On Saturday, Paul and I headed up to my hometown of Millersburg, PA to do the Rotary Club's Tasting Tour of Millersburg!
My parents did the tour with us. This was year number two for the tour, so it has become a bit of a tradition.
The tour was put on by the Millersburg Rotary Club and sponsored by Mid Penn Bank.
From noon to four, we walked around the town of Millersburg, visiting 17 local businesses to sample food, wine, and beer.
Our brochure came with a handy map so we knew where all the businesses were and what route to take. A lot of the local shops are different from when I was a kid (mainly restaurants) but some were the same.
The first tasting was actually right at Mid Penn Bank.
We got to sample Rachel's Soft Pretzel's. I dipped mine in a cheese sauce. It was divine.
Also at Mid Penn Bank was Swing. This is the restaurant at Lyken's Valley Golf Course. My parents take Paul and I there for our birthdays. Swing gave samples of mini pork bbq sandwiches and sirachi bourbon meatballs. The meatball was my favorite thing I tasted all day!
They featured the preserves of Small Batch Kitchen.
Small Batch uses locally grown produce, are low sugar, and don't use any artificial ingredients. My favorite was the Jalapeno Pepper. It was poured on a block of cream cheese and I dipped a cracker in it. WOW!
Next was Schiano's Italian Restaurant. They served us little samples of pizza, sausage stromboli, and gnocci. The four of us debated on how to say gnocci. We're still not sure!
Sorry for the bad picture. I am not a photographer!
Then we visited the Historical Society. This establishment was not featuring any tastings, but they were presenting Jacob Light's National Clock.
It is a huge wooden clock a man carved by hand as basically a hobby. The clock does not work anymore but it is fascinating to look at. Surely someone could get the clock working again. Elon Musk, are you reading this right now!?
Next, we hit up the Gallery on the Square. As you can see, it was starting to get a little dark and rainy!
Broad Mountain Vineyard was doing a tasting in The Gallery. They had eight wines and two ciders to try.
Paul and I already knew we love Broad Mountain's wines, but of course we tasted anyway! I never had their cider. The birch beer was interesting. I think I would prefer just a regular birch beer soda. I tried their pineapple cider which I really liked! There was only a hint of pineapple.
I bought a bottle of Reisling to take home. I like Reisling now!
The Gallery sells all kinds of beautiful art, jewelry, crafts, and handmade apparel. It's a great place to go for gifts or to treat yourself! I have bought several bracelets there.
Then we headed to The Wooden Nickel to try a mini crab cake. It was really good! Unfortunately, the picture got blurry. My parents eat at the Wooden Nickel a lot and Paul and I go there from time to time when we're in Millersburg.
Next up was the Millersburg Hardware!
Our friend Haley runs The Hardware but she also works part time at River Bend Hop Farm and Brewery in Newport. So she was handing out beer tastings today! Or you could buy a whole glass for just $5!
I tasted one beer and it wasn't bad. Paul and my dad tried both kinds and enjoyed them. (My mom doesn't drink.)
They had a wide variety of cheeses. I tried the raw cheddar, which was very good. I also tried dill onion and I really liked it! I would have loved to get a block of that, but Paul didn't like it. I got these two instead.
Lykens Valley Creamery is an Amish business so they do not have a website, but their store address is 214 Weaver Road, Millersburg, PA.
After that delicious cheese, we switched things up a bit with Chinese food from China Star. There was a small buffet out of fried rice, lo mein, sweet and sour chicken, and General Tso's chicken.
Now, I've never had bad Chinese food, but I have had Chinese food I've liked more than others. China Star's General Tso's chicken was perfect, in my opinion!
It was weird only eating a tiny bit of Chinese food! I don't know about you, but when I order Chinese, it is an EVENT!
Next, it was over to 717 Pizzeria.
The Pizzeria had a pepperoni pizza out to taste as well as a ham and cheese subs. I was going to eat the pizza, but then I was told they made their own bread. Well that settled it, I was having the sub! The bread was very good. I love when pizza shops make their own bread. It just takes it to the next level.
Then we went next door to The Furniture Center for a wine tasting from The Winery at Hunters Valley!
Paul and I love Hunters Valley wines. I wanted to buy a bottle but they weren't selling those. Bummer! My dad enjoyed the sweet wines.
Next, we headed down to Max's Grille!
There was quite the assortment of bar food. I was getting pretty full by this point and only had a couple bites of a chicken quesadilla.
And some wine!
Side Note: On the way out of Max's I saw a sign with a drink special called Zach's Boozy Smoothie. Zach is a good friend of mine. One time he made me a margarita. It was the best margarita I ever had!
Then we hit up the Millersburg Train Station to check out samples from Indian Trail Market and Shaffer's Venison Farms.
Indian Trail Market had drinks, cheeses, deli meats, and bologna.
They also had a variety of canned food for purchase.
And they sent us each home with a big goodie bag to take home. Just check out everything in the bag...
I didn't even try all of this yet!
At Shaffer's Venison Farms stand, I tried wild boar and water buffalo! That was definitely a first for me.
Finally, it was time for dessert! First, we headed to Special Moments. They have a big selection of bridal apparel and accessories.
This shop featured Wanda's Heavenly Cupcakes.
I tried chocolate and white raspberry. Then I wished I tried the red velvet. But I am a rule follower and I only tried two!
Last year, dad and Paul stood on the bridal pedestal and posed for a picture...
This year, Paul refused, so Mom and Dad posed.
