Northampton County Grant Will Buy Trolley For Downtown Easton

English: Skyline of Easton, PA from Lafayette College (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Easton officials hope to ease the city’s rising parking problems by introducing a trolley to the Downtown area purchased through a Northampton County grant.

Mayor Sal Panto Jr. said today that the city plans to buy a used trolley sometime this month and have it up and running through the Downtown area this summer. With the city’s new parking garage not due for completion until autumn, the city will rely on the trolley to connect distant parking lots to popular tourist spots, Panto said.

“We can’t invent parking, so I think it’s the next best idea,” Panto said.

County Executive John Brown said the $42,000 grant from the Northampton County Gaming and Economic Redevelopment Authority is part of the county’s outreach to regional partners. The county will also allow the city to use the Northampton County Courthouse’s parking lots for the Easton Farmers’ Market and other large events, he said.

Read more: http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/easton/index.ssf/2014/05/northampton_county_grant_will.html

Easton Opens New Visitors Center

 

Skyline of Easton, PA from Lafayette College (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Tourists heading to downtown Easton have a new place to get information and plan their Lehigh Valley experience.

The city’s new visitors center opened Friday in the lobby of the Sigal Museum on Northampton Street. The museum added brochures and pamphlets about Easton and Lehigh Valley attractions and staffers have been trained to assist visitors.

“People still want information face to face,” said Michael Sterschi, president of Discover Lehigh Valley at the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Easton considers tourism, along with arts and entertainment, a critical component of revitalizing downtown, said Gretchen Longenbach, the city’s director of community and economic development.

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/news/local/easton/mc-easton-visitors-center-sigal-museum-20120511,0,1914215.story

Easton-Based Crayola Launches New Exhibits

The sixteen Crayola "Metallic FX" special effect crayons (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Crayola Experience celebrated the opening of an 18,000 square-foot expansion with build-your-own space suits, a glow-in-the-dark doodle room, and a special green, odoriferous crayon called Alien Armpit.

Though their crayons might have been spiked with galactic body odor, dozens of kids rushed the new tables and activity areas in the Activity Studio, one of several new exhibits in the space Crayola moved into earlier this year as the National Canal Museum moved out.

Children grabbed glue sticks, tissue paper, a rainbow of crayons, fat markers, stencils, colored sand and brown paper bags – everything you need to make a spacesuit.

Read more: http://www.mcall.com/news/local/easton/mc-crayola-experience-grand-opening-20120405,0,4160945.story