The COVID-19 pandemic has been especially hard on retail food businesses as restaurants and bars have had to limit their seating capacity, invest in alterations for outdoor dining, and modify their business operations. In order to help support local eateries and pubs during this difficult time, several organizations have teamed up to launch a Food Trail promotion to encourage the public to patronize local restaurants, whether dine in or take-out, or by way of gift card purchases.

Thanks to funds made available from the Luzerne County CARES Act grant, the Downtown Hazleton Alliance for Progress and Greater Hazleton Chamber of Commerce has teamed up with the Luzerne County Tourism and Visitor’s Bureau and DiscoverNEPA to organize five different food trails that collectively feature 70 different restaurants in and around Hazleton.

These include: A Pizza & Pasta Trail featuring Italian foods, an Empanada & Taco Trail that features Hispanic foods, a Coffee & Cream Trail featuring cafes, diners, bakeries, and creameries, a Shot & A Beer Trail, which features bars and pubs, and a Surf & Turf Tail featuring fine dining restaurants.

A paper “passport” for each trail has been designed to guide the public to each establishment, where they can collect signatures from the participating businesses. When enough signatures are collected, the passport can be returned to the new Welcome Center in downtown Hazleton where it will be entered into a raffle for restaurant gift certificates and other prizes, such as “I’m Just Here for the Food” t-shirts designed to promote the program. The raffles will be drawn at the end of each month, with the first raffle being November 30th.

“This is a great way to not only promote local restaurants, but also give people something fun to do. It provides incentive for folks to get out and try foods they’ve never tasted, and visit restaurants they’ve never been to before, even if just for take-out.” said Krista Schneider, Executive Director of the Downtown Hazleton Alliance for Progress and program coordinator.

“We are blessed with so many family-owned restaurants, and so many varieties of ethnic foods,” said Mary Malone, President of the Greater Hazleton Chamber of Commerce. “We hope that this draws not only locals but also people from outside the area to taste all the foods we have to offer, whether they be derived from Italian, Eastern European, or Caribbean recipes,” added Fermin Diaz, the Alliance’s Main Street Program coordinator who help organize the promotion.

A website, which features each of the participating restaurants, their contact information, and a map of their location, has been developed by DiscoverNEPA as part of a larger partnership initiative to drive visitors to Downtown Hazleton and the surrounding area as part of the Alliance’s “Downtown Hazleton on the Rise” rebranding initiative. Other self-guided trails that focus on local history are currently in the works and will be added to the site over time.

“Since March, few things have been so inspiring and so crucial to our region’s economic vitality than seeing our communities organize these homegrown, organic movements toward protecting all things local, said Mary Kolessar, Executive Director of DiscoverNEPA. “If there’s hope to be found these days, it’s brought to life by many good people engaged in efforts like these.”

Passports, which are available in both English and Spanish, can be downloaded from the website: www.DiscoverNEPA.com/HazletonFoodTrails. Passports are also available at each participating restaurant, and at the new Welcome Center located at 15 W. Broad St. starting on the December 4^th First Friday. T-shirts will also be available for purchase and be promoted as a unique gift item for the holidays.

The public is encouraged to check operating hours of each participating business and any COVID-19 related operating restrictions prior to visiting. A few of the restaurants, like ice cream shops, are seasonal and won’t be able to participate in the promotion until they reopen in the spring. Others may have reduced operating hours or modified their operations to respond the pandemic. The program, however, is planned to continue through 2021 so there is plenty of time to visit all the restaurants. Grant funds are being used to support the program materials, coordination, advertising, and promotional items.

Any questions regarding the Food Trails program can be directed to Krista Schneider at or 570-455-1509 x 109.