Gazette Flavor & Fun

UNIVERSITY PARK — Jazz drummer Terri Lyne Carrington will lead a live band in a reimagining of songs from the “free” jazz era and “Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite.” “We Insist! 2025,” starring the four-time Grammy Award-winning musician and featuring vocalist Christie Dashiell, will be at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 5, in Eisenhower Auditorium. Tickets…

This story originally appeared in the December 2025 issue of Town&Gown magazine. Ashley Snook always dreamt of having her own restaurant, but when the opportunity came up to open a brand-new eatery at the re-built Historic Davidson Inn, 850 South Eagle Valley Road in Wingate, she needed a bit of convincing. Having worked at the former Mountain…

There are mysteries that feel far away, like something out of a true-crime podcast set in another state. And then there are the ones that live right here, woven into the roads we drive, the rivers we pass, and the names we still recognize. The disappearance of Ray Gricar is one of those. Ray Gricar…

First Night State College presents music, theatre, and vaudeville performances in downtown churches, theatres, and public buildings. We strive to have a wide variety of family-friendly things to see and hear on the afternoon and evening of Dec.31. Admission to most performances is by a First Night button. Buttons are available at select locations in…

DEC. 20 St. Mark’s Lutheran Church 850 Snydertown Rd., Howard 2 p.m. Blue Christmas Service DEC. 24 – CHRISTMAS EVE Christ Community Church 200 Ellis Pl., State College 4 p.m. Candlelight Service Emmanuel Lutheran Church 206 S. Burrowes Street, State College 7:30 p.m. Candlelight Service Faith Bellefonte UMC 512 Hughes St., Bellefonte 3 p.m., 5…

UNIVERSITY PARK — The Pennsylvania Chamber Orchestra will present its annual Holiday Concert on Friday, Dec. 19 at 7:30 p.m. at Penn State Recital Hall, Music Building 1, on Allen Road in University Park. Join the Pennsylvania Chamber Orchestra and Maestro Gerardo Edelstein, along with guest conductor Erik Clayton, for our annual Holiday Concert. Experience…

As a child, one of the things that I loved was helping my mom and my grandmother bake Christmas cookies. I remember being in first grade and my mom letting me pour a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips into cookie batter, helping her roll cookie dough into balls, or grandma letting me use the cookie…

PLEASANT GAP — The Centre County Conservation District recently presented the 2025 Conservation Awards as a precursor to the annual Farm City Week festivities. Farm City Week, which runs from November 26 to December 3, is a national observance recognizing the cooperative relationship between agricultural areas and urban areas. On Oct. 21, the Centre County…

By ELANA LAING Happy Valley Adventure Bureau  Happy Valley attracts more than 5 million visitors primarily from a 250-mile radius. But this past May, one local resident and Penn State University student became a tourist in her own hometown. It wasn’t until Elana Laing started working as the public relations intern for The Happy Valley…

The unsolved murder of Betsy Aardsma STATE COLLEGE — For more than five decades, the story of Betsy Aardsma has drifted through Penn State like a ghost story. A graduate student and just 22 years old, Aardsma was stabbed once in the heart in the basement stacks of Pattee Library. Her killer was never found.…