Wait, is dad wearing the same shorts!?
At that point, Paul and Dad wanted to go back to The Hardware and purchase a glass of beer to enjoy. So Mom and I walked up to the Colonnade movie theater to watch the Millersburg tourism video they were playing on a loop that day. It was only 20 minutes long, but was featured on PCNTV.
The Colonnade now has two theaters and shows new release movies. It is also where the Twin Valley Players perform their summer musicals. I used to perform with the TVP all the time, but that was back when we did our shows at Halifax High School.
What an afternoon! I had so much fun walking around my hometown with my family. Millersburg is such a special place. You should take a little trip up there sometime!
Catch a movie at The Colonnade!
Hike the trails at Ned Smith Center!
Walk along the Riverfront!
Ride the Millersburg Ferry!
Visit the museum and see the giant clock!
Grab something to eat at one of the many restaurants!
Stop in at Denny's and get some ice cream!
When are you making a trip to Millersburg!?
This looks like such a fun, tasty tour! I can't believe those big blocks of Lykens Valley Creamery cheese are under $4!!!! What a steal! Adam calls any unique cheese blocks (like dill onion) wrapped in plastic like that "fancy cheese," and he buys one block for himself every week at the grocery store. Then he snacks on fancy cheese and crackers at night when we watch tv :). He has purchased some truly awful ones that taste terrible... the Irish ones tend to be bad imo! Just give me cheddar and I'm happy!
ReplyDeleteAwwww well Paul and I want to go up to the creamery and when we do, I'm going to purchase some cheese to send to Adam. Can you send cheese in the mail? Will it go bad? I will research this before I do it. But mark my words, when we go up to the creamery we will hook Adam up, okay?
DeleteWow, I can't believe how much food and drink you got on that tour! That seems like a fun way to spend the afternoon. We have a Chocolate tour here in the winter. So glad that even though it started to get gloomy, it looks like it never rained on you guys.
ReplyDeleteThe proper way to pronounce gnocci is "Noki" Don't worry though, it stumps a lot of people. I once asked Scott what he had for dinner when he went out for a business dinner and he totally butchered the word. I think I fell off my chair laughing. And he said that's how everyone else was saying it so he just followed along...haha.
It rained a tiny bit, but it rained at the part of the tour that was on Market Street, so all the stores were very close to each other so we just ducked into the next tour. It was a HUGE amount of food for only $25 a ticket. If I had eaten EVERYTHING we were given... well, I would not have been able to.
DeleteOkay, so "Noki" is that with a long "o" as in rhyming with "okay dokey" or a short "o" like rhyming with walkie talkie? LOL!
This tour sounds like a really fun way to visit Millersburg! My son asked to go back there sometime, because we saw like 3 corvettes when we were there in June... he said "People in this town have really awesome cars!"
ReplyDeleteWe really like Broadmountain wine! we should check out the winery!
I hate to disagree, but I'm a picky Chinese food eater. I had the worse chicken and Brocolli downtown in Harrisburg. The chicken was rubbery and salty and the rice had egg... I hate scrambled egg in my rice.
LOL that is funny that he thinks everyone in Millersburg had awesome cars! Tell him I grew up in Millersburg, and when I was in HS, my dad owned a white station wagon that had ONE gold door. I was too embarassed for him to drop me off at school with such an ugly car... And then when I was 16, THAT is the car I had to drive, which of course was at first horrifying, but then I realized I was lucky there was a car available for me to drive to musical rehearsals and my voice lessons!
DeletePerhaps you and Roger would want to double date with me and Paul and take a trip to Broad Mountain!? That would be fun!
Ewwww I am sorry you had bad Chinese! I think I just like "junk" and even bad Chinese tastes good to me. BUT I can see how it wouldn't to some people. It just means you have good, high class Chinese food taste. :)
Wow, what a busy day and a full tour!! That's fun that you checked out so many places. I am a fan of Reisling wine too. That chocolate / peanut butter cupcake sounds really good. That would have been my pick, along with the Red Velvet!
ReplyDeleteI totally should have done the red velvet! Fun fact: I AM DRINKING THE REISLING RIGHT NOW!!!! It is sooooooo good. We went to a wine shop in Lititz, PA and I tried a Reisling and now I like it. I'm normally a red wine drinker. :)
DeleteI remember when you did this last year -- I love reading these posts because how FUN! I wish our town would do something like this. I was jealous of the cupcakes because we were at a wedding this weekend and both the mini cupcakes AND the wedding cake were really dry :( I mean, they looked amazing and then we ate it and "ugh". I don't mean to sound negative but wedding cake is always so awesome--not this time. LOL.
ReplyDeleteWedding cake IS normally awesome! I love wedding cake, just the plain, vanilla/white kind. If there are people missing from my table, I totally eat their cake. We are going to a wedding on Saturday. I hope this happens. :)
DeleteI know you told us to try buffalo burgers in CO but we never did. I told the gal from Shaffer's Vension Farm that this was my first time trying buffalo but my friend from CO advised me to try it! She never had a buffalo BURGER either but wants to try it.
I live in Millersburg and have never taken time to do the tour. Thank you for sharing. I'm going to put this event on "my small town bucket list". I don't need big and fancy. Just give this girl "the Small Town Perfection". Enjoyed by Aunt Betty and Uncle David's old neighbor.
ReplyDeleteAwesome! I hope you get to do the tour next year. It was a great time. What else is on your small town bucket list?
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