A region, revitalize a region, re-imagine, striving, thriving, innovating, collaborating, elevating and accelerating the crater.

Lehigh Valley is home to businesses that are booming and pain changes that are forging the future.

This is Lehigh Valley Rising.

BSI Corporate Benefits is a proud supporter of Lehigh Valley Rising.

Additional support provided by St Luke's University Health Network.

As 2022 comes to its inevitable close.

And before we usher in the New Year, we'd like to share with you some of our most inspirational and intriguing stories from the past 12 months.

One of the reasons the Lehigh Valley is well rising is because it serves as a fertile hub where bold new businesses and ideas flourish alongside time honored traditional companies and craftspeople.

This brings especially true with the Valley's food industry, where whiz kids, entrepreneurs and five generation institutions stand side by side, successfully serving the community.

Here's three of our tastiest stories from 2022 on appetizers.

Of.

The Bayou.

As a Southern restaurant, we focused.

With New Orleans cuisine.

This is our gumbo.

Get all the goodness in the.

We wanted to open a restaurant that was different from what was already existent in the Lehigh Valley and Bethlehem especially.

But we've got a staple core items that we just don't really deviate from.

Fried chicken, mac and cheese, catfish.

You know, those stay on the menu when you come to the body.

That's what you're going to get.

You know, that's a testament to our kitchen staff and the hard work that they put him back there.

Like to play our music loud and have a good time.

When we opened the Bayou Bethlehem in 2014, in 2015, we moved on and opened our second restaurant, which was great.

We shortly thereafter opened the bottle shop next door.

In 2016, we opened our barbecue restaurant, which was Queen City Barbecue.

From that point, we opened our newest concept, which is Wizkid's Cheesesteaks.

So when you come there, you or your cheesesteak however you want.

We have a cheesesteak that we do call the sixth one out.

That's a traditional Lehigh Valley cheesesteak 6.0 Cheesesteak is state cheese sauce and pickles.

And then we have our whiz, which comes with our housemade cheese sauce.

And that's steak is our classic Philadelphia style cheesesteak with no intentions of trying to be a Philly cheesesteak shop.

You know, we want it to be a Lehigh Valley cheese and sound like the Lehigh Valley is.

It's welcoming to me.

It's really like the center of the universe.

220 full time employees.

Most of people there when we start working here, they use that four years because we were like the family.

We're kind of easygoing here.

We aren't standing over their shoulders watching them work.

It's a good environment.

They treat us well.

The company makes a variety of salty snack foods, make tortilla chips.

We make corn chips, bake cheese curls, bake cheese puffs and fried cheese curls.

This is the masa.

This is our ground up corn meal.

We're going to put this to the cedar and then cut it into the tortilla shape.

I guess that's.

My favorite snack.

That's like asking me what's my favorite kid?

I would have to say, everybody makes.

A. Hearty mix.

You know, you can't have a party without party mix.

Party mix.

It is the tortilla chips, the corn chips, the fried cheese curls.

And then we add pretzels.

My grandfather and his brothers, they were working at the factory at the end of the night and they were sweeping up the floor.

They're sweeping the tortilla chips.

They're sweeping the nachos and the pretzels.

And my grandfather looked at it and said, You know, this stuff all looks pretty good together.

I got an idea.

Let's put this in a bag and we'll call for sweeping.

Thank God they didn't call it that and came to party.

But that's how it got started.

One of the best piece of advice that my dad gave me, said, Billy, always hire people smarter than you.

I said, Oh, heck, that'll be easy.

Yeah, Everybody here just real tight to each other.

And half of us been here for ever.

And the opportunity is are boundless here.

I can get involved in a lot of different things as I have.

Over the years.

I've surrounded myself with a lot of smart people.

I surround myself with good people to propel the company into the future, building our own brand and building Keystone snacks here in the Lehigh Valley.

We're a fifth generation family run business that makes candy in the most traditional way.

Everything is handmade using processes that are so far outdated.

It's putting us on quite a unique island.

This is our friend machine.

This machine is the original piece.

It's over 80 years old and it works for us to this day.

We started in 1904.

It was my great great grandfather that had a wholesale business and running Pennsylvania early as old fashioned chocolates.

And it was in the sixties that my grandfather started his own brand called Josh Early Candies and moved it in the Lehigh Valley.

I can remember as a kid coming with my father, he would always ask me if I wanted to come and crack chocolate or sweep floors.

But I officially started in 2000 when I graduated college.

Welcome to the Shirley Kitchen.

This is where we cook all of our chocolates and candy.

Right now we are cooking with one of our top sellers, the Vanilla Buttercream.

