newspaper article Options

[*mipadi*]

The following article is for the student newspaper of which I am an editor. I don't normally write anymore, but I was asked to do a features piece about the closing of a local restaurant. This is a (very) rough draft of the article. I'd appreciate any feedback or comments.


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(currently untitled)

Driving down Route 15, approaching Lewisburg from the north, one can't help but notice the gigantic cow perched atop an otherwise inconspicuous building. Like the three-globe streetlights, this cow has become an icon or Lewisburg, a beacon welcoming residents and travelers back to the town like a lighthouse. But after 83 years, that icon will soon be gone.

As a resident of Lewisburg for almost fourteen years, I've had the unique opportunity to see the ebb and flow of local commerce. Many mainstays of my childhood have come and gone: Pennsylvania House, Keeley's Café, International Paper, two bookstores (The Lexicon and Booksellers of Lewisburg), Matrey's Foodtown, and even a Subway. But Bechtel's restaurant has always had a permanent position even long before I was here. Started in 1923 by two brothers, Donald and Lott Bechtel, Bechtel's grew from a horse-drawn milk delivery service into an ice cream business and restaurant that has served local residents and travelers alike ever since. Unfortunately, the service is now gone, as Bechtel's has said goodbye and closed its doors for good.

Although the business has operated successfully since 1923, business slowed dramatically in the past several years. Sharon Booth, the general manager of Bechtel's for the past 38 years, attributed that downturn in business to a faster-paced lifestyle, saying that people preferred buying ice cream at a one-stop place, such as a grocery store. People simply don't have time to stop frequently for a relaxing meal. It's a trend evident not only at Bechtel's, but in the entire town. "It's just the way of life right now," Booth said. "I guess we couldn't stay Mayberry forever."

But as one might expect, the biggest culprit in Bechtel's demise is not a quickening of daily life, but an influx of chain restaurants to the area. Cookie-cutter establishments such as Perkins or Applebee's have gradually but systematically eroded the business of establishments like Bechtel's. Of Bechtel's closing, John Stark, a Lycoming student and Lewisburg resident, said, "It is unfortunate, getting shut down by big-box companies."

Growing up, I have fond memories of stopping at Bechtel's for ice cream or the occasional meal. When I was a kid, Bechtel's used to operate a soft-serve ice cream stand. I still remember trekking up there with my family on a hot summer's day for an orange sherbet cone that I always managed to finish, even though it seemed to contain more sherbet than I could possibly eat.

The atmosphere was truly the key to Bechtel's success. To be fair, the food wasn't exactly out of this world--but the service, the personal touch, was. As Booth said, the management and waitstaff always strived to get to know their patrons. Bechtel's cared about their customers, and in turn, the customers cared about the waitresses, cooks, and managers. The customer-staff relationship was not merely a business one, but a symbiotic one as well.

Bechtel's also strove to create a relaxing atmosphere reminiscent of days gone by, before the hustle and bustle of modern life conquered even small-town America. Of Bechtel's competitors, retired Bucknell professor John N. Cooper, a long-time Bechtel's patron, said, "The chains are for the highway [and] motel traffic. Junk food, rude, anonymous, thoughtless patrons, jock bars and entertainment palaces where you can't hear yourself think, much less have a conversation with someone else at the same table. He lamented the loss of the perennial dining establishment: "I wonder now what the pensioners and old folks ... will do for fair, cheap dining [in a] congenial, relaxed environment."

While I didn't get the satisfaction of enjoying Bechtel's last meal, I did have the honor of being part of the last set of customers. As I ate my Reuben sandwich (always my favorite meal at Bechtel's), I looked around at the many customers, some from near and some from far, but most wizened regulars, who had come to say their final farewells over a club sandwich and chips, and I realized that, with all these people holding all these memories, Bechtel's will never truly shut down; it will live on for as long as there are people to tell its stories. Stories such as mine, which tells of long, hot days topped off with orange sherbet. Or stories from long-time patrons such as John Cooper, who remembers taking his kids there for a treat--to the very same restaurant, in fact, at which his wife worked as a waitress in high school. Or even the story of one Bucknell student whose parents, both Bucknell alumni, met at Bechtel's; when he told his mother it was closing down, she said, "There's nothing good at Bucknell now." I don't know if I'd go that far--Lewisburg does have plenty of fine eating establishments, and even I enjoy a meal at a "big box" restaurant like Perkins or Applebee's--but the loss of Bechtel's is truly the loss of a local landmark, a symbol of a simpler, slower time. As John Cooper said, "Bechtel's was a regular stop on 15, a place repeat customers knew and relied on, folks who had no other connection to Lewisburg than the cow on the pillar."