Express Times covers Saucon Valley Restaurant Guide

Hi everyone,

Hellertown and Lower Saucon Township have partnered to publish the Saucon Valley Restaurant Guide, publication of which is expected in November. The guide is self-explanatory - it will have a listing of the 48 restaurants in the Saucon Valley area, as well as contact information, descriptions and coupons. The Express-Times did a story on the guide yesterday, the text of which is below.

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Restaurant guide in works

Hellertown project will highlight 48 restaurants in borough and Lower Saucon.
Sunday, August 26, 2007

By KRISTEN ZIEGLERThe Express-Times
The festival-like atmosphere of Community Day and the fresh produce available at the farmers market have already exposed some people to Hellertown, but officials hope to capitalize even more on its small-town appeal by introducing a restaurant guide.

"The borough is blessed with a lot of different restaurants. You look up the block and there is the Hungarian restaurant and the Braveheart Pub with the Scottish flavor to it," said borough Manager Charles Luthar.

The guide will spotlight the borough's 35 restaurants along with 13 more in Lower Saucon Township, said Mike Schlossberg, Hellertown manager of the Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce's Business Revitalization Program.

Each restaurant listing will identify the variety of food served, smoke-free facilities and those that offer Internet access. It will also note the restaurant's cost range, whether it serves alcohol and if it has a children's menu, Schlossberg said.

The $2,100 project will yield 6,000 guides to be distributed to area residents and placed in local hotels and tourist attractions. The guides are expected to be distributed before the end of the year, Schlossberg said.

"We are trying to bring more business into the borough restaurants (because they) are key to any downtown revitalization project," Schlossberg said.

Luthar envisioned Bethlehem tourists or Lehigh University visitors using the guide to locate restaurants outside the city, but Schlossberg said those visitors might also be enticed by the shops on Main Street.

Any effort to draw people downtown is appreciated by local restaurants, said Kenneth McLaughlin, manager of the Braveheart Highland Pub and Restaurant, 430 Main St. "It's free advertising," he said.

The restaurant already sees a steady stream of customers from a local hotel's guide. This project will just provide additional exposure, he said.

From there, the pub can rest on its merits: it's smoke-free and the only authentic Scottish bar in the Lehigh Valley, McLaughlin boasted.

"Anyone who walks in the door will come back," he said.