I think I had an April Fool’s Day trick played on myself, as I dreamed about a meeting where the three commissioners; Jack McKernan, Tony Mussare, and Rick Mirabito (the 3 Ms, as I like to call them), were asking their department heads for ideas on better ways to promote Lycoming County. I saw Kim Wheeler, Deputy Director of the Planning and Community Development Department, who is always bubbling with ideas, jumping up on her chair (remember, this is a dream) and quickly chimed in about getting Little League Baseball to use the NCAA Basketball Tournament model of a 68-team tournament.

“Imagine 68 teams coming to Williamsport rather just 16,” Kim exclaimed while jumping on her chair. “We’d have four times as many tourists!” Transportation Supervisor Mark Muroski got caught up in the idea and shouted, “And you know what? We could use the 9/11 Ride route for the Grand Slam Parade!”

Commissioner McKernan’s head twisted in a complete circle before slowly responding in his patently patient voice of his, “You do know, don’t you, that the 9/11 Memorial Ride covers 42 miles and goes through 13 municipalities? If it takes three hours on a motorcycle to cover that, how long would a parade take?”

Information Services Director Karl Demi calmly pulled out his laptop and punched a few keys and confidently announced, “If we start on the Fourth of July, the Parade could probably finish in time for the first game in mid-August.”

Chief Adult Probation Officer Ed McCoy waved his hands wildly and declared, “No, no, no. Little League would never go along with that. We need to add something new. Every town, nook, and hamlet in America is the greatest at something. How about we brand ourselves as the Complaining Capital of the World. Everyone loves to complain about things. We’d be the most popular county in America!”

Commissioner Rick Mirabito did a backflip and landed back on his chair before responding, “But we can’t do anything about all their complaints,” he complained.

Ed smiled and replied, “Which will only make them complain all the more! Isn’t that beautiful?”

The dream was turning into a nightmare, but before I awoke, Public Safety Director John Yingling tried to introduce some sanity into this evening terror in my mind. “How about we have a poll on our county name? Some say ‘Ly-Combing’ and others pronounce it ‘Ly-Coming.’”

Commissioner Mussare shrugged, “Everybody knows it is pronounced ‘Ly-Combing.’”

Commissioner Mirabito quickly rebutted, “Everybody knows it is pronounced ‘Ly-Coming.’”

“Ly-Combing!” “Ly-Coming!” “LY-COMBING!! “LY-COMING!!”

Suddenly, the three commissioners started a Three Stooges slap, poke, and growl routine on one another — and I mercifully awoke from my April Fool’s County Commissioner’s dream. In truth, the county does have a way to promote itself, and it is no joke.

It is called the Pennsylvania Wilds. Founded from an initiative by Gov. Ed Rendell in 2003, studies showed that the 12 1/2 county region in the north-central and north-western region of Pennsylvania was home to some of the best opportunities for outdoor recreation and wilderness adventure in the eastern US, but was relatively unknown, even among Pennsylvanians themselves. The idea was to brand the Pennsylvania Wilds region as a distinct entity and world-class destination for outdoor recreation experiences.

Lycoming County, and Williamsport in particular, serves as an important gateway to this region encompassing two million acres of public land covering 50 state game lands, 29 state parks, eight state forests, two National Wild & Scenic Rivers, with abundant wildlife, hundreds of miles of land and water trails, but also an incredible rural network of creative entrepreneurs.

Williamsport is being honored too, for the celebration of 15 years of the Wilds at Work. The PA Wilds Annual Dinner & Awards will be held on April 26th and the first Creative Entrepreneur’s Conference, a one-day educational conference for entrepreneurs and businesses of all sizes from the Pennsylvania Wilds, will be held on April 27th. Both of these events will be held at the Pajama Factory, 600 Rose Street, Williamsport. More info on both of these events is available at the website, pawilds.com.

Pennsylvania Wilds is not a joke, but in some ways, it is a dream. A dream come true.