We probably do about 80% of our business and 20% of the year.

The weeks leading up to Christmas and Easter are certainly our busiest.

We market the fact that you can come in here and try any piece of candy.

My parents have spent a lifetime in this business and are closing the door on that chapter of their lives.

So it's my brother and my hope that we can carry that legacy on and make my parents and grandparents very proud.

That Josh Early segment was a staff favorite, although it did give us some serious salted caramel cravings.

Plato once said Necessity is the mother of invention, and even though that was around 400 B.C., Plato's platitude still holds today.

Our next few stories focus on two Lehigh Valley inventions, each of which met a particular need.

Whether it was convenience around the campfire or health and safety around the world.

A step above is a chocolate filled marshmallow.

So when you roast over a fire, it melts from the inside out.

We've doubled in size in the last ten months and will probably double in size in the next ten months.

So the facility we're sitting in now is 165,000 square feet.

We can fit five of our highly proprietary high speed lines here, and each line can do north of $150 million in capacity.

This actually came from sitting around a campfire and I was trying to roast a marshmallow to make a perfect s'more.

And every time I did it, I realized I couldn't make the perfect s'more because the chocolate never melted.

And so I ripped a marshmallow apart and put some chocolate inside, seemed to back up and roasted over the fire.

And lo and behold, it melted from the inside out.

And really, that was the spark that set this whole thing into motion.

So my name is Hannah O'Brien.

I'm a product development scientist here at Stuff Path.

We start bringing that product to life.

So this is our core products that we started with.

So it started with our classic milk chocolate, which is the chocolate in the center.

This is what they look like.

And we're always going to keep pushing and we're always going to keep trying to refine and keep dialing the process and the product and making it better and better and better as we go.

And we're sure set out to make at home diagnostic testing that's very easy to use.

Started with hepatitis C testing, moved to HIV at home testing, or was the first at home HIV test and then ultimately an Ebola test that can be used in the field.

Thinking about blood draws or saliva samples and things like that that have to go to labs.

Our test, our immediate of our over 800 employees and or or almost 500 of them are based here in the Lehigh Valley.

Engineers, scientists, manufacturing and sales people, marketing people, H.R.

people.

We have all of our support functions like I.T.

and finance.

It's really about clean state of the art, health care, manufacturing and innovation that is powering both the US and the world.

Our history of innovation.

And that's right here in the Lehigh Valley.

Now we have a new legacy of innovation we're building in health care.

It is something that the Valley is sharing with the world.

COVID test kits like our insurers, Intel as well, have enabled people around the world to respond appropriately to the virus during the pandemic.

This, in turn, has helped reopen public spaces.

That's a big win for millions of people, as well as the businesses and industries most of us depend on, including the world of professional sports.

An industry fueled by the roar of the crowd.

Nothing brings people together like sports.

And here in the valley, we've got baseball in the summer, hockey in the winter, and a hometown champ with a knock out personality.

Go Iron Pigs!

The Philadelphia Phillies wanted to have an affiliate closer to home.

And then that's how the Iron Pigs were born.

The idea of having.

Minor league baseball in the Lehigh Valley.

Existed for quite some time, and it happened when Governor Rendell was in.

Office, the official first game ever in this stadium.

If the private.

Owners in this case, Joe Finley and Craig Stein, didn't see.

A market in.

The Lehigh Valley and wanted.

To take a risk to invest their own money.

The stadium would never be here.

Fast forward.

All these years later and it.

Was wildly successful.

And it looks like a genius move.

Name Iron Pegs is a nod.

Towards our heritage and legacy.

And from the moment that fans walk through the gates to find their seats to the moment that they're ready to go home each night, we get to make sure that they have the best experience.

It's almost like a nine inning vacation.

We're affordable here.

Kids of all ages come out and have an absolute great time here.

And this is a golden opportunity for our kids baseball now, because after everything that's gone on the past couple of years, all it the redevelopment of downtown Allentown was designed as part of the neighborhood improvement zone.

The neighborhood improvement zone is a 128 acre zone within downtown Allentown that allows developers to use taxes that they generate in order to pay for the debt that they incur for construction of building a building.

PBO center really acts as the catalyst for the revitalization of downtown Allentown.

Everything that is downtown revolves around this arena.

Tim Hortons, Chickens and Pizza.

We have the downtown Allentown Market right right next door, which has seen huge success.

These venues are such a big pedestal for this city.

The longer that this venue is here, you're going to see more businesses, I believe, gravitate to this area.

You know, it's definitely one of the fastest growing regions in the country.

