Jeffrey Santicola
Hospitality and Employment Relations Department Chair Jeffrey Santicola and his wife traveled to the Meyersdale Maple Festival to cross a pair of longtime bucket-list items off their list. Here, he shares how a small-town weekend getaway became an unexpected celebration of IUP connections and community.
I do not have many items on the bucket list, but my wife afforded me the opportunity to remove two of them.
Having always wanted to tap a maple tree and make syrup, we took a trek to Meyersdale, Pa., and the annual Maple Festival. I learned when I returned to class after a one-night stay at a quaint B&B that the sister of one of my students was this year’s Maple Queen. Looking back, this brings my IUP bucket list story full circle.
Arriving in the center of town, you can smell the soft, wood smoke sweetness, like something between breakfast and a campfire, drifting through streets that look like they’ve been waiting all year for this exact weekend. I hadn’t planned to be there. That was the whole point of no plans, just a list I’d always say “someday” about. The maple festival was one of them.
We arrived in Meyersdale after lunch at the historic Jean Bonnet Tavern (also on my bucket list). I have been driving by this beautiful stone building for over 40 years on the Pennsylvania Turnpike and never stopped until Maple Festival weekend. Winding through Pennsylvania farmland, we arrived in Meyersdale as vendors set up booths and an aging rock band shared their efforts on a makeshift stage; the smell of warm sap boiling somewhere nearby made it feel alive already. I remember thinking, this is exactly the kind of place where something unexpected happens. It certainly did.
Unable to check into the B&B until after 3 p.m., I was directed immediately to maple trees waiting to be tapped and have their sap turned into what is arguably the morning’s favorite condiment. We enjoyed the quaintness of Meyersdale, walking around talking to local vendors, artists, and maple farmers. We received good history about the maple festival and Meyersdale from the leader of their local Girl Scout troop.
After purchasing a couple of coffees, we headed to the B&B and checked in. We sat out on the balcony and began to look for dinner options in town. My wife and I settled on a restaurant called the White House, and I called and made a reservation. The young lady said they were a bit busy because of the maple festival and took our reservation.
We eventually found our way to the restaurant and walked in. The first words that were spoken were “Chef, I recognized your voice on the phone, and writing down your reservation confirmed it was you.” The young lady is a graduate of both IUP’s Hospitality and Culinary programs. I asked Erin what she is doing here, and she introduced me to her father, who owns the restaurant. He told me Erin came in for the Maple Fest weekend, as they are a little busier than normal. Erin’s mother came out of the kitchen before we finished dinner and introduced herself. It turns out both Erin’s parents are also IUP graduates.
In speaking further with her parents, they informed us the owner of the B&B, and his wife were also graduates of IUP. At breakfast that next morning, we were able to share our IUP experiences as they were both graduates of Eberly College of Business. Erin’s parents were both teachers upon their graduation. Breakfast was enjoyable, speaking with two other couples who were at the B&B, amazed at how many IUP graduates found each other at the Meyersdale Maple Festival, 2026.
As we drove out of town sometime after breakfast, the scent of maple still clinging faintly to my clothes, I realized something. The bucket list wasn’t really about the list. It was for a weekend about the people and their connection to Indiana University of Pennsylvania and how we came together as strangers and left as friends. Something that happens organically and sometimes magically at IUP.
Dr. Jeffrey M. Santicola
Department Chair, Hospitality and Employment Relations