Homegrown Happy Valley

Hundreds of children wandering around Allen Street in the 90-degree heat? That’s the Children & Youth Day Sidewalk Sale at Arts Fest. Take a look at our genius locals and their creations for this year.

Will work for dog. Tasha Burman, a participant for the third year, works with wire and glass beads, eschewing plastic. Her passion for making all kinds of jewelry began about five years ago; now she can create a pair of earrings in the time it takes to finish a bowl of cereal. Tasha, 13, is even working on a business plan. For now her skills are earning her money toward a pet dog. 

Soon you won’t have to leave home to take your child to a museum. Discovery Space of Central Pennsylvania is moving into 112 West Foster Avenue, where it’s leasing 4,200 square feet for a hands-on children’s museum—complete with a garden! More details about the museum will be announced at a benefit this Saturday at the Gingerbread Man.

With a focus on learning through play, the museum aims to leave children with a deeper understanding of themselves and the world around them. Carla Zembal-Saul, a Discovery Space board member and PSU professor in science education, gives us the scoop on the museum’s new home.

Once upon a time there were two hens.

The first is Battery Hen. “I live in a cage so small I cannot stretch my wings,” writes Karen Davis, President of United Poultry Concerns in Thinking Like a Chicken: Farm Animals and the Feminine Connection. “I am forced to stand night and day on a sloping wire mesh floor that painfully cuts into my feet.”

As a busy student I’m always looking for ways to relax. But I lack the time and money to really spoil myself. I almost gave up on finding something until my roommate introduced me to a new type of free yoga taught by instructor Laura Mills at Yoga in State College.

Kirtan is the meditative practice of singing different mantras over and over again to stretch the voice muscle. In fact, that’s the only muscle that gets a workout; you don’t move at all, so flexibility isn’t a factor. The idea is that repeatedly singing these simple Sanskrit phrases eliminates thoughts of exams, kids, money, and anything else that’s on your mind.

For many in Happy Valley, Shaver’s Creek Environmental Center’s Maple Harvest Festival marks the real start of spring. This annual celebration of sap rising, which takes place this weekend, will once again herald the start of longer, warmer days.

The main attraction is the all-you-can-eat pancakes—well, actually, their syrup, but what’s one without the other?  Over two days about 10,000 pancakes are consumed, estimates Laurie McLaughlin, the festival organizer. For an additional fee, you can add local organic sausage to your plate;  it tastes just as good as the pancakes when doused with Pennsylvania maple syrup. The Penn State Sustainability Club provides the sausage, which is from Brenneman’s in Huntington, while the syrup comes from Wagner’s Maple Sugar Camp southeast of Pittsburgh.

Gary Landon, owner of Roly Poly (107 E. Beaver Ave.), has stopped making donations to non-profits. The small business owner simply can’t afford to be charitable in the midst of the economic crunch.  

 THON, however, is the exception. And the reason is very personal. 

One evening in December 1996, Landon’s wife rear-ended another car after skidding on ice. After Gary’s five-year-old stepson, Nate, began experiencing severe stomach pains, he was rushed to Mount Nittany Medical Center. Apparently, the seat belt had punctured Nate’s colon during the crash. The doctors repaired his colon, but discovered a small tumor during the surgery. Within a few days specialists diagnosed neuro-blastoma, a common childhood cancer. 

Kick off your holiday shopping by going local. The talented ladies at the Surface Artist Cooperative have added the following special dates to their calendar:

Local supporting local, November 19

Surface is holding its first fundraiser on Thursday, November 19 from 9 a.m. - 6p.m. Fifteen percent of total sales that day will benefit the Corl Street Elemetary PTO.

Add Surface to your holiday shopping route, November 27 and 28

Surface will be open on Friday, November 27 from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. In addition, other local artists will share the space and sell their goods on Saturday, November 28. The following artists have been invited to join them:

It’s hard to say goodbye to the characters of a good book. Unless the novel is turned into a movie (and you like the director’s interpretation), the closest you’ll ever get to them again is meeting their creator.

That’s why I’m looking forward to Thursday evening November 5^th. New York Times bestselling author and State College local Tawni O’Dell will discuss her literary experiences, including a career-changing call from Oprah informing O’Dell that her novel Back Roads had been chosen as an Oprah Book Club selection. The Mid-State Literacy Council is cosponsoring the talk, entitled “A Writer’s Tale of Coal Towns, Oprah, Bullfights & Hollywood,” and a percentage of proceeds from the evening will benefit the organization. The event takes place at Webster’s Bookstore Cafe on 128 S. Allen Street at 7 p.m. (O’Dell speaks at 8).

Guest blogger Reenie Kuhlman is co-founder of GoodPR, Inc., a communications consulting agency that helps businesses, organizations and people whose mission is to do something good for the world.  Reenie, a mother of two and a lover of all things local, details her experience planning an eco-friendly tailgate with food from Pittsburgh (her hometown) and State College (her favorite tailgating locale).

Time to trade the flip-flips and t-shirts for booties and sweatshirts—make those Nittany Lion sweatshirts. The best part about this weather is the electrified feeling in the air. In Happy Valley you can actually smell the leaves falling from the trees. And that means only one thing: Penn State football.