Eye in the Sky: Harrisburg police brief council on helicopter patrols.

October 24, 2017 | by Lizzy Hardison

Tonight, Harrisburg City Council heard from city police about recent helicopter patrols.

A helicopter hovering over the city last week helped law enforcement officers capture weapons, seize drugs and deter shootings, Harrisburg police officials said tonight.

Police also said that residents should expect additional flyovers in the future.

A helicopter patrolling Harrisburg late Wednesday and Thursday last week drew questions and complaints from many residents. In a tweet, Capt. Gabriel Olivera called it a “proactive policing” technique but offered no other details.

Tonight, police appeared at a City Council meeting to defend so-called “Operation Helicopter” as a means of supporting street crimes officers on the ground.

Police Chief Thomas Carter said that the bureau deployed the helicopter after a spate of shootings in the city, many involving juveniles or shots fired into homes. He said that helicopters can help deter crime and assist ground officers tracking down suspects.

Carter told council that the outcome of the helicopter patrol was “very good.” No shots were fired on streets or into residences on either night of the patrol, and the police were able to seize cash, heroin and firearms from criminals, he said.

He conceded that residents complained about the noise and light the helicopter generated, but said that the outcomes of the operation make it worth repeating.

“Citizens deserve to be policed in the best way possible,” Carter said. “We will see more flyovers.”

Only Harrisburg police, the state police and the mayor knew about last week’s operation in advance, since, according to Carter, announcing patrols makes them less effective.

“We didn’t want to show our hand,” he said.

Mayor Eric Papenfuse explained that the patrols were part of an ongoing partnership with the Pennsylvania State Police, which started a three-month collaboration with Harrisburg’s street crimes unit in September. Papenfuse said that residents can expect to see one or two more patrols before the partnership ends next month.

Olivera said that the helicopter bore no extra cost to Harrisburg or the state police. The fuel costs and wages for last week’s patrols were already included in the state police budget, he said. He did not say how often helicopter patrols will take place in the future.

Olivera also insisted that the aircraft was not actively surveilling activity on the ground. Instead, its pilots responded to calls from ground officers and offered them backup as they investigated incidents.

“It was constantly moving in response to calls,” Olivera said.

Residents were surprised and even frightened to see the helicopter roaming the night skies last week.

At tonight’s council meeting, Uptown resident Kim Jones called the patrols “a nightmare.” She said that the spotlights illuminated the inside of her house until midnight, keeping her infant daughter awake.

Even so, she said she’ll tolerate the patrols if they help to keep the city safe – and if the helicopter moves across different neighborhoods.

“They need a better plan,” Jones said about the helicopter’s flight path. “Don’t have it camped out in one spot. Spread it out.”

On the Nextdoor social media site, which creates neighborhood-specific chat rooms, one Uptown resident said the aircraft made her feel “uneasy,” and others complained about the noise and light.

Papenfuse said that the city has heard from many citizens who want greater police presence in their neighborhoods. He claimed that he got 20 such complaints last week alone, but received no negative correspondence about the helicopter patrols.

“I recognize that this might seem bold or dramatic, but I hope people understand it’s to make the streets safer,” Papenfuse said.

Ideas Offered, Debated as Market Square Plan Moves Forward

October 24, 2017 | by Lizzy Hardison

The CAT bus station at Market Square.

A local civic group wants to make over congested Market Square, which could lead to substantial changes to one of Harrisburg’s most historic and visible intersections.

Harrisburg Young Professionals is conducting a master plan study for the intersection of Market and 2^nd streets. The organization, which has been eyeing a redevelopment project at that location for more than a year, recently tapped Boston-based design firm Sasaki to lead the planning effort.

Sasaki, HYP and Harrisburg-based K&W Engineers last week held a series of stakeholder meetings at the Harrisburg Hilton, which is located on Market Square. Meron Yemane, former president of HYP, estimated that more than 100 people participated in the eight meetings, which were each 45 minutes long.

At the meetings, stakeholders discussed urban spaces in the United States and abroad that Harrisburg could emulate and debated the merits of adding different amenities – such as green spaces or retail outlets—to Market Square.

