Down River

By John Lipez

Good Time for an Upgrade:
With the grounds cleared, the community now anticipates completion of the new Clinton County Veterans Park about to take shape across from the Clinton County Courthouse on Water Street in Lock Haven. And with that most appropriate tribute to county veterans on the horizon, this just might be a good time for the county to get serious about improving the attractiveness of the courthouse entryway across the street.

You don’t have to have a degree in architecture to drive by the courthouse and observe the mish-mash of yellow paint, broken chains on the steps and ugly, big bold lettering on the interior door glass panels, observant to passersby from the outside. And around the corner on the stately building’s west side, parallel to the wall, sit a variety of vehicles, oftentimes one of them protruding out almost to the front sidewalk. Not pretty, not at all.

County government did an outstanding job in restoring the large courtroom on the court house’s second floor. To the best of Down River’s knowledge (a call or two were made), there is nothing in the works to address the building’s outside. Paint is peeling off the structure’s east side and the front entrance looks tacky.

Private enterprise (actually a non-profit community group) is doing a marvelous job in moving forward with its tribute to county veterans on Water Street’s north side. Dear county commissioners, this would be a great time to do something likewise on the courthouse entrance on that building’s north side.

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Mid-Summer Shout-Outs:
Let’s start with Julie Brennan. The longtime head of tourism in Clinton County received long overdue recognition for her efforts in the community when the Clinton County Fair deemed her its “Friend of the Fair” for 2023.
Her outstanding work within the Clinton County Economic Partnership has been unrelenting, going everywhere, covering everything, all to further positive events within the county.

You may or may not know, but Julie is a proud graduate of Moshannon Valley High School and came out of rural Clearfield County to Clinton County some decades ago. After graduation from Lock Haven University, she started her professional career as a newsperson at Radio Station WBPZ, often seen shoeless in the station studios. She also had a short-lived career as the backup first baseperson on the WBPZ co-ed softball team.

The Fair association recognition is a well deserved one and timely too as Julie will be retiring later this year after seven years with the Partnership. Down River suspects she’ll be getting further recognition from others, saluting her for her efforts to further the county she has long called home. She has never sought the spotlight but has worked tirelessly to put others in the community in the spotlight in a most positive way. Julie is now getting that deserved spotlight.

And the Clinton County Fair: 50 years and counting, so most certainly a shout-out to the fair board and all those responsible for staging this annual salute to the county’s considerable agricultural community.
How many among can remember the fair’s humble beginnings? Amazingly, Down Rivere can. The first fair was on farmland along Pine Creek, the second and maybe the third on some Crissman farmland on the north side of Bald Eagle Creek in Castanea Township.

Then there was a time at Mill Hall Community Park (on the grounds where Mike Kramer Field now sits). Who can ever forget the frog-jumping contests held when in Mill Hall. If the Down

River memory is correct, a frog of questionable origin from the once-mighty Lock Haven Express edged out a locally grown, fresh-from-the-wetlands entry from WBPZ in the media division.

Later on the fair folks made the wise decision to relocate to its permanent home in Nittany Valley, the site now put to great use virtually all year round for a variety of events, a true asset to the community, as the annual summertime fair itself.

This being fair week, if you can, drop on over and see how the fair has grown over half a century, an effort well-deserving of a shoutout and support from the community.