The event, sponsored by the McKean County Historical Society, featured an exhibit by Holgate Toys based in Bradford, the maker of wooden toys since 1789. In the 1920s and ‘30s, Jarvis Rockwell – the brother of illustrator Norman Rockwell – was Holgate’s chief toy designer.

As attendees strolled through three floors of framed artwork, handmade quilts, jewelry and other items from 41 local artisans, dulcimer music could be heard wafting through the corridors. Wine and cheese whetted the appetite for an auction that included paintings, prints, decorations and gift baskets, among other items donated by local companies, artists and craftspeople.

Northwest Bank was a key sponsor of McArt Nite, which was also supported by the Pennsylvania Council of the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. View some of the highlights of the evening..

Smethport’s most talented people were on hand to talk about their works. John Wesley showcased his fine watercolors depicting local landmarks. Christopher Robbins exhibited paintings featuring industrial scenes. Bob Murphy put up an impressive landscape painting for auction. Jane Defilippi showed her crocheted and sewn handworks and Sue Hagg displayed several quilts. Julie Mader presented her acclaimed watercolors, “The Messinger” and “Junco”.

Steve Miller from Kane showed intricate pencil sketches. Author William Robertson discussed his many Bucktail novels. Jackie Hazen from Port Allegany exhibited custom hand-guided machine quilting.

The proceeds from the McART auction will go to helping the McKean County Historical Society with their operating expenses.

Members of the Potato Creek Trail Association met with Spring Reilly of the Pennsylvania Fish at Boat Commission on Friday. Reilly serves the commission as the Central Regional Outreach & Educational Coordinator within the commission’s Bureau of Policy Planning & Communications.

The Potato Creek Trail Association was represented by President Sally Newton, Water Trail Committee chairman Kurt Weaver, and Board Director Corky Hull. The meeting began at the Crosby baseball park and toured several sections of Potato Creek.

Reilly and association members discussed possible improvements such as boat ramps and picnic/camping areas. Other topics of discussion included the formulation of trail objectives, state assistance for trail improvement, and sources for grants from the Fish and Boat Commission along with other state agencies.

Many informative brochures were distributed to association members along with maps and state guidelines for boat launch facilities.

According to Reilly, the Potato Creek Trail Association has been successful in planning and developing the organizational structure required to qualify it for commission assistance.

Left to Right: Waterway Chairman Kurt Weaver, Spring Reilly of the PA Fish and Boat Commission, Trail Association President Sally Newton, and Trail Association Director Corky Hull.

Members of the Potato Creek Trail Association receive tips for improving waterways for boating activities on Potato Creek which flows to the Allegheny river at Larabee.

Korean War veterans were recognized Saturday during the annual Veterans Day Dinner at the Smethport American Legion, Bucktail Post #138.

Six local veterans of the war, which ranged from 1950-53, were among the approximately 80 veterans and guests who attended the dinner. They were George and Deborah Tufts, Don Ross, Ralph Mayer, Bob Cradduck and Russ Johnson.

The evening’s program included a showing of the DVD, Korea: The Forgotten War, which showed actual scenes of the war and interviews of the soldiers and Marines who fought in the coldest weather in a century in that part of the world. Temperatures often ranged to 30 to 40 degrees below zero. Read more >>

Smethport Mayor Ross Porter believes the use of wood resources from the area is natural as the town looks to become a leader in biomass technology.

“There is nothing new about using wood resources in this region,” Porter said. “It’s our roots. It’s our heritage. The wood industry is what made Smethport grow and propser.”

In the 19th Century, a huge industry in McKean County was built around lumbering, from the traditional to wood chemical, but those activities were environmentally devastating. Photographs from that era show entire hillsides that were stripped of trees.

“Smethport is in a unique position to take advantage of renewable energy, which has the potential to be bigger than the communications revolution of the 1990s,” according to Porter.  Read more >>

Not only can alternative energy in the form of woody biomass lead to lower electric and heating bills for Smethport, but it could make the town a national leader in this technology.

The use of fossil fuels, coal, oil and natural gas are not part of this technology.