Yemane said that urban planners from Sasaki will use the input from those meetings to begin drafting a master plan, which HYP hopes will be finished in spring 2018.

From there, HYP will continue to facilitate discussions with stakeholders, Yemane said, and potentially help identify funding for a large-scale project.

Market Square was part of the original, circa-1785 plan for Harrisburg and was the site of the city’s first market area, dismantled in 1889. It currently is dominated by several large structures, including the Hilton, the Penn National Insurance Building and Dauphin County Administration Building. One corner also serves as a hub for CAT buses.

Yemane said that the area’s proximity to the highway, riverfront and retail and dining establishments make it a potential cornerstone of Harrisburg.

“It has the potential to be a postcard image for the city,” said Yemane.

Beyond that, he was hesitant to offer a vision for what the new Market Square could look like. He said the master plan might recommend beautification measures, such as adding more trees and lighting. The plan will also help stakeholders determine whether Market Square is best suited to retail, residential or leisure amenities, or a combination of the three.

According to Sasaki, relocating the bus station is one option. Last year, PennDOT released concepts for the area around the Harrisburg Transportation Center that included a new home for the bus station.

Yemane said that much of the planning effort thus far has been funded privately and that the business community “really stepped up” when HYP decided to bring in Sasaki.

HYP also hired the economic planning company, Landwise, to evaluate the financial feasibility of different projects that could be outlined in the master plan. Yemane said that the firm has helped HYP evaluate federal grant options, though they expect that any major changes to Market Square will require private dollars.

“We recognize the limited resources of the city, but we want to be good stewards of Harrisburg and work with them to identify what’s possible,” Yemane said.

Don’t Dump Here: Harrisburg concludes city codes meetings.

October 20, 2017 | by Lizzy Hardison

A Harrisburg resident asks a question during last night’s meeting about city codes and codes enforcement.

Who do you call when a neighbor is dumping trash illegally? And how do you find out if the apartment next door is an unlicensed flop house?

City officials answered these questions and others in a meeting at Hamilton Health Center last night, where residents were invited to ask about the city’s code enforcement process. A similar event was held one night earlier at Camp Curtin YMCA.

Councilman Cornelius Johnson said the purpose of the meetings was to correct public misconceptions about the codes process and gather ideas for amending Harrisburg’s code handbook. Here’s what emerged as common questions throughout the evening:

Illegal dumping
Dumping trash on city streets and vacant lots is a criminal act that requires response from the Harrisburg Police Bureau. But since Harrisburg’s non-emergency police line routes to the Dauphin County dispatch, some residents said they’ve been referred to the codes office instead.

If you see illegal dumping in your neighborhood, Johnson recommends calling Harrisburg’s 311 number during normal business hours. Ask the switchboard officer to direct you to Harrisburg police and log your complaint there.

Blighted properties
Harrisburg has more blighted properties than it can manage. City codes officials can board up properties that are unfit for human habitation, but residents report that squatters break into the sealed homes and establish residence there.

City Codes Administrator David Patton said that his department is fighting blight with a limited budget. The city maintains a list of condemned properties slated for demolition, which currently has more than 250 properties on it, Johnson said. He estimated that the city’s $120,000 demolition budget only allows it to tackle between 17 and 25 properties a year.

Mayor Eric Papenfuse said that the city hopes to significantly increase the demolition budget for the 2018 fiscal year. Raising it to $250,000 from its current $120,000 would allow the city to demolish closer to 30 or 40 properties, he said.

Patton asked residents to remain vigilant in reporting blighted properties. The codes office triages its demolition list and acts first on the properties that pose the greatest public safety risk. If squatters have broken into blighted properties, file a complaint with the codes office so they can seal it again.

Filing a codes complaint
Johnson said that the city clearly needs an electronic system for submitting codes complaints. Right now, residents can download the paperwork to file a complaint online, but must submit the form in hard copy to city hall. Johnson said that creating an electronic submission system is a long-term goal. He also hopes the city can implement a way for citizens to track the status of the complaints they’ve filed.

