GROUP. Pennsylvania s Dutch. History TRAVEL LEADER THE

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1 GROUP WISCONSIN SPOTLIGHT CALL OF CAR RO O L I NA S S H O P P I N G STO P S T H E S I MP L E L I F E S U S TA I N S Pennsylvania s Dutch H History E M AY & RI TAGE 2012

2 GROUP C H A R T I N G T H E E V O L U T I O N O F G R O U P T R A V E L DEPARTMENTS 6 COLUMNS EDITOR S MARKS NEWS table of CONTENTS VOL 22 ISSUE 5 CAROLINAS COASTAL EXPERIENCES ENTERTAINMENT SPECIAL SECTION 40 8 FAMILY MATTERS MUSEUMS INDUSTRY NEWS CONFERENCE SCENE GROUPS ON CRUISES ON COVER Amish girls head to a wedding in Lancaster County, Pa. Photo by Bill Coleman at FEATURES History H E R & I T A G E M A Y Y CULINARY GEORGIA ATLANTA METRO HISTORIC HEARTLAND SAVANNAH ON YOUR MIND Museums interpret popular culture with nostalgic exhibits PENNSYLVANIA Dutch Country Amish heritage draws visitors to southeastern Pennsylvania. HOTELS SHOPPING STATE OF IN EXTRAS WISCONSIN MOVIES MAC T. LACY Publisher and Partner CHARLES A. PRESLEY Partner HERBERT SPARROW Editor BRIAN JEWELL Associate Editor DAVID BROWN Art Director KELLY TYNER KELLY@GROUPTRAVELLEADER.COM 4 DONIA SIMMONS ELIZA MYERS CHRISTINE CLOUGH KELLY TYNER STACEY BOWMAN Creative Director Online Editor Copy Editor Director of Sales & Marketing Advertising Sales Director The GROUP is published monthly by GROUP, Inc., 301 East High St., Lexington, Kentucky 40507, and is distributed free of charge to qualified group leaders who plan travel for groups of all ages and sizes. GROUP serves as the official newspaper of GROUP LEADERS OF AMERICA, Inc., the organization for senior traveling groups. All other travel suppliers, including tour operators, destinations, attractions, transportation companies, hotels, restaurants and other travel-related companies may subscribe to GROUP by sending a check for $59 for one year to: GROUP, Circulation Department, 301 East High St., Lexington, KY Phone (859) or (859) Copyright GROUP TRAVEL LEADER, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction of editorial or graphic content in any manner without the written consent of the publisher is prohibited.

