Anne's Arts & Activities Blog

Debbie Lunden will receive the Member of the Year Award during next week’s Pennsylvania Wilds awards dinner. Lunden has been on the Pennsylvania Wilds planning team since it was established in 2005, and retired earlier this year, but is still a team partner and remains involved with the team. Lunden served as McKean County Planning Director for 26 years, retiring in March. Besides her work with the Pennsylvania Wilds, she also volunteers with the Kinzua Bridge Foundation. The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947

Workshops help ‘teams’ take local projects from vision to action A regional conference on sustainable tourism development will be held in early November in the Pennsylvania Wilds, and organizers are encouraging communities in the region to send teams to the two-day event to help advance local projects in their areas. “PA Wilds Fall Workshop: Connecting Nature, Economy, and Community Character,” will be held Nov. 8-9 at the Red Fern in St. Marys. The conference is designed to help communities advance sustainable tourism projects that are important to them. Participants will hear from state and national experts on topics relevant to the region, and then work as a group in a structured setting to flesh out their project ideas, budgets, and next steps. The conference, offered by the PA Wilds Planning Team, is similar to one the group held in 2007, which led to several successful community-driven tourism projects in the region, from the “Trail Central” branding and trail developments in McK...

A small group of business owners, citizens and organizations from across the 12 ½ county Pennsylvania Wilds region have earned awards for their contributions in sustainable tourism development. The PA Wilds Initiative, a state-local collaborative effort, aims to grow the nature and heritage tourism industry across 12 ½- counties of rural Pennsylvania as a way to help diversify local economies, revitalize communities and improve quality of life. Each year, the PA Wilds Planning Team, a guiding body for the Initiative, gives out a small number of “Champion of the Pennsylvania Wilds” awards to recognize outstanding efforts related to the Initiative’s main components -- economic development, planning, community revitalization, community character stewardship and conservation. The Planning Team consists of more than 50 partners and stakeholders from across the PA Wilds, including county governments, economic development organizations, state and federal partners, and heritage and tourism org...

A popular mini-grant program that helps businesses in the Pennsylvania Wilds region pay for new business signage has re-opened and is accepting applications through April 15. The PA Wilds Business Signage Grants are designed to encourage businesses in the Pennsylvania Wilds to improve their prospects – and the look and feel of their communities – by utilizing the Pennsylvania Wilds Design Guide in the creation and construction of new signage. The Design Guide is a voluntary planning document that highlights how communities in the region can protect or enhance their rural character as they grow – whether that growth is due to tourism, drilling or other industries. It promotes such things as using natural materials or themes the region is known for – wood, stone, water, wildlife – in construction, design or landscaping. “The region’s rural and historic character and strong sense of place is part of what makes the Pennsylvania Wilds attractive to visitors and residents, so it is important...