00:30 - Welcome to this edition of

00:31 - Exploring Pennsylvania Boroughs.

00:33 - I'm Chris Cap, executive

00:34 - director of the Pennsylvania

00:35 - State Association of Boroughs.

00:37 - Across the state each borough

00:38 - has its own unique story to

00:39 - tell.

00:40 - Each month we'll visit borough

00:41 - communities across the state to

00:42 - highlight cultural and tourist

00:43 - destinations.

00:45 - Innovative programs and economic

00:47 - development projects taking

00:48 - place.

00:49 - Today we explore Millersburg

00:50 - borough in Dauphin county.

00:52 - Millersburg is a railroad and

00:53 - river town whose location has

00:55 - historically afforded it many

00:57 - economic and cultural

00:58 - opportunities. The borough is

00:59 - home to the Millersburg ferry.

01:01 - The last wooden stern paddle

01:02 - ferry operating within the

01:03 - United States.

01:04 - It was a crucial part of

01:05 - transportation in central

01:07 - Susquehanna River valley from

01:08 - 1866 until 1956.

01:11 - Today Millersburg is known for

01:12 - its cherry blossom festival and

01:14 - a Tour de Millersburg. Which

01:15 - offers amateur racers a

01:17 - professional experience.

01:18 - Some of the best scenery in the

01:19 - state. We hope you enjoy this

01:21 - tour of one of Pennsylvania's

01:23 - many great borough communities.

01:25 - Greetings from Millersburg,

01:26 - Pennsylvania.

01:27 - My name is Chris McGann. I'm the

01:28 - borough manager here in

01:29 - Millersburg. Millersburg was

01:31 - found in 1807 by Daniel Miller.

01:33 - Daniel Miller came to Lichens

01:35 - Valley here and he saw the

01:37 - confluence of the Susquehanna

01:39 - River and Wicknisko Creek.

01:41 - The legend has it he was so

01:42 - taken by the beauty here that he

01:43 - decided we absolutely needed to

01:45 - have a town at this location.

01:46 - He set aside several parcels of

01:48 - land here in his community for

01:52 - public use.

01:53 - And what's kind of amazing to me

01:55 - is we still use those areas as

01:57 - public spaces.

01:58 - We have a New England style

02:01 - market square right in the

02:02 - middle of town.

02:03 - We're located right at the

02:04 - intersection of Pennsylvania 147

02:07 - and US 209. In fact we're at the

02:09 - westernmost end of 209.

02:12 - Today Millersburg is a cozy

02:14 - little community, but still has

02:16 - a vibrant activity.

02:19 - We hope you enjoy this little

02:20 - tour of Millersburg.

02:22 - We're going to show you some of

02:23 - our more interesting sights and

02:26 - hope you come to visit sometime.

02:28 - Hi. I'm Donna Fralick and I am a

02:31 - volunteer with the Millersburg

02:33 - Area Working Together Group in

02:35 - Millersburg and we are standing

02:38 - downtown in our square.

02:41 - We also use this park for the

02:43 - start of our Tour de

02:45 - Millersburg, which is a bike

02:47 - race that has been going on in

02:49 - our area in Millersburg here for

02:52 - a number of years.

02:53 - It is a weekend event and it

02:55 - brings in hundreds of bikers

02:57 - from all over the country I

02:59 - think.

03:00 - Then in the fall we also have

03:03 - our own tree lighting event.

03:06 - We have Santa Claus who sits

03:08 - right here at the park.

03:10 - We have the stage usually filled

03:12 - with entertainment. All local,

03:14 - all volunteer and they sing

03:17 - Christmas songs throughout the

03:18 - evening while Santa hands out

03:20 - packages to all the children.

03:22 - We also then do a countdown to

03:26 - light the big tree that's over

03:28 - in veteran square and have that

03:31 - as they start off to the

03:33 - Christmas season for

03:34 - Millersburg. Throughout the

03:37 - borough.

03:37 - We do have a lot of restaurants

03:39 - and businesses. Specialty shops.

03:42 - They are here for everyone's

03:44 - entertainment or for their

03:46 - shopping privileges.

03:48 - We do have the art gallery

03:50 - that's on the square and they

03:53 - host different artists

03:55 - throughout the year.