Finding property owners and rental licenses
If you want to know who owns a property, you can search its address on www.dauphinpropertyinfo.com. Sometimes, however, the owner listed on the deed is a company that no longer exists or an investor who has changed his contact information. If the property is a rental unit, you can try to search the owner’s rental license through the city’s Mercantile Office.

There is more information about codes enforcement on the city’s website.

And Now We Wait: HBG Area Application in for Amazon’s HQ2.

October 19, 2017 | by Lizzy Hardison

An artist’s rendering of Amazon.com buildings on the grounds of Harrisburg State Hospital.

Harrisburg is officially in the running to be the next site of Amazon.com’s new corporate headquarters.

The Harrisburg Regional Chamber of Commerce and CREDC held a press conference tonight to announce the details of the 140-page application they sent to Amazon executives earlier this week.

The application proposes a major renovation to the State Hospital Grounds in Susquehanna Township and extolls the quality of life, workforce and business climate of the south-central Pennsylvania area. The proposal focuses on Harrisburg but includes nine counties as part of the greater metro area, said chamber President David Black.

Black thinks that Harrisburg will stand out among the competition because it can offer a single property as the site of the headquarter campus. The application proposes constructing office towers up to 12-stories high at the State Hospital grounds.

Last month, Amazon issued a request for proposals for its second corporate headquarters site, known as HQ2, which it says will bring upwards of 50,000 high-paying jobs and billions of dollars in investment to the city of its choice.

In its request, Amazon also asked cities to identify incentives to offset building and long-term operating costs.

Black declined to comment on the details of Harrisburg’s incentives package, but insisted that it would be “competitive” with what other municipalities are offering. He said it is too soon in the application process to offer specific incentives, such as tax breaks or credits.

“The goal is to get them here and then go into detail with individual townships,” Black said.

Developing tax incentives across a wide swath of land in Pennsylvania requires the approval of many different taxing bodies, including county commissioners, city councils and school boards. Black said that the chamber did not hold any public meetings with taxpayers or taxing agencies while developing the proposal.

A second rendering.

Black added that the chamber does not plan on making the proposal public, since Harrisburg is in competition with other cities. He did say that it was shared with members of the state Department of Community and Economic Development.

Black spoke to some of the criteria that Amazon listed in its request for proposals, including its requirement that the new headquarters be near leading research universities and an international airport.

The application lists Penn State University as a regional asset, according to Black. He also expressed confidence that Harrisburg International Airport would add direct flights to the West Coast if Amazon expressed interest in the region.

In all, regional leaders think that Harrisburg is a strong contender for the coveted project.

“We have everything people want right here,” said Jackie Parker, director of Harrisburg’s Department of Community and Economic Development.

Amazon says it will review proposals this year and choose a city in 2018.

“In a few months, I hope we’re all back here for a ribbon cutting,” said Dauphin County Commission Chairman Jeff Haste.

A rendering of the overall campus site.

Review: “Fun Home” Poignant, Beautifully Rendered at Open Stage

October 19, 2017 | by Kait Gibboney

“There’s you, and there’s me. But now I’m the one who’s 43 and stuck. I can’t find my way through. Just like you. Am I just like you?”

“Fun Home” is the true story of Alison, a 43-year-old lesbian cartoonist remembering two distinct periods in her life: at 10 years old, “Small Alison,” and 19 years old, “Medium Alison.”

This musical was adapted by Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori from Alison Bechdel’s graphic memoir of the same name. Through flashbacks and musical numbers, she remembers her time growing up in a funeral home, nicknamed the “Fun Home,” her journey of discovering her sexuality and dealing with the conflicting emotions of coming to terms with who she was.

This show is beautifully performed by the cast of Open Stage of Harrisburg. The production is meant to make you laugh, to make you cry, and to make you think about some challenging subjects: family relations, growing up in small-town Pennsylvania, discovering sexuality, rejecting identity, embracing identity, coping with reality, avoiding reality, and coming to terms with death and the guilt associated with it. It is particularly relatable to those who struggle to discover and embrace their own identity.

Most of the musical centers around Alison’s relationship with her father, Bruce, a closeted gay man struggling with his sexuality. At the beginning of the musical, Alison looks through her father’s old possessions, remembering when she was 10, focusing on her father’s obsession with antiques, home projects and cleanliness of the house.

