Genevieve Fitzgibbon picks up her kindergartner from the Londonderry School in Harrisburg early on a Friday. The two then decide to walk from their home to the Yellow Bird Café in Midtown to share a mother/daughter lunch on this special half-day off from school and from Genevieve’s job as director of grants and special projects at Keystone Human Services.
Here, 6-year-old Lilia sees a friend from school, and the two giggle over homemade pastries while their moms chat over coffee. Afterwards, they stroll through the State Museum, then walk together to the playground at Sayford and Penn streets. Eventually, they return to Genevieve and Lilia’s Green Street home, where the moms linger on the front stoop and the girls jump rope until it’s time to come in for dinner.
Later, Genevieve and her husband, Chris Wonders, director of the Institute for Public Service at Shippensburg University, take their daughter over to Riverfront Park – which the family jokingly calls the “front yard.” Lilia rides her bike as her parents walk their dog and watch the sunset from the banks of the Susquehanna.
“I know it sounds so rosy, but I really do feel an amazing sense of joy walking around Harrisburg with my daughter,” said Genevieve, who grew up in Trenton, N.J., a city she says is similar to Harrisburg in many ways – from its geographic size, to the historic homes, ethnic makeup of its citizens, capital city status and even a bordering river.
“On my block growing up, we knew all our neighbors,” Genevieve continued. “We socialized on our front stoops; we had block parties; we looked out for each other. I am happy that we have found a similar community in Harrisburg in which to raise our daughter. And I am proud that Lilia will always have this vibrant urban environment as her touchstone.”
But Genevieve explained that Harrisburg and her hometown of Trenton also share some similar problems, including poor-performing public schools and neighborhoods that struggle with blighted properties and crime. Parents who choose to raise their families in Harrisburg must come to terms with these issues.
“I recognize there are challenges to raising children here,” she said. “Many of our neighbors with children have chosen to move out of the city before their kids reached school age. Though this makes me sad,”
Genevieve said she respects their decision.
“I don’t begrudge them for their choices,” she said. “We are fortunate to be able to afford to send our daughter to a private school, but, I’ll admit, it does sting a bit when you’re already paying school taxes and you don’t have a viable public school option.”
That, however, is a tradeoff Genevieve and her husband are willing to make for the benefits of city life. Genevieve says Lilia’s weeks are filled with the cultural activities. She joins her parents at the symphony, large and small theater performances, gallery openings, festivals and fun restaurants. She’s taken art classes at the Art Association of Harrisburg on Front Street, and she is beginning piano lessons this summer at the State Street Academy of Music.
“We love that we can walk to all these offerings and so easily take advantage of them,” said Genevieve. “But even more than that, we love that these places are just a normal part of Lilia’s childhood neighborhood. We don’t have to make a special trip into the city for these programs and events. It’s all just a part of where we live.
Honest Living
Genevieve, Chris and Lilia also enjoy the regular happenstance of seeing friends out and getting to socialize without having to make plans. One weekend, the three of them dined at The Sturges Speakeasy on Forster Street on the eve of a fundraiser for the Susquehanna Art Museum. There, they ran into another Midtown couple raising a family in the city.
Brandon and Shannon Williams have a 7-year-old daughter, Anna, who attends St. Stephen’s Episcopal School on Front Street. Anna and Lilia met each other at a dinner party hosted by neighbors and have continued getting to know each other during Saturday mornings spent at “The Little Scholar” in the Midtown Scholar Bookstore.
Brandon, an attorney in Camp Hill, said his family thrives on the energy and familiarity of his Midtown Harrisburg neighborhood. He relishes the idea of his daughter hopping the fence behind his row home to play with the neighbor kids and enjoys seeing the same faces over and over on weekend errands. Shannon serves as executive director of the Harrisburg Authority – a short commute to work.
Anna walks with her father to the Broad Street Market on weekends. Brandon buys their meat from Hummers and his poultry from an Amish stand where he enjoys chatting about the kind of cut he wants to cook in a specific dish. He said the vendors often remember his choices the next time he visits, and they discuss cooking methods.
Brandon grew up in a rural area outside of Altoona, Pa. He could view only two neighbors’ houses from his own. If someone was going to visit his family there, they had plenty of time to straighten everything up in the house and prepare refreshments.
“Where we live now, people stop by casually. The kids naturally play together. You talk when you are out shoveling the sidewalk. There’s an honesty that comes with living so close,” he says. “They even see you taking your garbage out in your pajamas,” he laughed.
Just before buying their home in Harrisburg, Brandon and Shannon rented a New Cumberland townhouse with an attached garage. Brandon said the couple would arrive home in the evenings, park in their garage and go inside, as did all of the neighbors. “We lived there for three years, and I could not tell you if my next door neighbor was a retired couple, college students or a family with a baby.”
