Before moving to Happy Valley in 2019 — and becoming President and CEO of the Happy Valley Adventure Bureau — Fritz Smith served in leadership in tourism with Visit Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau, and the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED). Over the years, his career took his family from New York City to Philadelphia to Baltimore to Washington, D.C. And when he and his wife Leslie decided on a move, he says that they were drawn to Happy Valley as a chance to slow down and enjoy a life that he says was “a bit less hectic, less expensive, less loud and dirty.”
Greg Guise puts a new meaning on the term ‘active retirement.’ After graduating from Penn State and working as a videographer in Detroit and then in Washington, D.C. for 40 years, he’s back in Happy Valley. And when I call him, he’s climbing Rattlesnake Mountain to install communications gear for the amateur radio community. It’s “just a way of giving back,” he says just before he drives out of cell phone range. When he calls back, he tells me just why community is so, so important. Read on.
Local author and historian Rebecca Inlow wants to tell you about Philipsburg, and specifically about its movie palace The Rowland Theatre. A longtime volunteer for the theatre, Inlow has authored the book “The Rowland Story: Beauty from Ashes,” a labor of love that took 3 ½ years to complete (you can buy a copy at the theatre, or at Shindig Alley on the corner of Front and Pine in Philipsburg). She says it was worth it all to discover “little pieces of history that you can find around every corner.”
