“People are often surprised to learn that I was not born and raised in Happy Valley,” Matt Maris says. Considering that the high school teacher owns and runs Local Historia, an ode to Happy Valley’s historic past, the surprise is legitimate.

When Hector Cruz visited Happy Valley for the first time — visiting his daughter at Penn State — he didn’t know anyone. He says finding a place to eat was tricky. “Reading a review is just not the same as talking to someone about their favorite places to eat,” he says. “You can’t ask them questions or ask for recommendations.”

Eric Loop is the president of the board of directors of the Mount Nittany Conservancy, a public charity dedicated to conserving Mount Nittany in its natural state for the benefit of Happy Valley. For him, it was a natural next step after growing up in its shadow, hiking and camping on it all his life.

This April, Bob Cameron is writing a new chapter in his life. For the past seven years, he’s been the director of the Columbus Chapel and Boal Mansion Museum in Boalsburg, keeping the stories of Happy Valley’s past alive and in living color. Over those years, he worked to revitalize the historic destination, working with more than 600-900 volunteers per year to implement projects ranging from miles of trails to a walking bridge to new gardens and arboriculture.

Jason Browne wears a lot of hats. He owns four LLCs, is active in Rotary, performs for Happy Valley Improv, cohosts the Morning Getaway on 94.5 and is on the board of 3 Dots Downtown, which has won “Best Community Space'' every year since it opened in 2019.

Congressman Glenn “GT” Thompson has roots in Happy Valley. Not only was he raised in Howard, spending his spare time helping his dad run a sporting goods store, but he graduated from Bald Eagle High School and then went on to graduate from Penn State University. But when you ask him, his roots go much deeper than that.

Like most kids who grew up living and breathing skateboarding, Tommy Ries knew about Camp Woodward — the elite skills-building camp for aspiring athletes — he just didn’t know where it was. “I don’t think I’d ever even been in the state of Pennsylvania before I visited,” he recalls. By 2012, he’d made the drive (albeit one that included a speeding ticket right around DuBois on I-80). And as soon as he took the Pleasant Gap exit and headed up over the Centre Hall mountain, he fell in love.

After Aaron Weyman graduated from Penn State, he worked for the athletic department for a short time and then accepted a job at Tussey Mountain. That was 14 years ago, and the magic still hasn’t worn off. “It's hard to name another big time school that can see ski slopes from their campus,” he says. “Then add in outdoor concerts, events and activities in the warm months, located right at the entrance to a gorgeous state forest like Rothrock... how can you beat that?”

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.”