The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted communities around the world for the past year, and State College, Pennsylvania was no different. The financial strain that was placed on businesses and Penn State athletics was difficult to over come, but now Happy Valley has a new plan to continue its growth as an entertainment hub in central PA.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic State College would typically bring in $840 million due to tourism and sporting events. Post-pandemic, State College saw a harsh decline in revenue with only $450 million in the year.
Thanks to the Happy Valley Adventure Bureau’s “Happy Valley Sports and Entertainment Commission,” there is a team of people working to make State College a thriving city for entertainment of all kinds.
By utilizing Penn State’s facilities, such as Beaver Stadium, The Bryce Jordan Center and the State College Theater, the commission hopes to bring more people to Centre County with large-scale sporting events and new forms of entertainment for the area. A TopGolf has been proposed for the State College area, as well as a casino.
Fritz Smith, the President of the Happy Valley Adventure Bureau, said, “the goal is to enable the ability to attract more and bigger events and to possibly capitalize on Penn State’s facilities a little bit more.”
Smith believes that the new ideas, such as TopGolf and bringing back the Pennsylvania State Championship high school football game to Beaver Stadium, can bring upwards of $200 million of additional cash flow to State College’s pre-pandemic $840 million in revenue.
Local residents have already heard of the new ideas being put forth by the commission, and there is already a level of excitement. Conor Camazine, who was born and raised in the State College area, currently attends Penn State and thinks this growth could positively impact the town.
“It’s definitely been growing in the past few years since I’ve started taking classes here at Penn State and being from here, it’s just really, it will serve tremendous wonders for growing this community,” said Camazine.
Through this new commission the State College area is looking to not only bounce back from the COVID-19 pandemic, but capitalize on people aching for new forms of entertainment. If you haven’t visited State College before, now might be one of the most exciting times to make the trip.