03:56 - I would certainly like to invite

03:58 - everyone to come and join us

04:00 - with our wonderful square that

04:01 - we do have here at Millersburg

04:03 - and for our other events you can

04:05 - check it out on

04:06 - MillersburgPA.org.

04:09 - Hi, my name is Melanie Morrison.

04:11 - I'm the operations manager here

04:12 - at the Millersburg ferry boat

04:13 - association.

04:15 - And right now we're standing on

04:16 - the banks of the Susquehanna

04:17 - River in historic Millersburg.

04:19 - Behind me is the Roaring Bull 3.

04:22 - The Roaring Bull 3 was built in

04:24 - 1998 and it is one of two boats

04:28 - that we have.

04:28 - The boats have been in operation

04:30 - for now it's 201 years.

04:32 - We do have reason to believe

04:33 - that the boats ran before that,

04:36 - but we do have established paper

04:38 - documentation letting us know

04:40 - that the boats have been in

04:41 - operation for two hundred and

04:43 - one years.

04:44 - The boats used to be pulled

04:45 - across the river.

04:46 - They are currently ran across

04:48 - the river with diesel engines,

04:50 - which is substantially easier

04:52 - than pulling a boat across the

04:54 - river.

04:55 - Each boat can hold up to four

04:56 - cars and 50 passengers. Our

04:59 - operating hours for the summer

05:01 - are Mondays and Fridays from

05:03 - 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

05:05 - Saturdays and Sundays from 9:00

05:07 - a.m. to dusk.

05:08 - We have people come visit us

05:09 - from around the world.

05:11 - These boats are super unique.

05:13 - They are the last all wooden

05:15 - double Stern paddle wheel boats

05:18 - that we know of in the United

05:19 - States and possibly around the

05:21 - world.

05:22 - Each year our boats are

05:23 - inspected by the Coast Guard,

05:24 - they're inspected out of the

05:26 - water.

05:26 - They're inspected in the water

05:28 - to maintain their integrity,

05:30 - maintain their safeness. So we

05:32 - are always on top of safety for

05:33 - our guests. The ride across the

05:36 - river is a mile long.

05:38 - It takes about 20 to 25 minutes

05:40 - one way and then we would go

05:44 - drop you off from the other

05:44 - side, which is Liverpool and

05:46 - Perry County at the ferry boat

05:48 - campgrounds. Reload and come

05:50 - back.

05:50 - And so all in all it takes about

05:52 - an hour for each visit.

05:54 - And people really enjoy it. It's

05:55 - very relaxing kind of like

05:58 - riding back in time.

05:59 - There's just something very

06:00 - simple, serene, and relaxing

06:02 - about riding these ferry boats.

06:05 - So we hope that you enjoyed our

06:06 - visit of the ferry boat and we

06:08 - hope that you are able to come

06:09 - visit with us some time. If

06:10 - you'd like more information

06:11 - about us you can visit us on the

06:13 - web at Millersburgferry.org.

06:16 - Hello my name is Brent Boyers.

06:18 - I'm a Millersburg borough

06:19 - councilman and I am the chairman

06:20 - of our park system. Millersburg

06:23 - has a rather unique park system

06:25 - as we sit along the Susquehanna.

06:27 - Right now I'm at the Swinging

06:29 - Bridge, one of our featured

06:31 - attractions. Was built by the

06:33 - Army Corps of Engineers.

06:35 - And it spans the Wickinesko

06:37 - Creek. It links our Riverfront

06:39 - Park to our Meio Park.

06:41 - We have a very long riverfront

06:44 - park.

06:45 - It's one of the feature

06:47 - attractions.

06:49 - We have six parks for total

06:51 - about 20 acres and our new

06:55 - project we're working on is a

06:57 - wedding pavilion slash

06:58 - bandstands slash photography

07:01 - pavilion in the Meio Park.

07:03 - We have several baseball fields,

07:06 - football, softball and we're

07:10 - very proud of these attractions.

07:12 - Recently riverfront park

07:13 - underwent a transformation.

07:15 - It was one of our original parks

07:17 - laid out by Daniel Miller.

07:19 - We had a grant from local

07:22 - sources dolphin county gaming in

07:25 - DCNR, which established a rail

07:27 - trail through the park.

07:31 - And it really transformed it.

07:33 - It's now one of the major

07:36 - natural attractions in

07:38 - Millersburg for walking.

