District app is something that we do
have and it's a free app. You can download it
from our website, visit Hershey, Harrisburg dot org and any
of the tabs for the Arts District. And with that,
it does have links to suggested mural trail walks, suggested
places where you can see all the different museums and
places for arts. And it's not necessarily a place where
(20:58):
you check in The app isn't designed for check in
for the art district. It's more designed for you to
You can go in and make an itinerary so you
can save things that you want to see and the
map will come up so you can kind of map
out your day or as we like to say, your
whole weekend or maybe even a long weekend to visit
all of those things, because there is more to see
than just a day. You can make it a weekend,
(21:19):
you can make it a half a day, or you
can truly spend. There are enough assets cultural and live
music and live entertainment to really fill up your time
when you're visiting that section of Harrisburg. And that Arts
District is a walkable space. It's about a mile from
midtown down to the edge of where the Capital District
is and into the Soma area, so it incorporates small
(21:41):
businesses and it incorporates all of those things, tremendous number
of murals to see along that stretch where you don't
even have to deviate off a third street that much
to see that beautiful public art. The Sweet Street Trail
is one where we are transitioning a little bit. We've
got a lot of content on our website, people think
about out Hershey, and obviously you think about Hershey Company,
(22:02):
but there are so many little spots where chocolate artisans
and bakeries, So we want to be able to tell
that story as well, that people may be influenced from Hershey,
influenced just in a way that baking and making these
sweet treats is an art in and of itself, and
those are places that are fantastic to stop and see
while you're doing other things all throughout Hershey and Harrisburg
(22:23):
as well.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
Before oh yeah, don't forget, oh yeah, my gosh, my gosh.
Of course, one of the things before we transition into
talking a little bit about Hershey is when I'm out
and I I love talking about this area because I mean,
it's I tell everybody it's it's a hub for everything.
You know, it's great raising kids here, blah blah blah blah.
But people keep asking me about that's that you liberty
(22:48):
in this Squehanna. What's the story on that?
Speaker 3 (22:51):
How did that sw years ago? And forgive me because
I don't have the date in my mind, but there
were some local folks who had this plica of a
statue of Liberty and they paddled out to an old
river bridge pylon. Yeah, if if you're coming toward Harrisburg
and you know you're looking off to your right, there
(23:12):
it They put it up on there and it has
it has been there so you can see it. I
actually hiked a little while ago. Cove Mountain Preserve is
over on the other side of the river, so if
you can picture, you know that mountain area that sits
over across. When you hike up to the top of
Cove Mountain, there's a beautiful view of that Mani statue
of Liberty. So it's a neat spot.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
Do people ask you guys about it? We do.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
We hear questions about it, for sure. It's one of
those neat, little you know only here kinds of things.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Right that.
Speaker 3 (23:41):
Where can you see a mini statue of Liberty? It's
in the blink of an eye when you're driving by.
There are kayak routes that come down there. There are
some rifles there, and it is a spot where you
have to be careful because the river can can get
so you want to be not a beginner paddler if
you're taking that route. You want have a little bit
more experience because of how you need to see it there.
(24:03):
But it's something that you can see from the water.
It's something you can see from Cove Mountain and if
you're not driving, look over and you can see it
from three twenty two as you come in.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
When people ask me, where are you from? Harrisburg? Where
Hershey top the most, I mean it's Hershey Park. On
tell us what don't people know about Hershey Park?
Speaker 2 (24:25):
I think I think probably the greatest thing in the
last couple of years is Hershey is so walkable now.
They have so many restaurants and coffee shops and again
breweries and you know, the museum, the Hershey Story is
downtown Hershey, so you know, you really can hers She
has always had such amazing tourism entities, you know with
(24:47):
Hershey Park, the Hotel Hershey, the Hershey Lodge, but getting
you know, having Hershey downtown Hershey now be you know
this beautiful walkable town is you know, people love it
and so you know you can stay in a hotel
and literally walk, you know, to the Hershey Story and
to many restaurants and attractions.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
And they also had the Butterfly Museum. People are nuts
about that too.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Yeah, so Hershey Gardens, which is right up the hill.
It's right close to the hotel. They have the Hershey
Gardens and they do have butterflies there as well, and
it's very very popular. We actually were just out there
for a meeting a couple of weeks ago, and what
a great place. The birds are chirping and you get
to see the roses blooming. And who would have thought buying,
you know, Milton Hershey buying you know, some roses for
(25:35):
his wife would lead to this beautiful garden that we
have here in Hershey.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
I'm glad you said that about Milton Hershey. What things
have you learned about history? Even about Milton Hershey, We
don't know. Tell me about that, John, I love that.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
Well.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
You know, you talk about agriculture and tourism being you know,
one and two in the state, and you know, certainly
that's where it started. It started with agriculture, right, So
you know, he came here because we had the milk,
you know, to make the milk chocolate, and it all
started there. And then you know, they unfortunately weren't able
to have children, so then they did start the Milton
Hershey School and so they have all the children, and
(26:07):
Milton Hershey had just done such a fabulous job, and
it's why Hershey exists. And you know, and he kept
he was always about community, always about giving back. Even
during the Great Depression, you know, when everyone else was
laying off, he was making sure that he was hiring people.
That's when he built you know a lot of the
assets that are in Hershey right now. So just a
(26:27):
great human being that always wanted better for the community.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
Didn't I read somewhere where he tried and tried and
tried over and over again. He never gave up. Yeah,
and that we don't see that kind of stuff nowadays.
We don't see integrity nowadays. We don't see people very
often caring nowadays. But he really really didn't. And I
can tell you talking to a lot of the people
who graduated from the Hershey School, all of them they're phenomenal,
(26:53):
they're all dedicated. And I said, where does this come from? Well,
either I remember, I forget who was a Gary Gilliam
may have said, well, my grandma and Milton Hershey, we
all get that drilled into us. But who cares. I mean,
the man was wonderful, a wonderful human being.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
That's how Hershey Park got started. He built that for
his employees. He wanted his employees to have a place
to spend the day on the time they weren't working.
He wanted them to be able to have fun. And
that's how Hershey Park got started.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Oh, I want you to tell me more stuff, Sharon.
This is exciting. We're going to be running out of
time shortly, and I wanted to met with I thought
to myself, we got too much to talked about to
do this and in a half an hour program, let's
make it two parts. So we're going to wrap things
up and talk to the girls again. But before what
we're gonna do is we're gonna find out more about
these things that are going on around Hershey's some of
(27:42):
the hn gems that are going wrong. You know a
lot of people like antiquing. I remember one time seeing
a story about Ron Howard being at one of the places.
Everybody knows Ron Howard. He's Opie and he's also Richie Cunningham,
and he was he was antiquing. Here. There's an awful
lot go on about Hershee. We're going to talk about that.
Also going to talk about the impact of the beer industry.
(28:05):
And this thing that Sharon has going on, what is
it called the brue Baron's Beer Trail. So much more
and what's going to happen in twenty twenty six. It's
so exciting. I don't even know where to start with it.
But anyway, girls, thanks for being with it. You're going
to stick around for COVID mids. We're going to have
part two. And to my listener, don't forget you can
always check Insight out on one of our ten iheartstations,
(28:27):
one airs or on your favorite podcast staff. I'm Sylvia Moss.
This has been Insight. Listen to part two next week.
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