To generate energy, woody biomass technology burns chips from low value trees, logging residue, urban and agricultural waste, some of which would otherwise be deposited at landfills. In one of the technologies, these materials, called “feedstock,” are burned in boilers, creating steam to be sent into a turbine. Read more >>

With the Halloween season in full swing, many thrill seekers are actively digging around for good, healthy scares that will make goosebumps erupt and hairs rise.

And what better way to get the old heart racing than to visit a haunted house or building in the area, or at least to drive past them on a dark night.

In the historic borough of Smethport, Pa., most of the town residents have heard the tale of the Old Jail Museum where the ghost of Ralph Crossmire is reportedly stalking the dark hallways or pulling pranks on the staff. Read more >>

U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., fielded numerous questions at a town meeting Tuesday about the effects of oil and gas drilling on the Allegheny National Forest.

Those posing the questions were concerned about the drilling that they said was having detrimental effects on recreational activities on the forest. Another man mentioned the historic use of the forest and noted the threat to a cemetery close to it. Still another individual pointed to the economic impact that the reduced deer herd is having on local merchants who for years in the past have counted on sales from hunters just before the holiday season.

Read more >>

Dr. Schultz chronicled the development of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corp — the subject of his book — and the impact of the 165 CCC camps located in Pennsylvania.

He credited the 16 CCC camps in the Allegheny National Forest region with helping to reestablish local forests after decades of aggressive timber harvesting that left many areas so completely barren that it was thought they would never recover.

You can listen to the entire 55-minute presentation of Dr. Schultz now or download the audio file for playback on your mp3 player or iPOD.

Shana Miller rides “Lucky” across the Pennsylvania R.R. Equestrian Trail near East Smethport.

Shana boards Lucky at Rainy Day Farms and is delighted that the new equestrian trail is open because it allows her to ride between Rainy Day Farm near the East Valley Road and her home on PA Route 46 on the opposite side of the valley.

Bridges on the equestrian trail were recently improved to allow riders to safely cross over small streams that travel across the railroad grade that makes up most of the trail.

Smethport residents gathered at the Shawmut Trail Head behind the 911 Center on an Indian summer Sunday afternoon for a guided nature photography walk. The event was sponsored by the Smethport Creative Arts League and served as a field exercise for naturalists and photographers of all levels who had received a crash course on nature photography by Dr. Tim Pierson in the high school art room last Tuesday.

SCAL President Julie Mader said, “The inspiration behind this event would be the variety of people I know of who love the outdoors and taking pictures… and yet these folks don’t know each other.”

She noted that there are all sorts of “closet” photographers and artists in this area who are truly talented and just need an opportunity and a little bit of encouragement to share their work and interests with others. “Promoting an active community interest in the creative arts is what the SCAL is all about,” she said.

At the beginning of the trail before an iron frame bridge that crosses Marvin Creek, Pierson gave the group last minute advice on framing their camera shots and offered insight on how to speedily identify trees by their autumn colors: yellows are sugar maples, red are red maples, some of the other reds and oranges are black cherries, and the greens are evergreens and oaks.

The trail offers a unique blend of nature and history. Ruins of the prior age of petroleum are as common as berry-laden bear scat. Here, one can catch a glimpse of rusted pumps and tanks half hidden by autumnal foliage laying trail side like the skeletal remains of a bygone era. “This region had been the ‘Saudi Arabia’ of the times from the 1880s until the 1920s,” said Ross Porter, referring to when McKean County had been the globe’s major oil producing region.

The trail begins on what had been an 1890s era poor farm and a pauper’s graveyard—the unmarked burial site of Ralph Crossmire, infamous for haunting the Old Jail House Museum—lies cloistered in a venerable pine grove.

The Shawmut Trail parallels Marvin Creek and its main trail is part of a vast system in the Smethport area consisting of over one hundred miles of multi-use trails for hiking, biking, horseback riding, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing, making the rural community an ideal base of operations for your next outdoor adventure.

A second trailhead for the Shawmut Loop is located just northwest of the Route 6 bridge coming into Smethport on the other side of Marvin Creek from the Dollar General.