07:40 - We had Centennial Plaza.

07:41 - These all compliment the

07:43 - ferryboats system and are very

07:47 - important.

07:47 - We hope to link to this trail

07:50 - further in the future and it's a

07:53 - very nice amenity which everyone

07:55 - of all ages enjoys.

07:57 - So come visit Millersburg. Visit

07:59 - our parks and attractions. We

08:01 - think you'll enjoy yourself

08:02 - here.

08:03 - My name is Tara Scheaffer.

08:04 - I am the regional president for

08:06 - Mid Penn Bank, which is based

08:08 - out of Millersburg,

08:09 - Pennsylvania. Where we're

08:10 - standing right now.

08:11 - We are currently in the training

08:12 - room at our main office here on

08:15 - Union Street in Millersburg.

08:17 - The bank was founded in 1868,

08:20 - 150 years ago and we are

08:22 - actually celebrating that 150th

08:24 - anniversary in a bunch of fun

08:25 - ways this year.

08:26 - As a proud member of the

08:28 - Millersburg community one of the

08:30 - greatest, biggest, and most fun

08:31 - things that we do is we sponsor

08:34 - the fireworks every year and as

08:36 - we continue to grow and move

08:39 - around in the central

08:40 - Pennsylvania area it's one of

08:42 - those things that we want to

08:43 - continue to have as a very

08:44 - strong commitment to our home,

08:46 - which is always going to be

08:47 - Millersburg in Pennsylvania. One

08:50 - of the greatest things about

08:51 - being part of this bank in this

08:53 - community specifically is the

08:55 - ways that we're able to give

08:56 - back and able to help the

08:58 - community thrive.

08:59 - And there's a couple different

09:00 - ways we do that. One of which is

09:01 - being able to help businesses by

09:04 - doing commercial loans for them

09:06 - and helping them plan their

09:07 - business and help them make a

09:09 - difference and be profitable

09:10 - within this community.

09:12 - We are very strong advocates for

09:14 - shopping small and shopping

09:15 - local as well as banking local.

09:18 - And one of the other ways that

09:19 - we are able to really make a

09:20 - difference is by being involved

09:21 - in those community events. As I

09:22 - mentioned we have a ton of

09:23 - volunteers come up for the

09:24 - fireworks.

09:25 - We have people that volunteer

09:26 - during the cherry blossom

09:27 - festival in town.

09:28 - We have somebody present every

09:30 - year at awards night for the

09:31 - local school district, giving

09:32 - away scholarships that we're

09:34 - able to maintain through our

09:35 - trust and many, many other

09:36 - things.

09:37 - Just to mention a few.

09:39 - So it's a great thing for us to

09:40 - be part of this community. We're

09:42 - very proud to be here and we

09:43 - intend to be here for the long

09:44 - term. For more information about

09:46 - Mid Penn Bank, opening accounts

09:48 - to follow us and see what we're

09:49 - out doing in the community, you

09:50 - can certainly go to our website

09:52 - at www.midpennbank.com. And you

09:55 - can also follow us on Facebook.

09:58 - Hi, I'm Leslie Smith.

09:59 - I'm the museum director here at

10:01 - the Historical Society in

10:02 - Millersburg. Our museum was

10:04 - actually established in 1980 and

10:07 - then we actually acquired this

10:08 - building in 1984.

10:11 - So this building was actually

10:12 - built in 1919 and then the

10:15 - historical society. We also own

10:17 - a railroad station, the train

10:19 - station here in town.

10:20 - And that actually was built in

10:22 - 1898.

10:23 - The train station, it was the

10:24 - first passenger train station

10:26 - into Millersburg now.

10:28 - The different things that we

10:29 - have in this museum. We have

10:31 - this Jacob Ligh clock.

10:33 - So he started carving the clock

10:35 - in the late 1800s and it was

10:38 - kind of a hobby.

10:39 - He actually was a machinist at

10:41 - the Albert tool company and he

10:44 - would come home at night and he

10:45 - would sit at the kitchen table

10:46 - and kind of just like make

10:47 - little notes about what he

10:48 - wanted to carve. But what he

10:50 - ended up designing, it has 380

10:53 - pieces in it.

10:54 - That's all hand carved.

10:56 - And he actually made his own

10:57 - paints to paint everything.

11:00 - Here we have the...

