Lehigh Valley Elevator Pitch (Philadelphia, Allentown: ski resorts, home, theater)

[CloseToHome85]

To anyone willing to, especially you senior members: pretend you get a commission on moves to the Lehigh Valley. What's your elevator pitch? Why here and not somewhere else?

[PacoMartin]

The Lehigh Valley had 40 years of settlement in the colonial era, and by the first census had almost half the population of Philadelphia. Bethlehem City was proposed as a World Heritage Site for it's Moravian Settlement. In the last three decades it has become as easy to travel to New York City as Philadelphia, while costing a fraction as much.

Moravian college (1742) is 7th oldest in the United States, after Harvard (1636), the College of William and Mary (1693), St. John's College in Annapolis (1696), Yale University (1701), and the University of Pennsylvania (1740) although it was formally chartered with degree-granting powers until after 1776. But the college remains at the heart of a music tradition which extends well into the 18th century. Today the Lehigh Valley has far more artistic venues and institutions (theater, visual arts, music) than most areas this size. The largest commercial endeavor for the last few decades has been Musikfest.

Today, the Lehigh Valley is a combination of historic cities, artistic venues, and higher institutions of learning but with 48.4% of the land in Northampton and Lehigh Counties classified as "Agriculture & Vacant". The area's critical draw to new residents is that it is a sense of place, but infinitely more affordable than the metro areas of New York City or Philadelphia, while still being less than 2 hours away from the large cities, and also the ski resorts and white water rafting of the Pocono Mountains.

It has now been three decades since Billy Joel changed the name of his song from "Levittown" to "Allentown" because it sounded better and created possibly the best known anthem to the struggles of declining industrial cities. The steel industry he was thinking about was actually in adjacent Bethlehem. In the last few decades, South Bethlehem reached back to it's past in the 1920's when it was an infamous destination for New Yorkers seeking brothels and gambling to introduce a modern legitimate version of the past, where New Yorkers can come for legal gambling and family entertainment. The blast furnaces have become an illuminated monument to our industrial past to remind people where the steel for many of the country's prominent landmarks like George Washington and Golden Gate bridge was forged.

[CloseToHome85]

Well, I am a writer and I think that was damn good. Thank you for illuminating the area's modern values with the context of its history and tradition. I had never really considered why music has found such a strong position in the area. Knowing the roots of the valley's positive points makes them seem less arbitrary. Obviously, I knew they didn't come about overnight but when something is a tradition rather than a trend it usually finds more purpose in lasting. Thank you for taking the time.

[PacoMartin]

Originally Posted by Discover Lehigh

Allentown: Discover a City Without Limits
The third largest city in Pennsylvania and the largest of Lehigh Valley, Allentown is a city rich in culture, tradition and history.
Founded in 1762 by William Allen, a successful businessman and the former mayor of Philadelphia, and named for him in 1838, Allentown transformed from a small community of Pennsylvania Dutch farmers into a marketing center for local farmers in the 1920s. The tradition still stands today at the Allentown Fairgrounds Farmers Market where farmers and merchants sell everything from produce to baked goods to candy every Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
Allentown was once a thriving center of the manufacturing industry but shifted its focus with the rise of the service industry. Now, the city is teeming with cultural attractions; its many museums, historic sites and arts organizations contribute to its renewal. The event scene in Allentown has flourished as well; annually, big events like the Mayfair Festival for the Arts which takes place over Memorial Day weekend every May, The Great Allentown Fair and Lights in the Parkway draw crowds from all over the region.
Allentown is well-known for its extensive award-winning parks system, which boasts the highest acreage of any American city its size. It is home to The Allentown Band, the oldest civilian concert band in the country. And, from 1777 to 1778, the Liberty Bell was hidden from the British underneath a church in what is now downtown Allentown.
Allentown is home to the amusement and water park Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom, Lehigh Valley IronPigs (Triple-A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies), Cedar Crest College and Muhlenberg College.

In looking at the professional writing, I see that maybe I should have mentioned Dorney Park and the IronPigs.

[PacoMartin]

Originally Posted by CloseToHome85

Thank you for taking the time.

I appreciate the kind words.

While everyone knows that most places have a mixture of good and bad in the past, it is so often left out of the marketing documents. I generally think it makes text more interesting.

Bethlehem's long term mayor, Robert Pfeifle (1930-1950) (20 years), is best known for designating Bethlehem the Christmas city in the depression, less often it is stated that he won his office on a campaign to clean up the South side from the Prohibition era speakeasies and brothels. Public anger had been incensed by the murder of a local policeman in 1927 by thugs from New York City. The loss of income from these sources impacted the largely immigrant populated district (my grandfather was busted for running liquor). The Christmas City campaign in 1937 provided a much needed economic boost on both sides of the river.

Billy Joel's song was in an album that sold 2 million copies and heard by countless millions of people. In 2011 it was featured in a movie that sold 32 million theatrical tickets in America alone, and will be seen by many more millions on DVD's and digital downloads. Ultimately far more people are going to hear the song then will ever read anything any of us write. I tried to invoke those memories, while at the same time defusing the image somewhat as the name was chosen somewhat arbitrarily.


Allentown in Hangover II (adult humor in lyrics)