Walkable, usable, fun downtowns (State College, Mechanicsburg: amusement park, movie theater, school district)

[familymom]

Can anyone tell us about other great towns besides Doylestown or Bethleham. We want a town that is walkable and has interesting, useable stores for a family. Would like an area that has good schools and lots of parades, festivals and just an all-year round good family character. Also an area that is not economically depressed. I have a few favorites, but just want to see if anyone can come up with new areas. Thanks

[danwxman]

Originally Posted by familymom

Can anyone tell us about other great towns besides Doylestown or Bethleham. We want a town that is walkable and has interesting, useable stores for a family. Would like an area that has good schools and lots of parades, festivals and just an all-year round good family character. Also an area that is not economically depressed. I have a few favorites, but just want to see if anyone can come up with new areas. Thanks

Mechanicsburg or Hummelstown, if you are considering south central PA.

[psulions2007]

State College has the most awesome, most fun, most walkable downtown of any city I have lived in.

[familymom]

Thanks, keep them coming. I do not know anything about State College except that it is a college town. Not sure if it is a good place to raise a family? Mechanicsburg we have been thru very quickly and its seems ok, not much retail that is too interesting, but a very pretty area.

[lititzman2003]

Lititz has a great downtown area. A variety of small shops and restaurants. After shopping you can stop at Wilbur's and go the park, where there is a large playground and your kids can feed the ducks. Very clean, safe town. Warwick School District is considered to be one of the best in the county. Lititz always has something going on, from Second Friday Night events to the Craft Show, etc.

[psulions2007]

Originally Posted by familymom

Thanks, keep them coming. I do not know anything about State College except that it is a college town. Not sure if it is a good place to raise a family? Mechanicsburg we have been thru very quickly and its seems ok, not much retail that is too interesting, but a very pretty area.

It's actually a great place to raise a family and has one of the best public school systems in the state. There are plenty of family things to do in SC, including spring creek, hiking mt nittany, skiing/other activities at tussey, the creamery at PSU, meyer dairy, baseball games at Medlar, football games at Beaver Stadium (There can be rowdy fans, but it is generally okay outside of the student section for kids)...there are multiple great libraries downtown and on campus, the state theatre has excellent shows,....throughout the year, there are plenty of events that happen downtown, including artsfest in the summer (during the day is great for kids)...and the winter lights tour that CATA does is also good. Nearby, whipple dam is a great place to take the kids for a swim, Delgrosso's Amusement Park in Tipton is a great place period for kids.

Also Downtown Events gives a great idea of what events happen in the State College region.

State College...last I checked...was either the 2nd or 4th safest metro area in the United States. The only times you probably don't want to take the kids out is after a major football game, especially the night ones (i.e., Ohio State and Michigan). The homecoming parade is a great sight for kids, too.

Most families don't live downtown either (its mostly students)...the best areas for families are some of the many nice subdivisions that outline the area, such as Toftrees, Park Forest Village, Boalsburg Village, and Lemont Village. Though, several families, particularly with older kids, do live south of downtown in the borough, and along westerly parkway. There is a really nice subdivision in the borough called Orchard Park that you may be interested in.

State College is also very walkable, scenic, and is very friendly to bike riders with many many miles of bike paths. The area is also booming with jobs in high-tech industries, and the university continually attracts employers.


I hope this eases the idea that a college town isn't a great place to raise kids...because honestly, State College has to be one of the best.

[1067Top]

I concurr with Lititzman. Lititz is quaint and has very nice downtown.

[Dawne]

Lewisburg - wonderful downtown, stores for all family members, restaurants, old movie theater showing current movies, wonderful place to raise a family, good schools, year-round parades and festivals (wooly worm, ice sculptures, bands in park, playgrounds, July 4th fireworks, etc., etc.), university town, not economically depressed . . .

[familymom]

Thanks, State College does sound nice. We will look at it more closely along with Lititz. We are going to take a day trip tomorrow to Lewisburg (the town we have been considering as a possibility, thanks to past post from Dawne and others that rave about the area). Its nice to hear about other options, since Pa is really a large state and so many areas could really fit my discription.

[ScranBarre]

I'll second Dawne's excellent recommendation of Lewisburg. Her own hometown of Selinsgrove is nice as well, but it didn't have a very good mix of businesses (yet) to give one everything at their fingertips the way Lewisburg does. Wellsboro is also an awesome place to raise a family with an awesome downtown with a median strip of Victorian-era gas lanterns, but it is also very isolated. Best of luck!