Pennsylvania’s south-central region touts three well-known destinations popular for their diversity of offerings.
Lancaster County can be seen as a dichotomous locale with both a sprawling countryside and a bustling downtown district. Hershey has the small-town feel of home (complete with the comforting smell of chocolate in the air), yet it also has a bevy of attractions that have put it on the worldwide map. Rounding out the area, Harrisburg is a growing metro that offers everything from museums and well-appointed hotels to top-notch restaurants.
Julie Sullivan, owner of Honeydew Events, a Harrisburg-based destination management and special events company, says the region is primed for visiting groups, with its superior value and customer service.
“The meeting facilities are good, the customer service is excellent and the hotels work well together. When you bring your attendees here, they are going to be treated very, very well,” she says. “The area is also a steal. You can’t beat the prices you get in the Central Pennsylvania area. If you are promoting to your attendees to bring their families with them, it is a real steal for them.”
Meanwhile, Sullivan says accessibility is another plus.
“Three-fourths of the nation’s population is within 400 miles of the destination, so access is relatively easy,” she says.
Lancaster County
As an area many visitors identify with the past, Lancaster County is surprisingly modern. Downtown Lancaster sparkles with shops, restaurants and activity, yet according to the Pennsylvania Dutch CVB, the area still stays true to its laid-back roots.
“If you want a trendy atmosphere with the art and coffee shops and theater, you can go to downtown Lancaster,” says Cara O’Donnell, media relations manager for the CVB. “But in the same breath, if you want the old-style Amish quilts and family-style dining, you also have that a couple miles away.”
Monica Thomas, the bureau’s director of special events, agrees.
“What sets us apart is a mixture of Old World charm and its peacefulness, yet just downtown in Lancaster city, you have that cosmopolitan feel with restaurants and entertainment,” she says. “So you have a mixture of old and new.”
Starting with the new, Lancaster is marching into the future as a meetings destination with the construction of a new convention center that is slated to open in 2009.
The 220,000-square-foot Lancaster County Convention Center will house a 47,850-square-foot exhibit hall, 27,550 square feet of function space, two ballrooms measuring more than 9,200 square feet each, and 11 meeting rooms. The center will also have an attached 300-room Marriott hotel with 25,000 square feet of its own group gathering space.
In addition to the new convention center, Thomas says Lancaster’s three largest meetings properties, Willow Valley Resort and Conference Center, Best Western Eden Resort Inn and Suites, and Lancaster Host Resort & Conference Center, have completed major renovations in the past year to prepare for the opening of the convention center.
Other meetings properties include the new Lancaster Arts Hotel, Amish View Inn & Suites and Leola Village Inn & Suites in nearby Leola.
Thomas says Lancaster primarily entertains groups of between 300 people and 400 people from the state association, religious and SMERF markets, as well as some small corporate groups, and after meetings delegates often like to go out on the town.
“In the past year or two, we have seen quite a few groups requesting assistance for progressive evenings,” she says.
According to Thomas, groups like to start at places such as the Landis Valley Museum for cocktails and appetizers, and then experience local dining at a Pennsylvania Dutch restaurant such as Hershey Farm Restaurant & Inn, Plain & Fancy Farm and Good ’N’ Plenty Restaurant, all of which seat their guests family style.
“You sit at long tables, which makes for a great networking opportunity for conference attendees,” Thomas says, adding that after dinner it’s “on to a show or museum for desserts and coffee.”
Lancaster is home to the historic Fulton Theater, a popular site for groups, as well as several dinner theaters such as the Dutch Apple Dinner Theatre, the Freedom Chapel Dinner Theatre and the Rainbow Dinner Theatre.
A visit to Lancaster is hardly complete without discovering the destination’s Amish culture. Groups can take guided countryside excursions with companies such as Brunswick Tours & Cruises and All-In-One Tours and Cruises.
Hershey-Harrisburg Region
The city of Hershey embraces its chocolate fame just about as tightly as a child holds on to a favorite piece of candy. And it’s a good thing, since the masses head to the area in the name of chocolate every year.
In fact, this year Hershey is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Hershey Kiss and its largest visitor draw, Hershey Park.
The theme park, which is chock-full of rides, entertainment venues, dining outlets, and retail stores, this year added The Boardwalk at Hershey Park, a waterpark feature designed after East Coast boardwalks.
“Groups do a lot of corporate events [at Hershey Park],” says Sharon S. Altland, expo and convention sales director for the Hershey Harrisburg Regional Visitors Bureau. “They can buy out the park for the day and the park has different pavilion areas for catered lunches or dinners.”
The destination takes its love for chocolate to another level at the Hotel Hershey, a meetings-friendly property featuring a spa that utilizes chocolate in several of its treatments.
In addition to its sweet reputation, Hershey also offers planners 100,000 square feet of function space at the Hershey Lodge, as well as space for off-site events at the Antique Auto Museum at Hershey.
Roughly 13 miles west of Hershey on the banks of the Susquehanna River, Harrisburg stands tall as Pennsylvania’s state capital as well as a haven for association groups ranging from 200 attendees to 400 attendees.
According to Altland, Harrisburg’s downtown district has gone through a major transformation in recent years, emerging as a far more attractive place for visitors.
“At five o’clock the city shut down five years ago,” she says. “Now they are really improving housing and they have created Restaurant Row.”
Restaurant Row has become a favorite for post-meeting meals, offering group-friendly eateries such as Zia’s at Red Door, Stock’s on 2nd and Molly Brannigans.
In addition to its culinary delights, Harrisburg hosts much of the region’s meeting space at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex & Expo Center and properties ranging in caliber from economy to luxury.
The Four Points by Sheraton Harrisburg, Holiday Inn Harrisburg East, Crowne Plaza Hotel Harrisburg–Hershey, Wyndham Garden Hotel–Harrisburg/Hershey, and Hilton Harrisburg are a few group favorites, as are its two newest properties: the Hilton Garden Inn Harrisburg East and the nearby Courtyard Harrisburg West/Mechanicsburg.
Just 22 miles from Harrisburg in Carlisle is Dickinson College, the first university in the U.S., as well as the Hotel Carlisle & Embers Convention Center, with 22,000 square feet of meeting space, and the nearby Holiday Inn Harrisburg–West.
Groups can show their support of Penn State University by wearing blue and white when visiting State College, a community just two hours south of Carlisle.
But if attendees aren’t in the mood to root for Joe Paterno and his football team, they can still meet at venues such as The Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel, which is in the midst of a guest room renovation, and The Nittany Lion Inn, which went non-smoking in July.
For More Info
Hershey Harrisburg Regional Visitors Bureau 717.231.7788
www.hersheyharrisburg.org
Pennsylvania Dutch CVB 717.299.8901
www.padutchcountry.com