“Sometimes, my father appeared to enjoy having children,” Alison says. “But the real object of his affection was his house.”

Small Alison was an energetic, confident and strong-willed tomboy who would rather wear “boy clothes” than girls’ dresses. She, her two brothers, Christian and John, and her mother, Helen, would often assist Bruce in tidying up the house to make it perfect to his high standards. In the song “Welcome to Our House on Maple Avenue,” Alison recalls the typical frenzy to clean the house before a viewing.

“Everything is balanced and serene, like chaos never happens if it’s never seen,” she sings.

Later in her life, when she’s 19 and in college, Medium Alison begins to explore her own sexuality by hesitantly getting involved with the Gay Union on campus, where she meets Joan, a confident lesbian. On break from school, Medium Alison and Joan travel home to stay with her family for a few days. The awkwardness is palatable as both of her parents are introduced to her “friend” Joan, unwilling to recognize that Joan is her girlfriend. After getting her mother alone for a conversation, Helen reveals her struggle throughout the years to ignore Bruce’s affairs and her attempt to keep their home together despite everything.

Later that day, Medium Alison and Bruce take a drive together. Medium Alison is nervous to bring up their shared experiences of being gay, and Bruce is fearful to talk about it. He reveals a story of a former lover, but quickly changes the subject back to a safer one. Alison looks back on the moment, upset at herself for not having the courage to say something and also remembers it as the last moment she sees her father alive.

Alison, now an adult remembering these moments, feels sadness and guilt over the father’s death.

“I had no idea that my beginning would be your end,” she says.

The start of her embracing her identity left her father no longer able to cope with his. All she has left of her father are his artifacts, her drawings and her memories. In the end, she feels heartache over what happened, but also joy from the time that they had together and their connection throughout their lives.

Beautiful and tragic, poignant and hilarious, this show will touch your heart and stay in your mind long after it is over.

“Fun Home” is playing at Open Stage of Harrisburg until Oct. 29. The production is directed by Stuart Landon and sponsored by Bitner Family Funeral Homes. It is presented with special permission by Samuel French.

Burg Blog: You Might Also Like Harrisburg

October 19, 2017 | by Lawrance Binda

The former Harrisburg State Hospital grounds, which is being proposed as the site of Amazon’s second headquarters.

Today marks the application deadline for what is certainly one of the strangest episodes in American business history—the race among cities, towns and states for the second headquarters of online retail giant Amazon.com.

For a pop culture analogy, one need look no farther than that wacky classic movie, “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.”

In the 1963 film, a bunch of colorful characters scheme, compete, cooperate and go crazy with greed after a notorious thief, about to die, tells them that he has buried a fortune in a public park.

In the real-life case of Amazon.com, CEO Jeff Bezos put in motion the madcap treasure chase, but among America’s mayors, city managers and county commissioners with the lure of 50,000 high-paying jobs.

And madcap it has proven to be.

New Jersey has proposed $7 billion in tax breaks; Frisco, Texas, has volunteered to turn itself into a company town; and tiny Stoneville, Ga., has proposed renaming a part of itself “Amazon.”

These are the governmental equivalents of renting a sputtering biplane to beat everyone else to a sack of money buried beneath a giant “W.”

So, where does that leave south-central Pennsylvania?

Back in early September, when Amazon unleashed the madness, the company listed several criteria that it wanted for its second headquarters, including an urban center with a population of at least 1 million people, a “business-friendly” environment and the ability to attract and retain technical talent. It’s also believed that Amazon would smile upon access to transit, strong cultural and nightlife amenities and a generally progressive environment—i.e., things favored by a young, educated, IT-savvy workforce.

Given these criteria, the Harrisburg area would seem unlikely to make the cut. However, to me, the fascinating thing is this—our area is actually a great fit for so-called HQ2, if only Amazon were willing to think outside its branded cardboard box.

First, let’s tackle the population requirement, which seems, right off, to knock our area out of competition. Sure, Harrisburg proper is tiny, but, as has been pointed out by local boosters, south-central PA combined does approach 1 million people. However, why does this matter at all?