11:01 - He does like the presidential

11:02 - March.

11:03 - So it has all the presidents up

11:05 - until Coolidge and then it has

11:07 - the last supper.

11:09 - He also has the generals from

11:12 - the Civil War, the Confederate

11:14 - and the Union.

11:15 - And then he has his three

11:16 - favorite presidents and his

11:18 - three assassinated presidents.

11:20 - Then he has a little tribute to

11:21 - Uncle Sam and then the medal and

11:24 - then this is also the religious

11:26 - theme over here of the

11:27 - crucifixion and the rising of

11:29 - Christ. And then we also have

11:32 - three cases of World War One

11:34 - display and that's the gentlemen

11:36 - and women that fought in World

11:38 - War One from Millersburg and

11:40 - then we also have information on

11:42 - the civil war men from

11:44 - Millersburg that fought in the

11:45 - civil war and we have a display

11:48 - on the airport that was in

11:49 - Millersburg in the 1930s that

11:51 - was called Robinson Field and we

11:53 - had a display of the old sports

11:55 - memorabilia from Millersburg

11:57 - that you can look at.

11:59 - Then we also have a display on

12:01 - the walls of the class pictures

12:04 - and we have a display of Ned

12:07 - Smith's artifacts that he had

12:09 - donated to the museum.

12:10 - His Indian artifacts of

12:12 - arrowheads and different items.

12:15 - And we have a display that also

12:17 - shows the founder of

12:19 - Millersburg, Daniel Miller. The

12:21 - map which was done in 1807 of

12:25 - how Daniel Miller wanted

12:27 - Millersburg to be laid out.

12:29 - And we have a display for the

12:31 - ferry boat, which had its 200th

12:33 - anniversary in 2017.

12:36 - It was a 100 year anniversary.

12:38 - We're open Saturdays.

12:40 - It's May through October from 10

12:43 - to 2.

12:44 - And we also have a Facebook

12:46 - page, which is Millersburg

12:47 - historical society and the

12:49 - museum is always free. Hi, my

12:52 - name is Jack Geyer. I'm

12:54 - president of Twin Valley players

12:55 - colony theater in Millersburg.

12:57 - This has been a theater since

12:59 - 1919. The original theatre would

13:02 - have been opened actually in an

13:03 - era of the silent films and

13:06 - would have been run on

13:07 - projectors that were run by hand

13:09 - cranks.

13:10 - In 1956 the theater was bought

13:13 - by Ada and Melvin Trautmann.

13:16 - Theater was managed by the

13:18 - Traumann family then for over 50

13:20 - years.

13:21 - In 2008 Moore decided to donate

13:25 - the theater to the Twin Valley

13:26 - players.

13:27 - Since we were a local theater

13:29 - group with the help of Sue Helm

13:32 - she got us a redevelopment

13:33 - grant, which amounted to one

13:35 - point five million dollars and

13:37 - we ended up tearing down the old

13:39 - theater and rebuilding this

13:41 - whole new theater.

13:43 - Which is state of the art

13:47 - digital projection and we really

13:51 - wanted to bring something back

13:54 - to this community.

13:56 - So we're running the theater as

13:58 - a nonprofit and we feel that we

14:01 - are giving back to the community

14:02 - this way. The theatre is unique

14:05 - because it is also a live

14:07 - performance theater.

14:08 - You can come here to see all the

14:11 - first run movies that come out.

14:13 - Or you can come here see a live

14:14 - show. We do a summer musical

14:16 - every year.

14:17 - Plus we have a road show that we

14:20 - do performances. We do a 50s and

14:24 - 60s sock hop.

14:25 - We usually do a Christmas show.

14:27 - We've done Halloween shows and

14:29 - we run a lot of entertainment

14:30 - through this facility.

14:32 - The Twin Valley Players has

14:34 - actually been in existence since

14:36 - 1970.

14:37 - They've been putting on musicals

14:39 - every year since then.

14:42 - So the colonnade theater in

14:44 - Millersburg here is a leading

14:46 - venue for live shows, movies,

14:49 - music, and art.

14:50 - If you need more information

14:52 - about art theater you can go to

14:53 - our website at TVcolonnade.com

14:56 - and we are also on Facebook and

14:58 - Twitter. Hi and welcome to the

15:00 - Ned Smith Center.

