NEW: The Pennsylvania Great Outdoors Visitors Bureau tells us changes are in store for the coming year in the region.
Remember that groundhog who usually lets us down in early February? Well, his home is getting a facelift. Gobbler’s Knob will be getting a new visitors center as the centerpiece of Punxsutawney Groundhog Club’s Destination: Punxsutawney campaign, part of a larger initiative to attract visitors year-round.
“The center will feature interactive exhibits about Punxsutawney and the history of Groundhog Day as well as a souvenir shop, and it will also serve as a groundhog sanctuary for Phil and his woodchuck crew,” the bureau says.
A bit closer to home, and oddly enough relating to Taylor Swift, the Elk County Bank restoration is underway. Ridgway native Kim Ezell has been cleaning out and renovating the old bank building.
This from visitpago.com: “Pop singer Taylor Swift’s great-grandfather Archie Dean Swift Sr. worked at the Elk County Bank-turned-Elk County National Bank from 1893 to 1916 and served as head cashier for his last 10 years there.”
The building, at the corner of Main and North Broad streets, was first built as a bank in 1889. Kim plans a microbrewery and an Airbnb for the building.
The marble from the bank is still on the walls, and the intricate woodwork from Ridgway’s famous Hyde-Murphy Company remains intact and in good condition.
She’s planning the microbrewery for the first level and six lodging units upstairs.
From visitpago.com: “The microbrewery she plans for the main level will include a small lunch counter, and she hopes to use several local vendors to supply the establishment. With luck, she’ll open her doors as The Brew Bank in spring 2019.”
Kim told the bureau that the traffic through Ridgway is steady, and she hopes that people who appreciate the beauty of the building will stop in.
“It’ll have modern amenities, but the history of the building will remain,” she told the bureau. “It’ll tell me what it wants to be in the end.”
Pictures are available on the Ridgway Heritage Council’s Facebook page.