I think the requirement exists because Amazon doesn’t want to be in the middle of nowhere. That’s understandable. But location is actually one of our area’s strongest draws for people who move here. It’s perfectly situated near several major metros, but also isn’t trapped inside any of them (if you’ve ever been stuck in traffic on the Washington Beltway, you know what I mean by being “trapped” in a city). It’s often faster to drive from Harrisburg to Rockville, Md., than to drive to that suburban boomtown from parts of neighboring Prince George’s County.

There’s also room to grow. Our area has large amounts of available, buildable, affordable land, as well as a city with an enormous quantity of underused, undervalued, ramshackle and even empty housing, much of it historic and potentially beautiful if restored. Harrisburg was built to accommodate about 100,000 people, but today has only half that many.

Certainly, with HQ2, there would be growing pains and a need to improve roads, but that’s true of any metro area that lands the coveted prize. It’s hard for me to imagine how several cities that seem to be leading contenders, such as Boston and Washington, D.C., can absorb 50,000 more workers—and their cars. Meanwhile, Harrisburg also has the benefit of easy access to an underutilized airport and a rail infrastructure that once accommodated hundreds of trains a day.

In addition, Harrisburg has what many major East Coast cities lack—easy, fast ways out. Within a short drive, you can be hiking or camping or at the beach or mountains. Or you’re in the famous Pennsylvania Dutch countryside or at a brewery or winery. Or you’re in Lancaster or York or Carlisle exploring shops, galleries and restaurants in those historic, quaint towns.

But that last point brings me to why, despite a valiant effort, our area won’t be taken seriously as a contender.

No, it’s not a lack of population or insufficient tax incentives or even our dysfunctional state government. Harrisburg’s application won’t be considered because our area is far, far off of Amazon’s radar. There’s little chance that the site selection committee, 3,000 miles away in Seattle, knows much, if anything, about this mystery region along the lower Susquehanna River.

I speak from some experience.

For years, I lived in D.C., which isn’t far away, but I never considered south-central Pennsylvania as a place to go. Then I moved up here and found all this amazing stuff: towns, sites, nature, trails, restaurants. Why didn’t I know about these before?

It shouldn’t be this way. Cities like Harrisburg, Lancaster, York, Carlisle, Lebanon; towns like Gettysburg, Elizabethtown, Hershey, Hanover, Newport, New Oxford; surrounding villages and countryside—all share a history, a geography, a climate, a cuisine and a character. Like family members, each is unique but also pieces of a sensible, natural whole.

Several of our area’s officials, including Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse, have told TheBurg that, if nothing else, the Amazon application will serve as a great exercise in regional cooperation. Here’s hoping that’s true, that the application process is the beginning of viewing ourselves as an identifiable, even marketable, six-county community, not as isolated pockets of people who just happen to live near each other. We already share a sensibility and spirit; we just now need to build upon it for the greater good, carving out a regional identity in the process.

So, no, we won’t lose the mad scramble for the Amazon fortune primarily because we lack a subway or because Buckhead is cooler, but because of—well, what exactly is south-central Pennsylvania anyway and why should I be there? That’s the problem we need to fix. And it’s fixable. In our case, the sum of the whole is far greater than the individual parts.

Weekend Roundup with Sara Bozich

October 19, 2017 | by Sara Bozich

Cheers to the weekend!

The Pennsylvania National Horse Show is in town through the weekend — Have you checked it out? Also noteworthy: It’s 3rd in the Burg (check out the Broad Street Market if you don’t often get a chance to get there), and it’s wine trail season! Cornucopia Wine Quest runs Saturday and Sunday at participating wineries.

I have very little on my agenda besides trying to wrap up more work (I’m in denial), and cooking the very last of my tomatoes (more sauce and a sungold jam).

What are you doing this weekend?

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Downtown Digs: Another residential conversion planned in Harrisburg.

October 17, 2017 | by Lawrance Binda

Harristown Enterprises has this downtown building under contract with plans to turn it into an apartment building.

