Culture

August 8, 2023

Brewing in the PA Wilds: New Trail Brewing Company

With the love of the outdoors at the center of all they do, New Trail Brewing Company believes that great beer makes life’s experiences taste even better. Founded in 2018 in Williamsport in the I-80 Frontier landscape of the PA Wilds, New Trail makes great beer for everyone to enjoy when you dare to explore new places, do new things, take new trails, and have truly memorable adventures.

August 4, 2023

2023 PA Wilds Champions receive awards at July 27 dinner

On July 27, the eleven recipients of the 2023 Champions of the Pennsylvania Wilds Awards were recognized for their efforts to help grow and sustainably develop the region’s outdoor recreation economy and nature tourism.  Approximately 200 people from across the 13-county PA Wilds region and Harrisburg gathered to celebrate the award winners during the 2023 PA Wilds Dinner & Awards, held at Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney, Jefferson County. The event is organized by the PA Wilds Center for Entrepreneurship, Inc. (PA Wilds Center) and the PA Wilds Planning Team, and the theme for this year’s dinner was “Celebrating Decades of Conservation and Innovation.”

August 1, 2023

Brewing in the PA Wilds: Bald Birds Brewing Company

Bald Birds Brewing Company landed in Central Pennsylvania in the fall of 2020, with a brewing in Jersey Shore along the I-80 Frontier landscape of the PA Wilds. Although Bald Birds started in Audubon, Montgomery County, PA in 2018, the business purchased a 153,000-square-foot warehouse in Jersey Shore, Lycoming County, late in 2019 and transformed the former distribution center into a brewery-goer's paradise.

July 25, 2023

Brewing in the PA Wilds: Mechanistic Brewing Company

Mechanistic Brewing Company is a small family brewery in Clarion, near the Cook Forest and the Ancients landscape of the PA Wilds, with a focus on chemistry to recreate traditional beers as well as experiment with more modern beer styles while giving the community a place to gather.

July 19, 2023

Welcoming the 2023 Wilds Are Working participants to Cameron County 

What would you do with the opportunity to immerse yourself in a new community to live and work remotely for an entire month? This month in Cameron County, as part of the Wilds Are Working: Remote Lifestyle Experience, five individuals and their families are doing just that. They’ll learn all about small-town living, easy access to outdoor recreation opportunities, and find out if a rural lifestyle is for them in the Pennsylvania Wilds region. 

July 18, 2023

Brewing in the PA Wilds: Straub Brewery

Brewing since 1872, Straub Brewing is one of the oldest family-owned and operated breweries in the United States, still operating in their original location in St. Marys, in the Elk Country landscape of the PA Wilds. Although certainly one of the bigger breweries in the PA Wilds, Straub has kept its old-time charm. They continue to handcraft German-American style lagers and traditional craft beer, and the company is now run by its seventh generation of its original founding owners.

July 11, 2023

Brewing in the PA Wilds: Boom City Brewing Company

If you’re striving to eat (and drink) local while celebrating the region’s lumber history, Boom City Brewing Company in Williamsport will keep you happy while visiting the I-80 Frontier of the Pennsylvania Wilds! Co-owners William Fredo and Mark Lorson pay homage to Williamsport’s history as Lumber Capital of the World, with everything from their menu and specialty drinks as well as the restaurant’s interior design all highlighting the lumber that made the city what it is today.

July 4, 2023

Brewing in the PA Wilds: Yorkholo Brewing Company

A trip to the Pine Creek Valley and PA Grand Canyon landscape of the PA Wilds wouldn’t be complete without a visit to Yorkholo Brewing Company in Mansfield, PA. Yorkholo, pronounced "York Hollow", is a small artisan brewpub. The folks at Yorkholo are big believers in serving fresh beer, and their small system allows them to do that. Throughout the year, they brew 20 to 30 different styles, which keeps customers' palates on edge and their brewer's creativity never-ending.

June 27, 2023

Brewing in the PA Wilds: Bent Run Brewing

With a rotating schedule of unique specials and experimental beers, travelers and residents alike are bound to find something tasty to enhance their trip to the Allegheny National Forest and Surrounds landscape of the PA Wilds at Bent Run Brewing Company in Warren, PA. This small-batch craft brewery with local culinary delights is located alongside the beautiful Allegheny River, a perfect backdrop for a cold beer and a belly-filling meal after a paddling adventure on the river or hiking or biking journey on local trails.

June 26, 2023

The Kinzua Bridge Tornado – 20 Years Later

A wise person once noted, “Mother Nature is beautiful, Mother Nature is powerful, and Mother Nature is cruel.” Nowhere is this truer than in the Kinzua Creek Valley where, in fewer than 30 seconds, the “powerful and cruel” became real on July 21, 2003 and something “beautiful” that stood for 121 years, was gone. It has been 20 years since the Kinzua Viaduct/Bridge was blown out by a tornado.