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Smethport Gears Up for ‘Wheel Around the Hub’ Bicycle Race

Smethport Web

Cyclists far and wide will once again gather in Smethport for the historic Wheel Around the Hub bicycle race to be held on Saturday, September 18. The 53-mile, seven-lap race starts at noon on Main Street in front of the McKean County Courthouse. Proceeds will benefit the Smethport Volunteer Fire Department’s Fire Police.

The route takes cyclists through Smethport’s quaint business district, past the McKean County fairgrounds and scenic farmlands, over the Galico Bridge, through forests, past Hamlin Lake, and back onto Main Street past Victorian homes. Read more

Mr. Potato Head a No-Show at Wooly Willy Celebration

Smethport Web — By Ross Porter

The opening day ceremony for Wooly Willy Wonderdaze held yesterday on the steps of the McKean County Courthouse on US Route 6 in Smethport, Pennsylvania honored classic toy great Wooly Willy (Patch Products, Inc). Known worldwide as one of the 20th Century Toy Super-stars, Wooly Willy was born and raised in Smethport.

Wooly received early fame in his career, racing to #1 in US toy sales during his debut year of 1955. His fame has proved to be no flash in the pan. His popularity has endured over the years and, now at age 55, Wooly continues to be a best seller as parents in successive generations have purchased his bald face over and over again.   Read more

Wooly Willy Wonderdaze Now Open!

Smethport toy celebrity, Wooly Willy, is once again the centerpiece of Smethport’s summer festival — National Wooly Willy Wonderdaze from June 22 to June 26.

The festival, sponsored by the Smethport Area Chamber of Commerce, with involvement from many other Smethport organizations, highlights the popular magnetic toy invented in Smethport by entrepreneur, James Herzog, in 1955. The event includes a Car Show and Parade down Main Street on Saturday, June 26.   Read more

Smethport Implements New Alerting System

In an effort to provide more reliable communications with residents and businesses in Smethport, the Borough has implemented an Emergency Notification service provided by SwiftReach Networks, Inc.

Swift911 in its simplest form is a system that makes phone calls to specific people or areas in the event of an emergency or for sharing important information. The benefit of this system is that it can handle a large volume of calls in a short amount of time. It can make calls to specific people or areas and play an appropriate recorded message that describes the emergency. Read more

Biomass Projects Absolutely Must be to Local “Community-Scale”

Smethport Web — by Ross Porter

The kinds of projects examined in the Associated Press Bio-fuel growth raises concerns about forests article are the very antithesis of the Smethport, Pennsylvania biomass project and our leadership team’s philosophy of “scaled, community-based projects”.

Large, non-scaled projects examined in the Associated Press artice do, in fact, threaten our nations forests, habitats and should be opposed by both state and federal legislation. Giant, unsustainable fuel production such as converting wood as diesel fuel or bio-fuel for automobiles (such as butanol) will not solve our national energy appetite and attempts to refuel the nation using wood based fuels will in fact plunder the forests.   Read more

Reinventing Smethport

Penn State Agriculture — by Steve Williams
Arriving in Smethport from any direction, you can’t help but be awareof the trees. You wind along a narrow, two-lane highway where the mountains creep right up to the road. The pavement runs miles through tunnels of trees until finally opening onto a small valley.

You’re in McKean County, the state’s most heavily forested county, where the Borough of Smethport, population 1,684, lies within 5.2 million acres of federal, state, and privately owned forest. It’s a small town with a history of creativity—a toy industry developed more than 100 years ago is still going strong with toys like Wooly Willy. But that’s not all that’s unique about Smethport.  Read more »

Ideal Conditions Made for Speedy Cycling

During the final lap of this year’s Wheel Around the Hub race through Smethport, Ross Porter was interviewed by Jeff Andrulonis, whose radio station — The Mountain on WXMT (FM) 106.3 — provided periodic updates on the race to the listening audience.

Smethport Receives $75,000 Biomass Grant from Forest Service

Smethport Web - by Nathan Muller

The USDA Forest Service has committed $75,000 in grant money to help fund the feasibility study and business plan for the woody biomass Combined Heat and Power (CHP) facility in Smethport. The Forest Service and two previous grants bring the total preliminary funding for the project to $150,000.

The grant is provided through the U.S. Forest Service Wood Education and Resource Center located in Princeton, WV, and is administered by the agency’s Northeastern Area State and Private Forestry organization. Read more

Reinventing Smethport’s Forest Legacy

Biomass Magazine — by Susanne Retka Schill

Smethport, Pa., is a little town with a history of biomass use, and abuse. The forest around the small town in the Alleghany Mountains of northcentral Pennsylvania was first logged to supply tall, white pine poles for the masts of sailing ships when they were the primary mode of world commerce. Hemlock bark was harvested to supply tannic acid to the hide tanning industry. In the next industrial development, a dam was built in 1825 to power the sawmills that turned the hardwood forest into lumber for furniture and construction. In the mid-1800s, the chemical wood industry moved in to clear-cut the remaining forests to manufacture chemicals such as acetate, acetone and wood alcohol, and by the 1930s, the hills were bare.

“That will never happen again,” says Tim Pierson, forestry specialist for the Pennsylvania State Cooperative Extension Service in McKean County, who works in Smethport. Read more

Wooly Willy Wonderdaze is Finally Here!

Smethport Web — by Linda Muller

This Thursday through Sunday we are going to have a jam-packed four days filled with fun and entertainment right in our own home town - Our NATIONAL WOOLY WILLY WONDERDAZE is about to begin!

The festival is sponsored by the Smethport Area Chamber of Commerce, with active involvement from many Smethport organizations and citizen volunteers. It will highlight the popular magnetic game developed in Smethport by entrepreneur, James Herzog in 1955.

See below our updated schedule. We’ve included additional information about each exciting event and hope that all of you will bring your family and friends to join us for this wonderful celebration of Smethport and our very own Wooly Willy!

Update: There are some items not mentioned in the schedule below. Here are a few that are noteworthy:

– The first 500 children will receive a free Wooly Willy toy!

Read more

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