More residential space is slated for downtown Harrisburg, as Harristown Enterprises is eyeing another worn-out office building for redevelopment.

Harristown has under contract a vacant, 11,000-square-foot office building at N. 2nd and Cranberry streets currently owned by Camp Hill-based CJ2 Group, which has it on the market for $399,000. Harristown wants to convert the space to 12 one- and two-bedroom apartments, with additional first-floor retail.

Most of the building has long been empty, though a restaurant, Arepa City, occupied the ground-floor retail space until fairly recently.

“Upscale apartments in the downtown are in high demand,” said Brad Jones, president and CEO of Harristown. “We want to bring more exciting unique and desirable apartments to the market to grow the number of downtown residents and to support retail and restaurant activity along this corridor.”

Harristown now must shepherd its plan through Harrisburg’s land development process. To undertake the project, Harristown will need a variance from the city’s Zoning Hearing Board, as the building is not zoned for this use.

Several years ago, Harristown dipped its toe into office-to-residential projects by converting a part of Strawberry Square into apartments. Since then, it’s undertaken several other conversions along S. 3^rd Street, adding a total of 60 new apartments downtown.

Harristown also recently began to raze a building on the first block of S. 2nd Street. It expects to build a new office building in that space, pending an anchor tenant.

Harrisburg Begins Buying Sinkhole-Affected Houses; Some Residents Unprepared to Leave.

October 17, 2017 | by Lizzy Hardison

Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse today announced the first purchase of sinkhole-affected houses along S. 14th Street.

More than 3½ years after a sinkhole erupted on a residential block of S. 14^th Street, Harrisburg has started to relieve homeowners of their worthless properties, though some residents say that they still have nowhere to move.

By the end of the day on Tuesday, Harrisburg will own seven of the 52 homes on the block, Mayor Eric Papenfuse announced at a press conference held today on the sinkhole-ravaged street. Ten homes are scheduled for closings this week, and the city is on track to purchase all 52 affected properties by Dec. 31.

“It’s been a very complicated and drawn-out process,” Papenfuse said.

He reported that the purchasing program is the first of its kind in the nation, since sinkhole events are not usually covered by natural disaster relief dollars.

“Today, we are celebrating that this final phase is beginning,” he said.

A few years ago, the situation along S. 14th Street seemed dire. However, the city was able to secure about $4.7 million in federal and state disaster relief funding to purchase all the homes at their pre-sinkhole market value.

Despite today’s announcement, some residents said that they aren’t prepared to move by year-end. Ronald Cook came out of his S. 14th Street house when he saw camera crews setting up for Tuesday’s press conference. That was when he learned about the city’s Dec. 31 deadline for closings, he said.

“I’m not ready to move,” Cook said. “We’ve got nowhere to go.”

He claims that the sale of his house has been delayed because it needs a water quality test, which he said was scheduled for last week but postponed.

Ronald Cook stands outside his house on S. 14th Street.

Papenfuse said on Tuesday that the city was connecting displaced homeowners with realtors, but Cook said he hasn’t gotten that assistance. He has lived in his home on S. 14^th Street for 18 years in a rent-to-own arrangement. He said he’d rather buy a new home than rent, but fears that poor credit will limit his options.

“I don’t know what I can do,” he said.

Willie Nix lives in a rental property on S. 14^th Street. As a tenant, he is entitled to relocation assistance from federal Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding. He said he’s still waiting on a housing reassignment.

Papenfuse and Jackie Parker, director of the city’s Department of Community Economic Development, said that the city has been in continual contact with S. 14^th street residents ever since the sinkhole opened in 2014.

Parker also said that the Dec. 31 closing deadline was negotiable, since each property sale is highly individual. The grants funding the home purchases technically expire on Dec. 31, but Parker said that homeowners do have the opportunity to extend.

“Nobody has to move by any particular time,” Parker said. “Every property owner has a unique situation and unique closing opportunity and paperwork. No two are the same.”

Almost $1 million of the funding will be used to relocate tenants, since 26 of the properties were rental units.