When it came time to buy a house, Brandon and Shannon compared prices of suburban houses with those in Midtown Harrisburg. They found a three-story Harrisburg home with 14-foot ceilings, exposed brick walls and hardwood floors. They fell in love with the house and the price – half of what surrounding suburban homes were listed.
Although they pay tuition for their daughter’s private school education, the lower mortgage cost evens it out, said Brandon. His heating bill is also manageable in the family’s row home. “You have 16 feet of insulation on either side – it’s called neighbors.”
Best of all? “No garage,” he said.
Pleasant Surprises
Floyd Stokes, a local children’s book author best known for his SuperReader program, serves as executive director of the American Literary Corp. He and his wife LaShana have two children at home. The couple’s 4-year-old daughter, Olivia, attends the Londonderry School, while their 8-year-old daughter, Madison, participates in the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School.
LaShana teaches at Harrisburg Area Community College and spends time with the couple’s daughters, exposing them to the wealth of cultural resources in and around the city. “We love the fact that we have the Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts, the State Museum and the State Libraries, all within a walk from our Midtown home,” said Floyd.
“While we have hundreds of books at home, we are constantly making trips to the local libraries to see what’s new. I don’t know how my family keeps all of the books separated, but they do!” he said.
Spring and summer bring vibrant annual festivals to the riverfront and region, and Floyd and LaShana enjoy taking their kids to experience all that the events have to offer.
Floyd echoes the sentiments of many Harrisburg community members. “It seems like you are always in for a pleasant surprise when you are out and about in Harrisburg. It is small enough that you really get to know the people in your neighborhood, and your kids enjoy seeing friendly faces at local events.”
Stop and Chat
For Genevieve and Chris, one of the greatest benefits of the city is the diversity of people they interact with on a regular basis: the mix and mingle of the Broad Street Market, community forums at the Midtown Scholar Bookstore, picking up a weekly share of produce from the Joshua Farm urban garden up at 18th and Holly streets and friends from a broad variety of backgrounds.
“Democrats and Republicans, gay and straight, young and old, religious and atheist, single and married, kids or not, and all shades of skin color,” said Genevieve. “These are our Harrisburg friends and community, and the people Lilia is growing up knowing.”
In turn, Lilia teaches her parents.
“Every time we go somewhere new, she notices something that could have slipped by us. Our daily experience is broadened by her perspective,” said Genevieve.
She then uses the experience of rearing her child in an urban area as a teaching tool for her daughter. As with any child, Lilia asks about aspects of her environment that catch her attention.
“Are there some not-so-nice people? Do you see trash on the street? Are there times when you need to be extra careful? Yes, yes and yes. We are not preparing our daughter to live in Utopia. But the beauty is that she asks us, and we talk about it. We experience the good together, and we also have a chance to witness some of the bad together. That gives us the opportunity to discuss how to react to the bits that aren’t so wonderful and to figure if there’s something we can do about it. We talk to Lilia a lot about our role in the community and what it means to be a good neighbor and a good citizen.”
A unique aspect of Harrisburg is its location on the Susquehanna River. The river is a tremendous amenity, but it comes with its own set of added responsibilities.
“We live in a river city” said Genevieve. “We can’t let trash and pollution get washed downstream from us, just as we don’t want it from upstream. Lilia is conscious of that, and she is aware of how she wants her local playground and parks to be fresh and somewhere that she can go to play. It’s our city, and we have a role in making it what we want it to be. Lilia is starting to recognize how her own actions make a difference, for better or for worse.”
Genevieve moved to Harrisburg about a decade ago after living in Chicago. At the time, she worried she might feel cramped and bored in Harrisburg, longing for a larger city. But her experience has surprised her.
“Every time I turn around, I learn about something new that’s happening here. Harrisburg has a strong community base and a large number of loyal, dedicated residents. When there is a need for something to be done, residents have a chance to be a part of it, even take the lead, and help make it what they want it to be.”
These sorts of hands-on opportunities can be harder to come by in big cities where many things are already designed and pre-packaged, she said.
“It is in part because of our city’s smaller size, and also because of our current challenges, that Harrisburg affords many opportunities for rolling up your sleeves and making something happen. And this is a wonderful environment for teaching children about activism and creativity and how you can have a real impact on your community.”
Another benefit that Genevieve says her family experiences is that the city is small enough that you truly get a sense of belonging to a community without having to do much to make this happen.
“You start to see the same faces again and again, so you really get to know your neighbors and local community members,” she said.
Some of the most authentic experiences of getting to know your neighbors come from just sitting on your front stoop.
“If we’re out front on a nice day, we’ll end up saying hello to at least a dozen neighbors from our block and the few surrounding blocks,” she said. “And most will stop to sit and chat for a while.”
