Historic Hamburg: A Year in Review

By Deena Kershner, Executive Director of Our Town Foundation

This past year proved to be another busy one for Our Town Foundation, Hamburg’s non-profit community revitalization organization. During its annual meeting, which was recently held at the Hamburg Strand Theater, the community learned about the organization’s 2022 achievements.

The list of accomplishments included revitalization projects in the downtown, improvements made at the Hamburg Strand Theater, which is owned and operated by the Foundation, and projects initiated by the Hamburg Area Arts Alliance, also administered by Our Town Foundation.

Improvements made at the theater in 2022 included refurbishing the neon in the historic marquee, installing six disinfecting/sanitizing lights in the auditorium to ensure the health and safety of its patrons, laying new carpeting in the lobby and auditorium aisles, replacing the film screen and installing a rooftop digital satellite receiver. It is the Foundation’s 2023 goal to replace the auditorium flooring under the seat area and to purchase new auditorium seating.

Highlights of the Hamburg Area Arts Alliance were the rekindling of art classes being offered to the public. During the COVID-19 pandemic, all classes were cancelled; however, the Alliance was able to offer 10 classes/workshops in 2022 including its first Plein Aire event. There were 13 featured artists recognized throughout the year with eight of them hosting artist receptions. The group participated in the annual Hawk Mountain Arts Tour as well as the annual Taste of Hamburg-er Festival held in downtown Hamburg. Members of the Arts Alliance enjoyed their first membership picnic held in the sculpture garden at the residence of Bill Rhodes, one of the Alliance members. The group also held its first Bingo fundraising event that netted more than $12,000 in profit to support future arts programming.

The 2022 Taste of Hamburg-er Festival was quite the success. The crowds returned to pre-COVID capacity, and it was estimated that 35,000 were in attendance. The festival filled seven downtown blocks with a record number 250 vendors. Twenty-two bands and individual performing artists provided non-stop entertainment on four stages. The professional burger eaters once again amused the crowds with the winner chowing down 20 Red Robin burgers in 10 minutes! Other events hosted by the Foundation included its annual garden stroll and downtown car cruise-ins.

The Clean & Green Committee stayed busy during the spring and summer months. The Hamburg Community Cleanup took place in April after a two-year hiatus. Thirty-three volunteers collected 44 bags of trash and recyclables. The community garden, located in the southern residential area of town, was increased to 15 garden beds that were all rented to residents. This committee also maintained several native gardens that were planted throughout town over the past few years as part of the National Wildlife Habitat program.

Promoting Hamburg and the downtown business district has always been a top priority of the Foundation. In 2022, the Foundation created a one-minute commercial highlighting everything Hamburg has to offer. It also participated in BCTV programming, designed, printed and distributed several brochures and rack cards promoting the area, mailed quarterly print newsletters, sent 29 e-newsletters to thousands of followers and promoted the town through various social media platforms. Additionally, ribbon cuttings and networking mixers were held at several businesses and many downtown promotional activities were implemented to encourage downtown shopping.

Our Town Foundation already is pressing full steam ahead with its activities, projects and goals for 2023 and looks forward to working with the downtown businesses, residents and the municipality in keeping Hamburg a great place to live, own a business or visit. For additional information on Hamburg, visit hamburgpa.org. CQ