Happy Birthday!

Duryea Citizens Take Their Anger Out On Council

Last week offered an opportunity I don&rsquo;t normally seize.
I left the office for an entire day. 
Hold the applause and gasps of shock and awe.
I left because there&rsquo;s no way to remotely witness a Lehigh Valley IronPigs game or take a tour of Coca-Cola Park. Yes, I was working.
But between a morning tour of the stadium and the game itself, I was able to take a tour through the valley with my good friend and former college classmate Jason Stershic. Jason is now an employee with Discovery Lehigh Valley, the region&rsquo;s tourism bureau.
I normally approach tours from tourism folks with a sense of necessary precaution, but I knew Jay wasn&rsquo;t trying to sell me on a weekend stay.
After seeing some of the progress being made, I left impressed with what Bethlehem, Allentown, and the surrounding municipalities are working to accomplish.
It also gave me hope for what could happen to Scranton with the right people involved.
The biggest surprise was seeing the revitalization centered around the Bethlehem SteelStacks. The site of former bustling industry is steadily become a hub for arts and culture (including the recent SteelJam Festival and upcoming Blast Furnace Blues Festival from Sept. 16 to 18).
But it was also the site of inspiration for me, especially regarding the recent attention given to the Scranton Iron Furnaces.
For the last two years, history advocates and entusiasts have partnered with the local arts community to build single day event and ever-expanding festivals built around the site of one of the city&rsquo;s three major (and unfortunately former) industries.
Walking past the immense structures in Bethlehem actually brought visions of this year&rsquo;s Arts of Fire Festival, and thoughts of a small performance stage, high-end gift shops dedicated to local artisans and products celebrating our own rich history, and more started swimming through my brain. Each feature either exists or is planned for the site surrounding the stacks.
If the original stores in Bogart Place behind the 500 block of Lackawanna Avenue ever become fully populated, a quaint shopping district near the furnaces could provide spillover support and real estate for other merchants.
Possibilities to embrace our past and ensure our future are often endless, but it takes the right vision &ndash; both governmentally and culturally &ndash; to achieve them.
Take notes, Northeastern Pennsylvania, from our friends in and around Allentown to build something bigger than all of us.

Lehigh Valley Progess Leaves Impression Behind The Bylines Christopher J. Hughes