Butler County: Emerging Hub for Business, Family Adventure, and Entertainment

Butler County used to be known just for its farms, but in the last 10 years, the county has diversified its economic base by attracting companies and organizations in the businesses of manufacturing, information technology and health care services, such as Westinghouse, Mine Safety Appliances Co., and UPMC Passavant – Cranberry Campus. Rapid growth like this has built recognition for Cranberry Township as one of the fastest, developing communities in the Northeastern United States.

In 2010, Cranberry’s contribution to Butler County’s economy will start to surge again, when the Westinghouse headquarters in Cranberry Woods Business Park reaches completion. Between 1,000 to 3,000 employees will eventually work there. The multiplier effect of their jobs will be significant. Estimates have it that every job at Westinghouse will spawn one to three additional jobs in Cranberry Township alone.

Among other things, Cranberry spells convenience for companies like Westinghouse. Conference facilities and meeting space make Cranberry a logical location for regional meetings,” said Jack Cohen, Executive Director of the Butler County Tourism and Convention Bureau. “We have more than 1,400 hotel rooms. With Routes 79 and 19 converging in Cranberry Township, we’re only 20 minutes from downtown Pittsburgh and only a short drive from Pittsburgh International Airport.”

“Besides its attractions for businesses, Butler County offers a lot for family adventurers. Moraine State Park, at more than 16,000 acres, is the third largest park in Pennsylvania. In 2007, the park added 20 miles of equestrian trails to accommodate horseback riding and redid the entire seven-mile bicycle trail. Don’t own a bike? No problem. You can rent one at the park.

If you’re looking for water sports and entertainment, think Lake Arthur, an aquatic playground 365 days a year, and one of the best places to rent fishing equipment to snag a northern pike or a large-mouth bass.

In the summer months, at the Crescent Bay Marina, you can rent pontoon boats, fishing boats, kayaks, and paddle boats, all available for families and individuals. In the winter, you can try your hand at windsurfing and ice boating. And courtesy of the Moraine Reservation Fund, you may charter or take dinner cruises on the lake.

If you’re a nature lover, you’ll be pleased to know that Butler County has reintroduced barn owls and other species, and that bald eagles fly about the park. And you’ll enjoy the wonderful outdoor trails populated with butterfly-attracting plants.

If golfing is your game, you can try any of seventeen public golf courses that dot the Butler countryside.

Close by Moraine State Park, you’ll find the Big Butler Fair at the farm show fairgrounds. The fair attracts 150,000 people each year and draws in 15,000 to 20,000 people to its concerts. Plus, you can enjoy various and sundry foods, the midway games, and get up close to animals of all kinds, from horses to cows to goats.

And don’t forget the Penn’s Colony Festival in historic Saxonburg. About 65,000 visitors come each year to experience what life was like here in the 1750’s. In September, the festival comes alive with 200 juried crafts persons and nearly 1,000 costumed participants who provide music, dance, battle reenactments, 18th-century tavern shows, and period foods.

Also in Butler County, the town of Harmony is one of only about 50 National Historic Landmark Districts in the country. Visitors learn about the Christian communal group known as the Harmonists that settled in the area during the early 1800’s. These German émigrés came to America to worship in freedom.

At the Butler County Heritage Center, comprising 4,500 square feet of exhibit space, visitors discover the history of the county in its permanent collection that includes the story of the American Bantam Care Company, builder of the original Bantam Jeep, and displays of Butler’s past and present industries.

For all its advances, Butler County hasn’t lost touch with its agrarian heritage. “The county still has more than 1,150 family-owned farms,” said Cohen. “We do a farm tour every year, the first weekend of October, when visitors can spend time at a working farm, meet the family owners, and experience what they do on the farm. We had 5,000 visitors on one Saturday afternoon last year.”

There’s no doubt about it. Butler has so much to offer that it’s a place where more and more people choose to live. Next to Allegheny County, more new-home construction takes place in Butler County than any other area in the Greater Pittsburgh environs. And with the boom in communities like Cranberry and Adams Township, there’s no construction let up in sight.mg