Smethport First-Graders Learn the Coffee Business Firsthand

Bradford Era – by Fran De Lancey If it’s Friday, first graders at the Smethport Area Elementary School, accompanied by an adult staff member, can be found in the halls with their coffee cart, delivering coffee, hot chocolate and cappuccino to the teachers and staff. “We classroom teachers introduced this project as a career and social studies unit on goods and services, customers and products and aspects of a…

Read More

Magisterial District Judge Bill Todd Wins Third County Trivia Contest

Bradford Era – by Fran De Lancey Magisterial District Judge Bill Todd of Smethport successfully defended his title by winning the third episode of McKean County Jeopardy Thursday night at the courthouse. Todd, who has won all three of the quiz games based on the format of the popular television show of the same name, outscored Ron Keim, a retired Pennsylvania Department of Transportation official, and Bob Murphy, a…

Read More

Smethport Hubbers Are Out to Prove People Wrong in 2019

Bradford Era – by Anthony Sambrotto The defending District 9 Small School North champions, which posted a 9-0 regular season mark and reached the D9 title game a season ago, have heard all the outside noise on the step back they are supposed to take this year. Now, they are just ready to get back onto the field and begin their quest for a repeat. “I just want to…

Read More

Ryan Stratton Begins Life After College Football by Serving Country

Bradford Era – by Nate Steis The date is Oct. 25, 2013. The Smethport Hubbers made the drive to Ridgway to take on Ridgway/Johnsonburg in an Allegheny Mountain League game. Starting at quarterback for the Elkers is Division I baseball prospect Ben MacDonald, while the Hubbers have themselves a terror on the opposing side as fullback and linebacker Ryan Stratton is ready to add to his already impressive tackle…

Read More

Smethport’s Zach Smith Reflects on Journey to Division 1 Basketball

Bradford Era – by Nate Steis The year is 2007, and Zach Smith, a 2013 graduate of Smethport Area High School, has a big decision to make. Should he really focus in on the game of basketball and play AAU travel basketball or not? After Zach and his parents, Todd and Lori Smith sat down to look up more about travel basketball, the couple and Zach decided together it…

Read More

Smethport Father-Son Duo Experienced Apollo 11 Mission Prep First-Hand

Bradford Era – by Joellen Wankel The Apollo 11 launch may have been prepped and successfully accomplished in sunny Florida in 1969, but a Smethport father-son duo were up close and personal during the entire process of preparation for the historic occasion that led to the first man walking on the moon. Bill Barton, a Smethport native, moved to Florida in 1966 to become a photographer for Technicolor, a…

Read More

Smethport’s Katie Treat Delivers AMCC Volleyball Crown for UPB

Bradford Era – by Nate Steis The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford found itself down two games to none at last fall’s Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference volleyball championship match against Penn State Behrend. The Panthers, however — playing on Behrend’s home court — stormed back to secure the third AMCC title in program history. Helping the team to the come-from-behind victory was former Smethport four-sport athlete Kate Treat, who…

Read More

Assistive Devices – What Was Once Trash is Now a Nation’s Treasure

Bradford Era – by Fran De Lancey In our throw-away culture, many pre-owned, but still highly usable mobility devices, such as canes, crutches, walkers and even wheelchairs are often sent to landfills where they occupy valuable space. In other cases, these devices can be found in basements, closets and garages. Crutches 4 Africa has found new homes for this equipment, also known as assistive devices. Locally, Rotary International District…

Read More

Laura Burdick of Smethport Wins First Prize in ANFVB Photo Contest

Smethport Web – by Linda Devlin A photo of a bald eagle protecting and watching over its nesting young won first place in the Allegheny National Forest Visitors Bureau’s 2018-2019 Photo Contest, out of 66 entries. The winning photo, taken by Laura Burdick of Smethport, shows a bald eagle aerie full of eaglets in a tree-top surrounded in a whimsical aura of sunlight, streaking through the foliage. Jeannie Porterfield,…

Read More

Smethport’s Kane-Walker Continuing Family Tradition in Softball

Bradford Era – by Nate Steis “Brooke Kane-Walker was the toughest pitcher I faced in high school. It was a great feeling getting a hit or having a quality at bat against her.” This quote by local college athlete and former Port Allegany Gator Hannah Lathrop shows just the kind of athlete Brook Kane-Walker is and the respect opponents have for her. Kane-Walker is a 2016 graduate of Smethport…

Read More