“She made everyone feel like family,” says Stover. Momoyo Otsu is named for Stover’s late, beloved Japanese grandmother, and its ceiling is painted gold to honor the matriarch’s “heart of gold.” Stover decided to focus on the future, seeing Lock Haven as an excellent place to invest, and touting the crucial - and free - support she received via the Penn State Small Business Development Center. “We were told multiple times that we were crazy to do that in the middle of the pandemic.” A before shot of Momoyo Otsu, a new clothing boutique in Lock Haven “I decided to take a leap of faith with my husband,” she says of opening her brick-and-mortar women’s boutique Momoyo Otsu in a historic Main Street building after a six-month renovation. She suddenly had time to focus on her own business, which she had launched as an online store in 2018. She lost her job at a local jewelry boutique after more than nine years due to pandemic shutdowns. Lock Haven native Hanna Stover can speak both to the challenges and the opportunities of the moment. “We had this magical energy, and it’s still happening.” Hanna Stover and her husband in front of their store Some merchants began online sales, but community members also rallied to support their local favorites. “Yes, people were hurting, but we were also thriving,” recalls Vilello. Restaurants and merchants moved their businesses outside, where patrons could mask up and gather safely. Last summer, her organization worked with the municipality to quickly create a “pedestrian mall” - two Main Street blocks were closed to car traffic on Friday and Saturday nights. “I can’t explain to you how or why the excitement we felt going through this,” says Marie Vilello, manager of Downtown Lock Haven Inc. Sunset from Lock Haven’s Levee Riverwalk, a popular 4.5-mile walkway runs the length of Water Street. Today, Lock Haven leaders are moving to make their small city a destination for road-trippers from Erie to Philadelphia, building a recreation and cultural scene with an eye towards boosting local businesses. Clinton County timber floated on the Susquehanna all the way down to the Chesapeake Bay and on to Baltimore shipyards. Founded in the 1830s, it was named for its canal lock and its status as a “haven” for loggers and river-workers. Nestled under the curving south bank of the river just east of where it meets Bald Eagle Creek, Lock Haven is a little less than an hour’s drive northwest of State College. The annual event draws music aficionados, artists, shoppers, diners, and outdoor adventurers to this north-central Pennsylvania city of just under 10,000 residents on the West Branch of the Susquehanna River. “Lock Haven can never be confused for a big city, but it does have that block-party atmosphere,” says Steve Getz, director of the Lock Haven JAMS Festival.
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