Capital Health Club & Golf Augusta Cut Ribbons at Strawberry Square

City residents and downtown workers have two new businesses available in Strawberry Square.

With 11,000 square feet in health and fitness space on the first and second levels of Third and Walnut streets’ Strawberry Square, Capital Health Club cut the ribbon this week with Harrisburg Mayor Stephen Reed presiding.

“We’re glad to relocate within Strawberry Square with our 6 full-time and 18 part-time employees,” said Scott Houseal, owner of the popular center. He has owned the facility since 1996. The relocation has allowed for the purchase of new training equipment as well as the continuation of aerobics classes and personal fitness training. Clients are able to use the swimming pool at the Harrisburg Hilton and Towers.

“The club is an important addition to downtown’s retail community and offers convenient hours to both city dwellers and those who travel into the city to work,” Reed said.

Back-to-back with Capital Health Club, new Strawberry Square retailer Jeff DeCoen opened his Golf Augusta. The 750 square foot store on the first level off of Market Street offers an extensive inventory of golfing equipment and apparel.

“We also offer club-sizing services, repairs, and computerized swing analysis,” DeCoen said. One full-time and four part-time jobs have been created with the store’s opening. DeCoen has long been recognized as the region’s premiere retailer of golf equipment in his Hershey retail operation, also called Golf Augusta.

“Dramatic growth in the popularity of golf makes Golf Augusta a welcome addition to the downtown landscape,” Reed said as the ribbon was cut.

Allied Arts Celebrates It’s 15th Fund-Drive Year

With a caravan of arts and cultural organizations longer than the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, Allied Arts Fund kicked off its 2000 Campaign in Strawberry Square this month (March 1). The festive kick off involved more than 40 groups supported by the Fund and marks the group’s fifteenth annual united campaign for the arts.

We have a goal of raising $1,130,000,“ says David B. Skerpon, regional president and CEO for Mellon Bank/Commonwealth Region, and director of this year’s campaign. “In keeping with the Allied Arts Fund’s mission of supporting and promoting the arts of our community, this year’s campaign began with a showcase of the high level of creativity in central Pennsylvania.”

In the last 14 years, the Fund has raised more than $8.1 million for a “Who’s Who” of arts organizations drawn from the mid-state. For more information, call 233-1694.

St. Patrick’s Day Parade Returns to City

After a lengthy absence, the leprechauns will be hitting the streets once again. On March 18, the St. Patrick’s Day Parade will return to downtown for the first time since the late 1980s, bringing with it that touch of Irish cheer that the city has been missing for some ten years.

According to City Press Secretary Randy King, the return of the parade was a decision made at the request of the community. “The Mayor was approached by the newly reformed Ancient Order of Hibernians about the possibility of reinstating the Parade because basically for the parade to be a success, it has to have the active cooperation of the City,” King said, explaining, “It is fundamentally an economic development endeavor which increases downtown visitation as well as retail spending, thus benefiting the entire region.”

The Parade, scheduled to form at 9:30 a.m. on City Island and slated to begin on the Market Street Bridge at 11 a.m., will feature ABC-27 Weatherman Mick O’Hearn as Parade Judge and State Representative Thomas C. Corrigan as Grand Marshal. Corrigan, chairman of the state Irish Legislative Caucus, has served in the House since 1986 and is, according to Parade Chairman Frank McKamey, “one of Pennsylvania’s most respected leaders of Irish descent.”

A cooperative effort of the City’s Department of Parks and Recreation, the Cumberland/Dauphin Ancient Order of Hibernians, The Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, and The Irish Heritage Society, the inaugural event is set to become a permanent addition to the city’s holiday special events calendar, with hopes that it grow larger in size with each year.

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