Parker said that each home purchase and relocation is governed by strict guidelines, and the city brought on consulting firms to handle property closings and tenant relocation. Under CDBG guidelines, relocation specialists can help tenants identify safe, fair-value housing and obtain reimbursement for moving costs, security deposits and rental application fees.

The 52 homes will eventually be demolished. Since the city cannot build on the site, it will allow the entire block to become a community green space, Papenfuse said.

Correction: this story was edited to clarify Ronald Cook’s home ownership status. Cook is not documented owner of 1408 S. 14th street, but entered a rent-to-own agreement with the property owner when he moved into the house 18 years ago.

All About the Book: Thousands show their love of literature, poetry, criticism at Harrisburg Book Festival.

October 17, 2017 | by Yaasmeen Piper

A crowd at Midtown Scholar Bookstore listens attentively as book reviewers discuss their work at last weekend’s Harrisburg Book Festival.

The 2017 Harrisburg Book Festival attracted about 2,000 people last weekend, as book-lovers flocked to Midtown to converse with authors, listen to readings and revel in all-things literary.

“The reaction from readers and authors was really something to behold,” said Alex Brubaker, the manager of Midtown Scholar Bookstore, which sponsored the four-day event. “For the bookstore to be at the center of this lively literary gathering was really special.”

Brubaker said that opening night poets Safiya Sinclair, author of “Cannibal,” and Joshua Bennett of “The Sobbing School” prompted tears in some audience members. Keynote speaker Ibram X. Kendi, author of “Stamped from the Beginning,” led a conversation on our current political and racial climate that will last “well beyond the night.”

“A lot of the authors were incredibly moved by the attendees and their devotion to literature and their books,” said Brubaker, who put the crowd estimate for the fifth Book Festival at almost 2,000. “For most of them, it was their first time in Harrisburg, so they came away impressed by the literary scene here.”

Saturday morning was packed with kids taking part in Kids Fest. Smiles widened as children interacted with author Lauren Castillo, pressed their own bookmarks from Megan Zettlemoyer of Typothecary Letterpress, or had their hands in a couple of baked goods. And thanks to the American Literacy Corp. and Capital Region Literacy Council, they were able to head home with free books.

Book reviewers Harvey Freedenberg, Susan Coll, Bethanne Patrick and Marion Winik gave audience members insight on how their jobs survive in the digital age.

They wrapped up with their picks for the best books of 2017, which include “Exit West” by Mohsin Hamid and “Home Fries” by Kamila Shamsie, and some advice for young and up-and-coming writers.

“Learn to trust your own voice early,” said Winik. “That is something I wish I knew when I was starting out.”

A table featured works from book festival authors.

Jennifer Haigh, author of “Heat and Light,” Liz Moore of “The Unseen Word” and local Meghan Kenny of “Love is no Small Thing” offered insight into their process of creating a novel.

Though Haigh and Moore shared similar themes of identity, technology and the future of machines in their novels, the writers had different thoughts when it came to whether these advancements are hurting or helping us.

“I adore writing about machines. It’s endlessly interesting to me.” Haigh said. “Machines can save us in a limited way. I think they can also kill us.”

Moore had a more optimistic approach.

“I actually think that virtual and augmented reality can potentially offer us great benefits,” Moore said. “I also have no reason to believe that AI’s are out to get us. There is a lot of literature and film in which AI’s are inherently evil. Why would they be?”

Authors Meghan Kenny, Jennifer Haigh and Liz Moore discussed their writing process.

Ruth Frankin closed out the festival by reading from her first biography, “Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life.”

“It was a wild pleasure to hear Ruth Franklin talk about her biography of Shirley Jackson,” said local writer Kari Larsen. “She did such a masterful job decontextualizing Jackson’s place in 20th-century literature.”

From the large number of attendees to the diverse set of authors, the book festival helped push Midtown Scholar and Harrisburg up the list of must-visit places for literary lovers.

“I was so relieved and thrilled the book festival had come back,” Larsen said. “Previous ones really demonstrated how enthusiastic Midtown Scholar’s audience is for engagement with contemporary writing, publishing and criticism.”

While plans for a sixth book festival have not yet been discussed, Brubaker promises that it will return.

“We’ll be back, bigger and better than ever,” he said.

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