3 SIMPLE invitation 22 GROUP MAY 2012 Courtesy Pennsylvania Dutch CVB

4 S T E P I N S I D E T H E A M I S H C U LT U R E I N P E N N S Y LVA N I A D U T C H C O U N T RY B Y H E R B S PA R ROW A midst the hectic pace of modern society, the Amish of Lancaster County in southeastern Pennsylvania stand apart. The nearly 25,000 Old Order Amish in the county, America s oldest Amish settlement, live a simple life based on humility, family and community. Their way of life, which includes the rejection of modern technology such as automobiles and electricity, and plain dress has become a lure for curious visitors, who come to the county to see the horses and buggies and well-maintained farms, eat hardy Amish food, buy quality handmade products such as furniture and quilts, and savor the more laid-back pace of life. Audrey Bialas, director of tourism sales for the Pennsylvania Dutch Convention and Visitors Bureau, said she is seeing groups wanting to learn more about the Amish. Instead of looking through the window, they want more in-depth, getting to know who the Amish are and their culture, she said. They want that interaction. They want to ask questions and see what is on the other side of the fence, go into the house, meet the children. We have developed programs on many different levels. If you have an hour, or you have 24 hours, we can do something, and for everything in between. There has always been that curiosity, but now there are ways to really get that personal touch. The options range from Amish homestead attractions to guided tours of the countryside there are even horse-and-buggy tours to dining with an Amish family. Through local receptive operators, you can go on a farm and have some type of meal and interact with the family, said Bialas. Or a group can eat with an Amish family in a restaurant, with the family sitting down and dining with them. In one new program, an Amish family will ride the Strasburg Railroad with a group and answer questions and interact. Other new Amish dining and interaction programs are Brunswick Tours Old-Fashioned Amish Picnic, All-inOne s Church Picnic and Hymn Sing, and Amish Village s Lunch and Learn. Bialas said many of the Amish are eager to explain their way of life with non-amish, or English, as they call them. They want people to be clear about what they are about and clear up CLOS HANGING ON A LINE TO DRY ARE A COMMON SIGHT IN LANCASTER COUNTY, PA., WHERE AMISH REJECT MODERN TECHNOLOGY. GROUPTRAVELLEADER.COM misconceptions, she said. It is an opportunity to tell the real story. And we have three Amish attractions that all do a great job of interpreting the Amish. All three have tours of authentically furnished Amish farmhouses, where guides explain the culture, history and way of life of the Amish. The Amish Experience at Plain and Fancy Farm also has an immersive theater that augments its film Jacob s Choice with special effects such as wind, rain and smoke. It s the story of a young man going through rumspringa, the running-around time, when Amish teens can do anything English kids can do before they make a decision about adult baptism, said Bialas. Amish Farm and House is what it says. It has a farmhouse with farm buildings, live animals and a small schoolhouse on property. It really gives that farm-life experience. Amish Village is a collection of different buildings a blacksmith shop, a general store, a schoolhouse over several acres. The convention and visitors bureau has created several new experiential options for groups in three categories: behind the scenes, hands-on and immersion. Baby boomers like to see, touch and do, said Bialas. One that is very popular is Bizarre Foods at the Plain and Fancy Farm Dining Room. You see how the food is made and then taste it. Based on a television show of the same name, the program features local staples such as headcheese, scrapple, pepper jelly, cup cheese, pork souse and calf s foot jelly. Another popular program is Cannin and Jammin at Kitchen Kettle, in which groups help make a batch of apple raspberry jelly, put it in jars and label the jars. Kitchen Kettle is centered around a jam-and-jelly kitchen in the middle, said Bialas. You see the Amish ladies making jams GROUP T HE TRAVEL LE ADER 23

5 TOP, A HORSE-DRAWN BUGGY TRANSPORTS AN AMISH FAMILY. BOTTOM, PRESERVED VEGETABLES LINE SHELF OF AN AMISH HOME. It s personal Courtesy Pennsylvania Dutch CVB Courtesy Pennsylvania Dutch CVB The experience of awe-inspiring theater is always enjoyable, but sharing it with your children is a real treat. Recently, my wife and I were lucky enough to take our two sons to the preview show of Jonah at Sight and Sound Theatres in Strasburg. Both the show and my sons reactions were truly beyond expectation. Jonah is an inspirational story about the power of redemption, and Sight and Sound tells it wonderfully with upbeat original music, fantastic sets and dazzling special effects. The best part, however, was the chance to see the production through their young eyes. They seemed mesmerized by the enormous whale swimming overhead, the life-size replica of Jonah s boat and the sight and thunderous sounds of the mighty storm. At one point during the show, my 9-year-old leaned over to me and referring to the theater s use of live animals whispered, Dad, I can t believe the ducks and the skunk and the donkey followed Jonah like that. They re as well-trained as the actors. Afterward, at a local diner for pie and ice cream, the conversation continued, with thoughts and questions about why the story turned out the way it did, how the theater could so realistically create the underwater scene and when we could see this play, or any play, again. Right before my eyes, two young boys started down a path of what I hope will be a lifelong love of the theater. JOEL CLIFF, MEDIA RELATIONS MANAGER PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU and jellies and interacting with groups. They talk about the recipes. Kitchen Kettle is part of the large and distinctive shopping scene in Lancaster County, which ranges from two large outlet malls, Tanger Outlet Center and Rockvale Outlets Lancaster, to small shops selling locally made products. After a day of touring the countryside learning about the Amish and shopping, there are many evening entertainment options for groups in Lancaster County. Bialas said while many groups may know about Sight and Sound, and the American Music Theater, they are surprised there are so many other options. We also have a comedyonly theater, a dinner theater, Broadway-style PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU productions and big-name entertainment. It runs the gamut. The 35-year-old Sight and Sound Theatres in Strasburg debuted a major new production in March. Jonah, which runs until Oct. 27, is a massive production that includes a 40-foot-tall ship that breaks apart and an immersive underwater scene that reveals the big fish that swallowed Jonah. This is also the first full year of The Confession: A Musical at the Bird-in-Hand Stage. Based on a trilogy of novels by author Beverly Lewis, the musical tells the story of a young Amish woman caught in the middle of secrets and scandal. 24 GROUP MAY 2012

