Breaking Towanda: What it’s like being from small town PA
Where everybody knows your name
Welcome to Towanda, Pennsylvania. Home of the Black Knights and built upon a Native American burial ground. Please keep all hands and feet inside the vehicle throughout the whole tour, please and thank you. Pick up a copy of the Daily Review, and let’s get started.
While being home to around 3,000 people, please enjoy one-of-a-kind amenities like a movie at the historic Keystone Theater, a sandwich at The Flying Cow Bakery, a bubble tea at the Community Cup, a football game at the newly renovated high school football field, or even a peaceful walk down the Merrill Parkway along the Susquehanna River.
How about a night of fun with Corks and Canvas hosted by local artist, Shvonne Strickland?
Bringing all honesty to the front of the line, I left Towanda, Pennsylvania as soon as I was able to. I was born in a town where, like the iconic theme song from Cheers sings, everybody knows your name.
I could not wait to leave, but that was just a part of me growing up. Most of the citizens, and my classmates, that call the small riverside town home, grew up there and just never left. It has a comforting culture if that is meant for those who can be content with simple and quiet.
I craved towering skyscrapers. I craved walking past strangers on a weather-worn concrete sidewalk. I craved to be as far away from rolling fields and manure covered farmland as I could get.
Unfortunately, that was not the case for me. Instead, I got towering tree-covered mountains. I walked deer worn dirt paths in the many hike-able forests. I was surrounded by rolling fields and manure covered farmland.
Although it is not the place I will always call home, it is a home for some and that is good enough.
Graduating high school with around 135 students, I remembered half of their faces from the first day of kindergarten. Coming to college, I learned that this is definitely not the case with a lot of other schools. I was lucky in the sense that I did not have 800 other classmates that I had never seen before. Some kids go through twelve long years of elementary school without even meeting half the people they share classrooms with every single day.
If you yourself, or your kids, end up attending Towanda High School, prepare to face the nicest staff and faculty in all the land. Supporting the well-being of every student is their primary focus, and they do not take their jobs lightly. Whether you are walking through the hallways, cafeteria, and especially the administrative office, expect to be welcomed with warm smiles and the friendliest of faces.
Where else will the teachers, such as one of the high school art teachers Shvonne Strickland, take a series of photo-booth pictures with a student?
Having one of the strongest sport’s culture around, football games on the home field are like no other. Even from miles away, the beaming lights and booming voices of the announcers can be seen and heard. Bleachers on both sides of the field are packed full of dedicated parents, friends, and supporters of the players. Almost like an episode straight out of Friday Night Lights, the coaches are praised as local heroes. Bill Sexton, James Wecker, and Craig Dawsey are just some who have gone down in local (and regional) history while also extending the title of coaches to mentors and role models.
Wrestling season has just as much, or even more, hype than football. Tuesday and Thursday nights leave local schedules booked for the adrenaline-packed wrestling matches. Each match leaves stands swarmed with screaming dedicated fans. Where else can you be sitting in class and have the state matches broadcasted over the intercom. Even if you can’t travel with the team, the support is community-driven.
Towanda has faced one of the biggest surges in growth that the nation has ever seen. Citizens did not strike gold or oil, but they did strike natural gas riches.
Having a pipeline under my house, and my dad being a water truck owner and driver himself, it was definitely a lifestyle change close to home.
With the trucks of drilling companies like Chesapeake rolling into town, Towanda went from night to day in what seemed like an instant. New hotels were being built from the ground up, apartment and house rent skyrocketed, and population doubled. All of a sudden white trucks filled most parking lots, and new businesses were springing up out of nowhere.
Despite what most outsiders think, we couldn’t light our water on fire.
Other towns have their festivals and fairs, but no other can replicate the summer season’s Riverfest. With local and non-local vendors supplying any authentic and/or fried food you can think of. Being the Walmart of all local gatherings, enjoy live music, fireworks, and rides for the kids. Plus, it is also organized on the curated Merrill Parkway, which is the shining star of local walkways.
I can sit here and highlight all that Towanda, Pennsylvania has to offer, but words in an article can only do so much justice. Although I no longer reside within its borders, that does not mean the sense of community that was grown within me left either. I am happy to come from a town with so much external support. Local fundraisers, events and outreach programs that do nothing but help local families are just a slice of what Towanda has to offer.
Whether you run in the annual Mason’s Hope Superhero 5K, pray for Kelly McNally’s search for a kidney transplant, or support the growth of the Bradford County Addiction Awareness Rally for those struggling with drug addictions.
Towanda, Pennsylvania may be a small town on the map, but the hearts and traditions of its locals should not be measured merely by its population. It’s more than a small town, more than a town named after a burial ground, it is a community.
Find out more on Mason’s Hope.