COVID-19 dealt a “devastating blow” to Centre County’s tourism and hospitality industry in 2020, with hotels seeing a nearly $50 million drop in revenue from a year earlier and the resulting local hotel occupancy tax falling by $2.7 million, Happy Valley Adventure Bureau President and CEO Fritz Smith said.
But Smith and others are hopeful that they are seeing a light at the end of the tunnel and that optimism was on display Thursday as the Adventure Bureau awarded the second round of 2020 tourism grants to six events and projects planned for 2021.
“It was great to see the Palmer Museum of Art opening yesterday,” Smith said. “It’s great to see the students returning to campus. It’s great that we’ve held a couple of basketball tournaments over the last couple of weeks and that has helped elevate the hotel occupancy in the area. We were almost halfway full in our hotels this past weekend. After a very dismal December and January, it’s great to see some progress in
BELLEFONTE For several Centre County entities, help is on the way.
At Tuesday’s Centre County commissioners’ meeting, it was announced that several groups and non-profits are part of a community development block grant. Chair Michael Pipe said that the distribution of funds was a “rather important and large item.”
“The money is now available, it can be dispersed out,” Pipe said.
The allocation of funds was approved by the commissioners on Aug. 11, 2020.
The recipients of the funds are: Seven Mountains EMS Council ($40,875), Centre Volunteers in Medicine ($10,000), Centre Safe ($45,377), Chamber of Business and Industry of Centre County ($43,300) and Bellefonte Borough ($59,974).
Local news from StateCollege.com and Centre County Partners. Read about Centre County Commissioner Pipe Calls on Pa. Republican Leaders to Denounce Trump After U.S. Capitol Riot and more from the State College, PA region
CHRIS MORELLI cmorelli@lockhaven.com
BELLEFONTE A day after the chaos at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., the Centre County commissioners commented on the events of the past 24 hours during a salary board meeting Thursday.
They didn’t mince their words.
Board chairman Michael Pipe, spoke first.
“Essentially, you had an insurrection led by the President of the United States. It’s not a mistake how we got here. I think if you look at the type of things that have been said and done over the last four or five years, it’s not a mistake,” Pipe, a Democrat, said.
CHRIS MORELLI cmorelli@lockhaven.com
PHOTOS PROVIDED
Ballyâs has casinos throughout the United States. Pictured is the casino in Atlantic City, N.J. Ballyâs has plans for a casino in Centre County ânear the Nittany Mall.â
STATE COLLEGE Get ready, Centre County a casino is on its way.
Earlier this week, Bally’s Corporation announced that it has signed an agreement with investor and Penn State alumnus Ira Lubert to develop a planned $120 million mini-casino in Centre County.
Although the specific location has not been determined, a news release from Bally’s said that it will be located “near the Nittany Mall,” just off state Route 26 in State College. Pending regulatory approvals, construction is expected to begin in the first half of 2021 and will take approximately one year to complete.