6 A GERMAN WELCOME AS WELL L Although the Amish are closely associated with Pennsylvania Dutch Country, Lancaster County and central Pennsylvania have a rich history and heritage beyond the Amish. The Landis Valley Village and Farm Museum in the town of Lancaster is a living-history site that interprets 200 years of Pennsylvania German heritage. We call it our mini-williamsburg, said Audrey Bialas, director of tourism sales for the Pennsylvania Dutch Convention and Visitors Bureau. It gives a good glimpse into what life was like in Pennsylvania with its German heritage. The 100-acre museum, which covers from the mid-1700s to the mid-1900s, features a Victorian village with more than 40 historic structures and authentic farmsteads with historic breeds of animals. Costumed guides and interpreters throughout the village carry on the daily activities of farmers, craftspeople, tradespeople and merchants. There is a blacksmith, open-hearth cooking, someone in the general store, said Bialas There are a variety of themed, guided tours for groups, which also include a 13-minute introductory video, shopping in the museum store and meal options in the 1856 Landis Valley House Hotel and Tavern. The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg, considered one of the top railroad museums in the country, features a collection of more than 100 historic locomotives and cars along with artifacts that trace the history of railroading. Visitors can climb into the cab of a freight locomotive, explore a caboose, tour an early-20th-century passenger station, inspect a 62-ton locomotive from beneath or watch the restoration of historic locomotives. Across the street from the museum at the Strasburg Rail Road, groups can ride authentically restored cars pulled by a coal-burning steam locomotive on a 45-minute tour through the scenic countryside with a stop at Paradise, Pa. Wheatland was the home of President James Buchanan, Pennsylvania s only president, said Bialas. The two-story Federal-style house in Lancaster has 17 rooms furnished with History period furniture, much of which belonged to Buchanan, the nation s 15th president. The house is little changed from when Buchanan died there in He is buried in Lancaster s Woodward Hill Cemetery. The Ephrata Cloister, a national historic landmark, was the home of an early-1700s German religious community. Tours feature the cloister s unusual architecture and the music and Fraktur typeface printing of the brothers and sisters who resided there. Walking tours of downtown Lancaster, which served as the nation s capital for a day during Colonial times, showcase the town s rich history and heritage, such as its role in the Underground Railroad. Stops may include the Lancaster Central Market, one of the oldest continuously operating farmers markets in the nation; the Lancaster Cultural History Museum; the Lancaster Quilt and Textile Museum; the Demuth Museum, home of Lancaster native and renowned artist Charles Demuth; and the Fulton Opera House, one of only three operating national historic landmark theaters in the country. H E R & I T A G E M A Y Y All images courtesy Pennsylvania Dutch CVB PRESIDENT JAMES BUCHANAN S WHEATLAND LANDIS VALLEY VILLAGE AND FARM MUSEUM STRASBURG RAIL ROAD GROUPTRAVELLEADER.COM Artwork by David Brown GROUP 25