• Conor Hepp Leaving Chester County History Center to Lead Da Vinci Science Center

    Conor Hepp Leaving Chester County History Center to Lead Da Vinci Science Center

    Conor Hepp is taking on a new challenge. After six years leading the Chester County History Center, he has been named the next Chief Executive Officer of the Da Vinci Science Center in Allentown, writes Glenn Epps for lehighvalleylive.com. The science center announced Hepp’s appointment this week following a national search. He starts the role…

  • “An American Dream” Debuts at Longwood Gardens June 25 with Symphonic Salute to America250

    “An American Dream” Debuts at Longwood Gardens June 25 with Symphonic Salute to America250

    The way the Brandywine Valley Symphony’s commissioned patriotic piece for America250, An American Dream by Iowa composer Aaron Fullan, came about was “a genuine serendipity,” in words of Symphony Vice President Colin Hanna. The piece will debut at the Symphony’s annual concert at Longwood Gardens on June 25 at 7:30 p.m., capping months of work…

  • How West Chester’s QVC Lost Its Edge: Debt, Cord Cutting, and an Aging Audience

    How West Chester’s QVC Lost Its Edge: Debt, Cord Cutting, and an Aging Audience

    For decades, West Chester-based QVC turned live television into a sales engine, moving billions of dollars in products into American homes and redefining how people shop. A video from Company Man, a YouTube channel that tracks the rise and fall of major American businesses, recently broke down what’s gone wrong with the West Chester-based company.…

  • What Should Replace Oxford Valley Mall? More Than 80 Bucks County Residents Weighed In

    What Should Replace Oxford Valley Mall? More Than 80 Bucks County Residents Weighed In

    If Bucks County residents had their way, Oxford Valley Mall would become part restaurant district, part entertainment hub, part town center, and in at least one memorable case, part brothel. It is a wish list that says something real about where this community is, and where it thinks the mall should go. The backdrop matters.…

  • The World’s Largest Bounce House Is Coming. Here’s Why People Are Buying Tickets Now

    The World’s Largest Bounce House Is Coming. Here’s Why People Are Buying Tickets Now

    Imagine spending an afternoon racing friends through a 900-foot obstacle course, dancing to a live DJ inside the world’s largest bounce house, and diving into a foam party beneath giant octopus tentacles. That’s exactly what’s coming to the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center Fairgrounds in Oaks from June 27th through July 5th. The Big Bounce America…

  • How New Hope Became, and Stayed, One of America’s Greatest Art Towns

    How New Hope Became, and Stayed, One of America’s Greatest Art Towns

    Walk through New Hope on any weekend and you feel it before you can explain it. Something about the place hums. Galleries tucked into 18th-century storefronts. Live music spilling out of open doors. Theater companies, sculptors, photographers, and painters all sharing the same few walkable blocks along the Delaware. What most visitors do not know…

  • Secret Cave That Used to Serve as Hideout for Revolutionary War Outlaws Discovered in Bucks County

    Secret Cave That Used to Serve as Hideout for Revolutionary War Outlaws Discovered in Bucks County

    A secret cave that used to house Revolutionary War outlaws–British spies and armed thieves also known as the Doan gang – was recently discovered in Bucks County and is currently being excavated, writes John McDevitt for KYW Newsradio. Known as America’s first outlaws, the men were considered to be the “greatest threat to the American…

  • Which Wawa Coffee Has the Most Caffeine? The Answer May Surprise You

    Which Wawa Coffee Has the Most Caffeine? The Answer May Surprise You

    Wawa customers choose their coffee for all kinds of reasons. Some want the smooth taste of Cold Brew. Others prefer a handcrafted latte or a flavored iced coffee. But if your goal is simple – getting the most caffeine for the least money – the answer depends on whether you’re optimizing for total caffeine or…

  • The Greater West Chester Chamber Is Hiring a Member Experience Manager

    The Greater West Chester Chamber Is Hiring a Member Experience Manager

    Most jobs come with a paycheck. This one comes with a community. The Greater West Chester Chamber of Commerce is hiring a Member Experience & Operations Manager, and if you love people, community, and the energy of a thriving small city, this might be the role you’ve been waiting for. This is not a desk…

