Venango County Blog May Archive

Getting ready for the rodeo!

By Vicki at 05/15/07 12:53

The time is almost here for the first EVER fun show at the Running Horse Ranch in Franklin, PA. May 19th is the big day and I am so excited!

Owned by Bill and Becky Hines, Running Horse Ranch has been an absolute wonderful place for us to be. We bought a couple of horses and decided to board them at the ranch that offers indoor and outdoor riding arenas.

Bill and Becky decided to host some fun shows this summer (one per month) so that area youth and old timers alike can enjoy some local events. Barrel racing and poles are the order of the day as well as many fun things for the kids like knock the can, the flag race, and a bunch more games. I can't wait to try it out for the very first year. Bill and Bekcy put a tremendous amount of work into making this facility nice for everyone to enjoy. The material inside the arena is a dream to ride on.

This sign we are installing was handmade by Bill and his dad to go above the entrance to the outdoor arena. It is made of flat metal welded together and took some muscle to get all the bolts tight! We are almost ready for the final paint to go on the sign and railing around the arena. All the rain we have had has made it pretty frustrating to get anything ready.

Venango County Activities

Views on Venango offers some ideas on local activities:

• May Mart
• Venango Chamber Orchestra

Check out their blog for some more things to do including sporting events, recreational events, and more.

The Franklin, Pennsylvania Airport

I think there are two questions that could be asked about the Franklin Airport relative to comercial flights. Why would anyone use the airport and why wouldn't anyone use the airport.

For this discussion we'll assume that you have a flight from the Pittsburgh Airport to somewhere and back.

You have two basic methods of getting to the Pittsburgh airport, driving or flying.

The advantages of flying is that you have quick drive to the Franklin Airport and free, easy parking there. Then you hop a 35 min flight to the Pittsburgh Airport.

Alternatively, you can make the choice most do and that is to drive to Pittsburgh, fight traffic for almost two hours, pay for parking, or who ever drops you off has the grueling drive back home.

So that leads to the queston of why wouldn't everyone use the Franklin Airport?

The first reason is price. Travelocity shows prices of $133 to $702 for a round trip from Franklin to Pittsburgh (when I select "Flexible Dates"). In the past when I've looked the usual price I get from US Air is $300 or so EACH WAY!

Travelocity shows Franklin to Miami to be $159 to $442.50 compared to $93 to $190 for Pittsburgh to Miami. In that case the $66 extra is probably well worth the convience.

Other destinations are quite so nice. Franklin to Fort Lauderdale is $382 to $858 compared to Pittsburg to Fort Lauderdale at $99 to $152. So here you get hit with $283 for the same flight you might have paid $66 for!

The logic is starting to run wild and the passengers are skipping the convience of the Franklin Airport!

The low fare finder on US Air comes up with $128 as the lowest possible fare for Franklin to Pittsburgh.

I also notice that some of the Flights are no longer non-stop and can take up to 4 hours!

Why would any fly from Franklin to Pittsburgh.

First getting jerked around with the price. It seems that it can cost you anywhere from $66 to $283 to book your flight from Franklin instead of Pittsburgh. Or $128+ if you book a seperate fight from Franklin to Pittsburgh.

There needs to be a little logic and sense to the prices!

Second the schedule and fares. As they have reduced the number of flights to Pittsburgh and made some of the non-stop with an outrageous length of time involved, it change the service from a convience to a nightmare.

Get the prices, schedules and stops in order and then you have something you can market and no one in their right mind would drive to the Pittsburgh Airport.

Dilapidated Property in Venango County

There is plenty of negative press about what would seem like an abundance of dilapidated properties in Venango County. That always leads into a question of money and how to demolish the properties.

Now, all these run-down, tumbledown, ramshackle, and rickety houses should be seen as a great opportunity. Of course that sounds crazy.

First such properties obviously have a market value of as close to zero as you can get. That means they should also be paying close to nothing in property taxes. In fact they would appear to be a burden as public money will eventually be used to demolish them.

What better way to attract investors and their money to Venango County than by offering FREE Real Estate? Of course there might be a catch or two like no property taxes for 5 years and a requirement that they be brought up to a certain standard within a year.

Matric vs Caboose Motel

Views on Venango has an interesting comment regarding use of taxpayer money and questions whether the "Caboose Motel" was a good investment of such funds or whether there might have been more benefits if Matric received a "federal shot in the arm"