MAY
04 2021
See the 2021 PA Route 6 Artisan Trail
File photo A general view of fans in the stands watching a race at the McKean Raceway in Smethport, Pa. The track will feature an eight-date schedule that leans on the United Late Model Series.
McKean Raceway gets another bid for success BY CHUCK POLLOCK For nearly four decades, McKean County Raceway has been run — on and off — by a string of six different individuals or groups with varying degrees of success. The seventh hopefuls were to debut April 25 at the third-of-a-mile dirt track in East Smethport — until winter-like weather postponed the opener. Still, Ken Leet and Joel Smith, after getting all manner of positive feedback, are convinced it has a future. After reaching an agreement with the fairgrounds board, they crafted an
eight-date schedule that leans heavily on the increasingly popular United Late Model Series (ULMS) and will conclude with a FridaySaturday Fall Classic Oct. 1-2. Besides the rescheduling of April 25’s card, there will be three Thursday dates (May 27, July 1 and 29) and two Saturday sessions (June 19, July 10) before the finale. LEET, a former Times Herald motorsports writer, admitted, “Joel and I had a desire to run a race track for several years and there was an interest level by so many people who missed
McKean. We wouldn’t have tried it if we felt otherwise.” But, the sales representative for a maintenance repair product company, conceded, “local racing is definitely not what it was 25-30 years ago. But I’ve seen racing go in cycles where its popularity wanes for a while and it will swing back.” For Smith, it’s a labor of love. “I’ve made a living at this for about 30 years and I always said I wouldn’t mind being part of running a race track,” he added. However, Leet is also
realistic. “We did not want to run a full schedule … that’s just too demanding,” he explained. “McKean has to be a specials-only class because there is no local car base anymore. “Back in (local racing’s) heyday you had cars from every town around here … Bradford, Olean, Smethport, Eldred, Port Allegany, Shinglehouse, Wellsville, Scio ... 3-4-5 cars in each town. Now, there might be one super late model in all of McKean County when 30 years ago there were
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File photo The Charlie Wheeler Band performed covers of Jimi Hendrix songs during the 2016 Austin Dam Show. Dam Show Productions — the group organizing music festivals at Austin Dam Memorial Park — is the newest member of the PA Route 6 Artisan Trail.
Itching to see something creative on one of these warm weekends? Download the PA Route 6 Artisan Trail map, get in your car and jump on U.S. Route 6. The PA Route 6 Alliance has announced the 2021 PA Route 6 Artisan Trail, which includes artists, creative businesses and tourism and cultural groups. The road — and the trail — runs east to west across northern Pennsylvania. The organization celebrates Artisan Trail Month each April. “This year, our Artisan Trail includes makers of all kinds: painters, photographers, potters,
brewmasters, chefs, winemakes, musicians, authors, and more,” the PA Route 6 Alliance stated in an announcement about the 2021 trail. “And, these makers create using all kinds of materials and mediums: glass, yarn, wood, plants, and so much more. “We also welcome organizations, visitor bureaus, and events that help to promote PA Route 6 Heritage Region’s 11 counties and the artisans who live, work, and create in them.” There are a number of new members on this year’s trail, too. Locally, this includes Frosty Hollow Lodging & Country
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Academics researching for book that will include Kinzua Bridge BY JOELLEN WANKEL A father-daughter team of area natives are working on a book and plan to include a chapter on the Kinzua Bridge. In this vein, a survey link is circulating on social media to help gain insight into local perspective on the changes at the Kinzua Bridge following the 2003 tornado that struck the area. Katherine Burlingame, who was born in Bradford and is a doctoral student in the Department of Human Geography at Lund University, Sweden, is contributing to a book. When contacted via email, Burlingame explained, “My research is based in landscape geography and how the experience at heritage sites can be developed in different ways to bring the past to life for visitors. I’ve been working with Viking Age landscapes in Germany and Sweden; however, I also like to have some research connections back home.” Burlingame has previously had work printed that focused on the Swedish Festival in Mount Jewett, which was part of another academic work. This is also where her survey regarding the Kinzua Bridge comes into play. A chapter of the book will focus on the bridge and its transformation from utility to solely tourist appeal following the damage by a tornado in 2003. This chapter will be written with the assistance of Burlingame’s father, Philip Burlingame, who is from Smethport and
The Kinzua Bridge near Mount Jewett.
who served as associate vice president for Student Affairs before retiring from Penn State University. “For this book chapter, I was invited to contribute an example of a landscape that had transformed into a heritage landscape over time,” she explained. “In landscape geography, a heritage landscape is often referred to as a ‘heritagescape’ where natural and cultural elements of the landscape are intertwined and the place attracts visitors because of this connection.
This is why part of our title is ‘A Heritagescape in the Appalachians,’ and we think the Kinzua Bridge State Park provides an interesting example of a landscape that became a heritagescape when the bridge was damaged by the tornado.” Burlingame explained the fact that a significant amount of the research materials used for the book chapter are public documents and newspaper articles. However, she and her father felt that a survey would help them
understand the opinions of both current and former McKean County residents in regard to the redevelopment of the park with the Sky Walk and Visitor Center. “This will help us understand if there were disparities between how locals have used and valued the park over time and how it was developed for tourism purposes with visitors from outside of McKean County in mind,” Katherine Burlingame said. “Many of us who grew up in the area can remember walking
across the bridge when there was no one else there, so a lot has changed since the park was developed more with tourism in mind, predominantly focused on the damaged bridge. We are particularly interested in the different decisions that were made about what to do with the park as well as the extent that local communities from the surrounding area were involved in these decisions.” The Kinzua Bridge chapter will be one of many, with contributions from scholars
covering different landscapes from all around the world. “The book editor is Giacomo Pettenati, a researcher from the University of Turin in Italy,” Burlingame said. “The overall goal of the book is to understand the different processes of how landscapes become valued as heritage over time. This is often called the ‘heritagization’ of landscapes where landscapes are valued and placed under different layers of protection (for example, by individuals, groups, or institutions like the National Register of Historic Places), and this can be a very complex and sometimes very contested process with tensions most often arising between locals and outsiders.” “Since the data from the survey is only being used to add more depth to our arguments, we have chosen a few McKean County Facebook groups, so we do not expect to receive a large number of responses. We have already had over 150 people respond in one day, however, which was a big surprise, and it shows the strong sense of identity and connection local communities have with the park.” Burlingame explained they only intend to keep the survey open until May 5 and expect that the book will be published sometime in the fall. The link is available in a post to the Facebook page of “I Grew up in Bradford, PA.”