BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Another feather in the Christmas City’s cap: Main Street was voted as top of its class in a recent USA Today’s 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards vote.
“Main Street in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, is super-walkable, and offers lots of dining options ranging from Spanish to Thai,” the competition website reads.
“There are also numerous watering holes and a chocolate trail that runs through this part of downtown.
“The centrally located Historic Hotel Bethlehem is an ideal base for a weekend getaway to the Lehigh Valley.”
“These 10 places with charming main streets... offer more than just a road; these streets are living history, have a vibrant culture, and serve as the hearts of their communities."USA Today 10Best Readers' Choice Awards
The hotel and its 1741 on the Terrace restaurant on site was just the place for the announcement Wednesday.
Community members gathered to unveil the results — surrounded by scenic views of the downtown stretch and the historic Moravian settlement designated by its UNESCO World Heritage status.
Hotel Bethlehem led some of the competition’s outreach efforts, officials said.
“Having won the USA Today Best Historic Hotel award four years in a row, our experts have a lot of experience with this and were very excited to support a contest honoring the entire community,” hotel Managing Partner Bruce Haines said.
The other Main streets in the Top 10 included Emporia, Kansas; Ogden, Utah; Howell, Michigan; Grapevine, Texas; Virginia City, Nevada; McMinnville, Oregon; Paso Robles, California; Winchester, Virginia; and Safety Harbor, Florida.
“These 10 places with charming main streets — nominated by an expert panel and voted by readers as the best in the U.S. — offer more than just a road," the competition website reads.
"These streets are living history, have a vibrant culture, and serve as the hearts of their communities.”
'The perfect backdrop'
Locals making up the Downtown Bethlehem Association helped market the Main Street’s successful campaign, offering a QR code for voting, social media content, printed postcards and word of mouth to draw voters.
“This historic Main Street is the perfect backdrop for our collection," DBA board member Kimberly O’Neill, owner of Knobs ’N Knockers, 512 Main St., said.
“While I have 19 stores in five different states, this location means more to me because I went to school here."Christopher Beers, owner of Grandpa Joe’s Candy Store at 462 Main St.
“While I have 19 stores in five different states, this location means more to me because I went to school here,” said Christopher Beers, owner of Grandpa Joe’s Candy Store at 462 Main St. and alumnus of Northampton Area Community College.
Kelly Ronalds, director of room sales and guest experience with Hotel Bethlehem, said the DBA was formed in 1964 as a nonprofit to revitalize and promote Main Street in collaboration with the local Chamber of Commerce.
The DBA headquarters was directly across the street at 420 Main St., while the Chamber of Commerce office was just below where the announcement took place on Wednesday.
The Shoppe at Hotel Bethlehem currently operates in that space.
A historic district for the books
Main Street in Bethlehem saw its ups and downs over the years, Ronalds said, but it wasn't the only place going through economic troubles historically.
She described the 1960s as “dark times for all downtowns across America,” though Bethlehem saw strip malls popping up in the suburbs, and the new interstate highway system diverted traffic from the downtown’s two interchanges.
The train station at the southern end of Main Street also closed around that time.
The 1990s came along and Bethlehem Steel shut down.
Main Street also was hit with the closing of Orr’s Department Store at Main and Broad streets (where Bethlehem Brew Works now operates) and Hotel Bethlehem shuttering.
“The DBA was instrumental in making this happen and today nurtures over 50 independent shops and restaurants.”Kelly Ronalds, director of room sales and guest experience with Hotel Bethlehem
“Businesses then began to refill the empty storefronts on both Main Street and Broad,” Ronalds said. “The DBA was instrumental in making this happen and today nurtures over 50 independent shops and restaurants.”
Come 1999, a group of mostly Lehigh alumni, including Haines, pooled money to restore and preserve Hotel Bethlehem, which was built in 1922.