15:01 - My name is John Booth, the

15:02 - executive director here at the

15:05 - Ned Smith Center.

15:06 - We have five hundred thirty five

15:08 - acres of beautiful mountain

15:09 - forest land.

15:10 - We have 12 and a half miles of

15:12 - hiking trails.

15:13 - We employ two full time

15:16 - educators. We have three art

15:19 - galleries, one which houses the

15:20 - Ned Smith collection, one which

15:22 - houses collections from

15:24 - internationally known artists.

15:26 - And we also have a small

15:27 - gallery. The Romberger gallery

15:29 - which houses art from local

15:32 - artists.

15:33 - We're proud here to do a lot of

15:35 - outdoor education.

15:36 - Our mission here is to meld the

15:38 - worlds of nature and art and

15:40 - foster an appreciation for both.

15:43 - So here we are in the main

15:45 - gallery, our Ned Smith gallery.

15:46 - Very different than the humble

15:47 - beginnings that we had at the

15:48 - Daniel Miller House in 1993,

15:50 - which was provided to us by the

15:52 - Millersburg borough.

15:54 - We were there until late 2011

15:56 - when we finally opened this

15:57 - beautiful building that you're

15:58 - seeing right now in this

16:00 - building here we housed Ned

16:02 - Smith's original paintings as

16:04 - well as I mentioned before the

16:06 - two other galleries which will

16:08 - include local artists and then

16:10 - also nationally and

16:11 - internationally known artists,

16:14 - but here at the Ned Smith center

16:15 - we're not just about art.

16:16 - We're also about education.

16:18 - We have a wonderful classroom

16:20 - where we do summer camps and

16:21 - that's our three hundred five

16:22 - hundred thirty five acres of

16:24 - land where we do our summer

16:25 - camps.

16:26 - We have school groups come in.

16:28 - We also provide space for hunter

16:31 - safety courses and then right

16:33 - outside we have our

16:34 - amphitheater. The DeSoto

16:35 - amphitheater. And there we have

16:38 - live performing arts everything

16:39 - from the Harrisburg Regional

16:40 - ballet to the rock n roll of

16:42 - Shotgun and Pentagon.

16:44 - We are also very much involved

16:46 - in the community as far as

16:49 - having the local community to

16:51 - come out here. The Millersburg

16:52 - prom is held here every year.

16:55 - We have a beautiful nature's

16:57 - discovery play area, which is an

16:58 - all natural playground that

17:00 - we're having currently under

17:02 - construction and that will

17:03 - certainly benefit the children

17:05 - of the area.

17:06 - And we're looking forward to

17:06 - having everybody come in and

17:08 - visit us here at the Ned Smith

17:09 - Center.

17:10 - So the next time you are up here

17:11 - visiting Millersburg whether it

17:13 - be coming up to see the ferry or

17:14 - to visit the Ned Smith Center,

17:16 - we encourage you to come up and

17:17 - visit with us and see everything

17:19 - that we're about.

17:20 - If you'd like to know more about

17:21 - the Ned Smith Center you can go

17:23 - online at www.NedSmithCenter.org

17:27 - and check out our web site.

17:30 - My name is Christopher Dietz.

17:31 - I'm president of Millersburg

17:33 - Borough Council and I've had the

17:34 - pleasure of serving the

17:35 - community in that role while on

17:37 - council for 13 years.

17:39 - And in 2007 we celebrated our

17:42 - bicentennial.

17:44 - The slogan was celebrating 200

17:46 - years.

17:46 - The future begins with us.

17:48 - Likewise Millersburg Borough

17:50 - Council strives to pass

17:53 - ordinances and resolutions that

17:55 - uphold our traditions, but also

17:57 - embrace the future.

17:59 - So whether you stopped by for a

18:01 - ride on the Millersburg ferry, a

18:03 - hike along the river, or at the

18:05 - Ned Smith Center, or a meal at

18:08 - one of our fine restaurants, or

18:10 - a movie at the Colonnade, we

18:12 - hope to see you soon.

18:13 - And please check out our web

18:14 - site MillersburgPA.org.

18:18 - Thank you for taking a tour of

18:19 - Millersburg borough.

18:21 - Please join us for the next

18:22 - edition of Exploring

18:22 - Pennsylvania Boroughs right here

18:24 - on PCN.