  • Why Markets Like King of Prussia Are Winning: A CEO’s Guide to Location Strategy

    Why Markets Like King of Prussia Are Winning: A CEO’s Guide to Location Strategy

    CEOs today are navigating a moment defined by competing pressures – remote work, hybrid expectations and a narrow talent market. Many are sitting on large footprints of underutilized office space – an issue playing out across the country – while simultaneously trying to position themselves near the workforce they need to stay competitive. Today’s leaders…

  • She Couldn’t Get Answers About a Nearby Data Center Proposal. So She Built a Map.

    She Couldn’t Get Answers About a Nearby Data Center Proposal. So She Built a Map.

    Emilia Doda wasn’t trying to become a watchdog. She was just looking for answers. When a data center was proposed across the street from her childhood home in Blakely, near Scranton, she went searching for details. What she found was a wall of inaccessible information buried across government websites, zoning filings, and local news archives…

  • From Dead Mall to Town Center: The Plan to Reimagine Neshaminy Mall in Bensalem

    From Dead Mall to Town Center: The Plan to Reimagine Neshaminy Mall in Bensalem

    For generations of Bucks County residents, Neshaminy Mall was more than a shopping center. It was where people saw movies, wandered the food court, bought back-to-school clothes, and spent Friday nights during the height of the suburban mall era. Now, the future of the Bensalem property appears headed in a much different direction. In July…

  • “Make a Left at the Airplane”: The Story Behind Penndel’s Most Iconic Landmark

    “Make a Left at the Airplane”: The Story Behind Penndel’s Most Iconic Landmark

    For decades, one phrase instantly told people they were in Lower Bucks County: “Make a left at the airplane.” Long before GPS, nearly everybody knew exactly what that meant. The Airplane Family Restaurant and Diner in Penndel was one of Bucks County’s most unforgettable landmarks. Sitting at the corner of Route 1 and Durham Road,…

  • Chester County Leadership – Gary Smith

    Chester County Leadership – Gary Smith

    Publishers note: Tonight, Gary Smith takes his place in the Chester County Hall of Fame, a fitting capstone to a 50-year career that has shaped the economic landscape of this county more than perhaps any other single individual. As the Chester County Economic Development Council inducts its own long-time CEO at the Phoenixville Foundry, it…

  • Chester County Leadership: Peter Seibert, President and CEO, Independence Seaport Museum

    Chester County Leadership: Peter Seibert, President and CEO, Independence Seaport Museum

    Peter Seibert, President and CEO of Independence Seaport Museum, spoke with VISTA Today about growing up as the token Protestant in a Catholic school in Harrisburg, working in a museum, and learning about 19th-century history from his grandfather at the dinner table. Seibert attended Dickinson and Penn State, earning his degrees in American studies, and…

  • Pennsylvania’s Other 250-Year-Old Document Deserves Its Own Celebration

    Pennsylvania’s Other 250-Year-Old Document Deserves Its Own Celebration

    As we reach the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, it is natural to focus on that world-changing document. However, the Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776, written in that same era, deserves just as much attention. While the U.S. Constitution is more famous, Pennsylvania’s original state constitution was actually older and, in several key ways,…

  • How to Spend a Perfect Summer Day at Nockamixon State Park

    How to Spend a Perfect Summer Day at Nockamixon State Park

    Before most people finish their first cup of coffee, kayaks are already cutting across the glassy surface of Lake Nockamixon. Hikers are lacing up in the parking lot. A sailboat drifts toward the middle of the lake without a sound. This is Nockamixon State Park at its best. And if you time it right, it…

  • 10 Ways This Man and His Malvern Company Changed the Way Ordinary Americans Invest

    10 Ways This Man and His Malvern Company Changed the Way Ordinary Americans Invest

    A company founded at Valley Forge manages more than $12 trillion in assets, owns major stakes in nearly every major American corporation, and quietly helped reshape the way millions of people save for retirement. You may drive past its campus on Route 202 without giving it a second thought. That would be a mistake. Recently,…