Saturday morning was the final farewell for participants of
the Pennsylvania FAM Tour. After spending eight days traveling together, the
goodbyes were both a sad and welcome event. During the course of our travels,
our group became linked by the shared experiences that only come from a
grueling adventure such as a road-trip. Thrown together, we formed friendships
as we shared meals, conversations and a few small calamities along the way.
The Tour, which is a semi-annual event for travel writers,
broke tradition by inviting members of the business press on the trek across
the Keystone State. Scott Henry, Jeff Webster and Mark Horner from Bozell
Kamstra, the state's PR agency for economic development and tourism, did a fine
job planning and orchestrating the week. Holly Rys, Rick Dunlap and Rose Mape
from the Department of Community and Economic Development for the State of
Pennsylvania made sure that all our questions were answered and our needs
fulfilled.
Business journalists - including myself, Rick Risemberg of
the New Colonist, Nancy Fitzgerald of Scholastic, real estate writer Steve
Viuker and Kristen Weiben, a reporter in training at the University of
Wisconsin - saw a slightly different side of Pennsylvania than our companion
travel writers. Our goal was to see how Pennsylvania is transforming its old
industry base and beatifying its cities to create an attractive place to which
businesses will to form the emerging markets of the future.
Our first day was spent learning how the state's ivy-league
university is participating in that vision. With the help of Tony Sorentino,
marketing manager of Economic Development for the University of Pennsylvania,
we were shuttled around the University of Pennsylvania and its urban campus,
looking at incubators that foster the budding businesses of the university's
grads and the remarkable facelift West Philly is receiving. Campus stores are
being opened around the town, luxury loft spaces are being built in former
factory spaces, and a new grocery store that puts New York City bodegas to
shame has just been opened.
But West Philadelphia isn't the only part of the city being
revitalized. Since the Republican convention in 2000, Market Street and the Old
District have become the home of several new trendy bars and restaurants. And
on a Monday night, the bistros in Rittenhouse Square were bustling with
body-enhanced beauties and their muscle-pumped admirers. The city, which has
always been a hotbed of fine restaurants, seems to have its own version of
Steve Hansen, whose title is being disputed by Stephen Starr and Neil Stein.
Starr recently added two new restaurants to his repertoire of four: Pod, a
futuristic Japanese sushi cafe, and Alma de Cuba, a Havana-inspired hideaway on
Walnut Street. Stein, the owner who once turned away the president for not
reserving early enough at his other establishment, Striped Bass, just added a
fifth eatery. Avenue B is a nouveau Italian restaurant that sits right on Broad
Street, Philly's answer to Broadway.
On Tuesday, the tour headed out of the cosmopolitan comforts
of Philadelphia and pushed into the steel-heart of the state. The first stop
was Lehigh University. Kenneth Smith, Richard Sause and Mark Erikson showed us
how the college is also trying to cajole grads into staying and working in the
area. Besides its plans to build a more exciting city for its students by
incorporating the campus into the main streets of the city, the university is
also creating several business development and cultural programs for its
students and town residents. Our group also had time to meet with Wayne Barz,
the manger for Ben Franklin Technology Partners. The incubator, which is 15
years old, is state funded and recognized nationally for its business model.
Barz said that the average resident stays about five years, a much longer
maturation time than most dot.com incubators allow.
On Wednesday, the tour regrouped and traveled deeper into
Pennsylvania's backwoods to York, Pa. The first stop was the Harley Davidson
factory, where we saw a terrifying array of long and short mullets, and watched
the coveted bikes being born from thin slabs of steel. Pfaltzgraff was the
second stop. Fran Polk, the media representative for the pottery empire, was
kind enough to host a catered lunch for the group. After we ate, he guided us
around the factory to watch how the stoneware was born from clay out of the
kiln.
The next stop on the itinerary was the battlefields of
Gettysburg. I would have personally preferred to be left behind to wander the
cute antique stores that lined the Main Streets of the town, but I saddled up
and hoisted myself upon Torro, a broken down horse that bounced me across the
sun-drenched fields for two hours. The day left most of us tired and not
particularly fresh, but we boarded the vans for a three-hour trek to the
Nemacolin Resort and Spa.
The Parisian-styled resort, owned by lumber tycoon Joseph
Hardy, provided us with a welcome respite after the fog-filled mountain roads
we traveled across. The 1,500-acre grounds boast a full-service spa, complete
with signature treatments, a $10 million art collection, various French bistros
and even a PGA-rated golf course.
Unfortunately our time at the resort was short. Thursday the
team broke out into adventure groups. My destination: white-water rafting. Six
of us put our faith into Mike McCarty, our leather-skinned river guide, for a
trip down the Youghiogheny. Water-logged and sunburned, we returned to the
resort only to quickly bathe and be escorted to dinner, where we were the
guests of Joseph Hardy himself. Mr. Hardy gave the perfect "God Bless
America" speech, which referenced the resort his riches bought, and then
treated us to a luscious buffet of such country basics as BBQ chicken and
potato salad.
Now, some of you may be wondering what white-water rafting
and horseback riding have to do with a business trip. The mix of business and
pleasure gave us a wonderful opportunity to see how the state, which already
boasts rich natural resources and history, offers a superior quality of life
for young professionals and growing businesses.
The final full day was back to business. The first stop on
our route was Marconi, the British telecom equipment company whose American
headquarters building is infamous for its strange, angled buildings, and another
quick stop at Carnegie Learning, an educational software developer. Afterwards,
it was on to more sightseeing: the Andy Warhol museum, Carnegie Mellon's
campus, and a trip to the new PNC park to catch a Pirate's game. Dennis
Yablonsky, president and CEO of the Pittsburgh Digital Greenhouse, joined us in
the press box, where he chatted with me about the mission of the consortium and
the market for digital multimedia in Pittsburgh. While the catered fete added
panache to the ball game, the real thrill was watching the Pirate's win it in
their hometown.
The fire-works at the game's end were a symbolic way to
finish our final night on the FAM Tour. While many of the journalists and
reporters are bringing home their own stories and adventures, the important thing
for our readers to remember is that there is a whole network of businesses,
universities, programs and people outside our backyard. Tap into it.
