ALLEN TWP., Pa. — Everything at Hillside Mini Golf and Ice Cream, save for its clubhouse, has been stripped and redesigned.
Also redesigned was the interior of the building, with new light fixtures, countertops, equipment and more while the outdside was repainted.
- A popular Northampton Area mini golf course has reopened under new ownership
- Hillside Mini Golf & Ice Cream will be open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily
- The 3219 Cherryville Road location is one of the longest-standing mini golf courses in the Lehigh Valley, dating to 1959
But even with continued hazy weather throughout the Lehigh Valley, dozens of residents, friends of the owners and chamber of commerce representatives came out Friday to celebrate the return of a Lehigh Valley leisure institution that has touched countless lives.
Hillside Mini Golf and Ice Cream, just outside Northampton at 3219 Cherryville Road, held a grand re-opening Friday.
The business is among the longest-standing mini-golf courses in the Lehigh Valley, dating to 1959, according to the Northampton Area Chamber of Commerce.
"Everything was just basically put back to new," co-owner Diab Shatayh said at the event.
'Don't realize how, how historical this place is'
Shatayh, a construction project manager by trade, said the attraction was bought in 2019 after a Rita's Italian Ice location that that replaced it moved to another location.
"It was really cool to be a part of the process, just knowing that there's so much history here"Co-owner Diab Shatayh
A father of two, Shatayh said he hopes he now can reflect that positive feeling that many in the area had as children for the location.
"A lot of people would just stop by and give us like their stories of the history and like what their memories were here," Shatayh said.
"You don't realize like how, how historical this place is when you start coming across all these people and just hearing all that stuff.
"It was really cool to be a part of the process, just knowing that there's so much history here, and we're hoping to recreate that for everybody else moving forward with their kids and their families."
Operating hours for the newly reopened ice cream shop and mini golf course are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. The building includes a spacious lounge for seating, parties and events, and a varied ice cream menu.
Julie Skrapits, a resident who attended the grand opening, said she grew up nearby. She said she and her friends often went there as a local meetup spot, when it was still adorned with a cow statue on the roof.
So it was nice to see the space renovated and revitalized, Skrapits said.
"They did a beautiful job," she said. "We hung out here all the time to play pinball and video games, Space Invaders, whatever and miniature golf, of course."
'It's reliving its glory'
Grand-opening attendee Aubrey Dorsey said her family, the Moyers, originally built the initial course in the 1950s.
Now with it reopening, Dorsey said, her daughter is among the business's more-than-30-person staff.
"When this reopened up as Hillside back into the original thing that my great-grandfather built, of course we had to have my daughter working here," Dorsey said.
"For my father, being able to see it come back and from pictures that he has from when his grandfather built, it's probably awesome for him to see that it's reliving its glory. They're doing a really great job in here."
At the ribbon-cutting event put on by the Northampton Area Chamber of Commerce, business owners received commendations from local and state representatives congratulating them on the opening.
They included proclamations of congratulations by U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-PA, state Rep. Zach Mako, R-Northampton, and state Sen. Nick Miller, D-Lehigh/Northampton.
