Joe Belle and the rest of the Clean Team is the reason that you and I get to enjoy a beautiful downtown State College. But he wants to get one thing straight: “We aren’t grouchy garbagemen — we’re pretty cool guys. So stop and talk to us! Everyone on my team is involved in artistic endeavors in the community after work — I am a musician, Damian Cabrera is an artist, and Michael David is into juggling. We’re anything but grouchy.”

Thirty years ago, Lance Shaner and his brother Fred were looking for a new home for their progressive hospitality business. They explored Atlanta, Durham, Chapel Hill and Austin, but it was Happy Valley that caught their eye. “It was hard to beat the quality of life that we saw here,” Lance said.

Prior to joining the Chamber of Business and Industry of Centre County (CBICC) as President and CEO in September of 2021, Greg Scott spent 25 years leading large-scale business operations for major universities.

Third-year Penn State student Hunter Porcano is studying Biological Engineering with a focus in Food and Bioprocessing. This year, a love for kombucha, a spontaneous Instagram message and a job as a brewer assistant has changed the course of her career.

Forty years ago, Greg Woodman spent his tuition money to print Penn State T-shirts to sell at tailgates. It was a move that wasn’t very popular with his parents, but it paid off, big time. In the years that followed he made the cardboard Standup Joe Paterno, the famous “twins poster,” the “Are You a Penn Stater” guidebook, Penn State Football Annuals throughout the ’80s, and a recent retrospective called “Why Penn State: Why the 1980s gave Nittany Lions a common cause, culture and shared values.” We caught up with Greg to hear about what made him fall in love with Happy Valley, and how it’s continued to be such a magical place for him.

For Fritz Smith, president and CEO of The Happy Valley Adventure Bureau, the love for hospitality started at a very early age, in a place fueled by tourism.

“I grew up in Washington, D.C., a place where the two major industries were government and tourism,” he said. “You saw thousands of people visiting the Washington Monument and going in and out of the Smithsonian Museum buildings almost year-round. Something inside me said, “I bet those people are spending a whole lot of money while they are here!”

Zach Lorber lived the transient chef life before coming to State College. “My wife, Megan, grew up in State College and is a Penn State alum of the hospitality program. We met while both working at Bedford Springs Resort, fell in love, and knew we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together. I moved here in the winter of 2009 and Happy Valley has been home since. In just a few more years, this will be the longest I've lived anywhere and that makes me happy.”

In 2021, Megan Marcaurelle-Jones and her husband Cody moved to Bellefonte to open their very own cocktail bar. Their passion project, The Republic, is located on the first floor of the Gamble Mill, and Megan says that opening it has been “so rewarding.”

Big Spring Spirits Tasting Room Manager Lucy Rogers has been part of the wine scene in State College since 2003. She started at Harrison’s Wine Grill when it was at the Hilton Garden Inn, where she ran weekly wine tastings and wine classes, and moved on to Zola and catering management. When she heard about an opening at a brand new distillery in Bellefonte, she said without hesitation, “I’m on board.”