We get by with a little help from the Hershey History Center
The self-made man is a myth, and you can’t build a company without many helping hands.
No one has been a bigger champion of what I’m doing with Stay than my wife, Sara. From developing products to popping up at shows, writing blog posts or fitting out a store, she has been my most trusted advisor and unwavering supporter.
But Sara and I agree that we’d never be where we are today without a huge assist from the nonprofit Hershey History Center, particularly Nikki Soliday, until recently the organization’s executive director.
Whether selling our graphic tees through the history center’s store, participating in history center events or conducting research in the history center’s library, the organization has been there for us.
The history center embraced our idea to open a holiday pop-up shop in its trolley building in December 2023. (The Holly Jolly Trolley Stop Pop-Up Shop, to be sure.)
By January, we were hashing out the concept for a bigger Stay store in the history center’s Milk House building. We opened in June.
And since July, we’ve partnered to offer a monthly makers market at the history center. We call it Makers at the Museum, and the idea, in part, is to offer an event that draws more people to the history center and our store while showcasing the talents of area artisans.
Community gem
The history center is a community gem, one we are privileged to call home and grateful to champion whenever we can.
And there’s a need to do the latter because for too many people, even longtime Hershey residents, the history center remains an unknown quantity.
The public-awareness gap might be surprising considering that the history center has occupied its converted barn for more than 20 years. And it’s in a prominent spot, across the street from Starbucks and the Tanger outlets.
But it’s a challenge for the history center, which is heavily dependent on volunteers, to open to the public more than three days per week (plus Sundays for our makers market).
I was painting the trolley building door (poinsettia red, of course) one Sunday in October 2023 when I first noticed how many cars pulled into the history center parking lot only to turn around.
Often it’s cars leaving the Tanger outlets but prohibited from making a left turn into the Starbucks drive-thru. They cross over to the history center, turn around, cross back into Tanger, and turn right for their coffee fix.
While I was painting, two people got out of their cars, approached the history center’s entrance, and noted to one another that they were not at the Hershey Story. That’s another history organization, in downtown Hershey. The similar names lend themselves to consumer confusion.
The history center offers much to the community, including its research library, where I stumbled across the Herpak logo in an old Hershey Bears program and learned the history of the Hershey Trojans.
The history center hosts its own events, including jazz concerts, movie nights, guest speakers and, this year, its annual Preservation Gala fundraiser.
And its community room and adjacent patio (aka The Barnyard) are rented for myriad uses, from a monthly doll collectors group to a weekly yoga class, from high school graduation parties to class reunions.
I’ve witnessed all of those things and more from our store, the back of which overlooks the patio. (Our makers market will move into the community room during winter months.)
We encourage everyone to discover the history center. Come to one of our makers markets and visit the museum and our store.
If you come to the museum on a Friday, walk around to the right rear side and our store. We’re open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday through Sunday.
If you have a family or work function and are looking for a unique space, consider booking the history center. If you’d like to have the added value of our store being open during your event, we’d welcome a conversation about that.
The history center is our home and a community gem. Let’s make it shine brighter.