And a lot of that is due to the neighborhood improvement zone legislation that allowed the arena to be built and for all this development to take place.

The more people that come support the building, the more you're able to put on, the more revenues generated for the community, you know, for the municipality and such.

That touches all the businesses, you know.

Economic growth is such a big part of what we do.

And we anticipate that to continue to grow.

And and we're proud to continue to play a role in that.

When you see the guest come in, just like in all of this is here in Allentown, I think it's a lot of pride for the for the community being able to provide that outlet for the people of the Lehigh Valley to kind of just escape their daily lives for a little bit, whether they're coming to a hockey game or a concert or a family show or coming to watch their child graduate.

You know, at the end of the school year, it's really just, you know, seeing the smiles on people's faces, really what's what keeps us going and what drives us to make it the perfect experience for them.

Larry Holmes.

Larry Holmes.

There's no air about Larry Holmes.

I've known for a long.

Time that he always stepped up and was there to support me no matter what.

He was a hard worker and dedicated.

He's one of those guys that always wanted to be the best.

So he worked at and Penn on June 9th, 1978, for the heavyweight championship with the world.

That was it.

That was the door that I had to open.

And that's what I did.

I opened that door, got in there, beat this man, and became the heavyweight champion in the world.

Ken Norton was a tough, rough guy.

I can't say nothing negative about that because he fought me for, well, 15 rounds and then was round.

I mean, fighting in the middle of every game to hold my hand in the new heavyweight champion of the world, Larry Holmes.

Crazy, crazy man for a few.

Larry has been good for Eastern.

I mean, when he was fighting, everything was, you know, Channel ABC Wide World of Sports was somebody come in and would do a series on Larry in the city giving Eastern a world wide recognition.

That was certainly important.

But he came home.

He put his money in city and he kept a lot of people employed.

And he and he probably wasn't making a penny, but he was keeping a lot of people employed.

He still has two iconic buildings along Larry Holmes Drive.

One is a five story building.

One is a two story building.

He did a lot of good things for Easton as a business person.

His foundation.

Heart of a Legend, has been a tremendous support to the community.

He's been helping a lot of the children and a lot of the young adults get into college and throwing a lot of really fun events on top of it.

Bringing in local celebrities and celebrities from around the world, putting Larry Holmes statue on Larry Holmes Drive, I think is just wonderful.

And people actually go down there.

They love taking a picture.

They put the left arm out and everything and like they're boxing that statue.

That means everything I fought for.

People said, I can't do it that show that I can do it, that I did do it.

A good example for all the young people.

Don't let nobody tell you that you can't.

You can do whatever you want to do if you put your mind to it and your time and you can do it.

And you can catch the full versions of all these stories.

In our Business of Sports episode online at PBS 39 dot org.

Success in business usually requires a certain amount of creative thinking, and conversely, success in a creative field usually requires a certain amount of business acumen.

Here are some of our favorite stories about local manufacturers who make the tools that help creatives be, well, creative.

What we really like about this new L.A. are the clarity and quality of each individual sound that as you layer them, as the organist, you can hear the flute sound, that clarinet sounds.

That trumpet sound, accompanied by this string.

Section sound can feel the thunder of the instrument.

It is that combination of multiple sounds at one time by one person that made it the King of instruments in its day.

This manufacturing facility is unique in modern world today.

This company stuck by the process of making almost everything in-house.

This building acts as an orchestra for organ building.

This is typical of the organs we make.

This is a church organ.

This kind of organ is found all over the world.

Played a lot of islands in my ears.

I think Allan has a wonderful product.

Their quality is is excellent.

Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

Boom, boom, boom.

We do a variety of classes, stained glass cutting class.

We also do a mosaic where people can assemble things.

And then we also do blown glass.

All of our classes here glass cutting, assembly, soldering.

They're all free.

That's all one Mr. Warner's expense.

But all of it's a trap.

In some cases, we do it for free.

But it's one of the best marketing things that we got.

I mean, if we show you how you're going to want to do it and we know exactly where you can get you supplies.

We sell all of the supplies, sheet glass tools to do stained glass mosaic glass and fuzed glass.

It's just filled with everything the imagination can think of and dream of.

We have everything down to the $5 knickknack dust bunny catchers all the way up to the $100,000 range.

But for certain pieces.

We do pewter castings.

Which is several of our product lines.

We also do blown glass where we make anywhere lamps, figurines, ring holders, variety of stuff in a hot chocolate.

There's so much talent that just resides in the valley.

And most don't know they even have the talent when they come in here.

We'll get them plugged in and they'll bloom and blossom just like everybody else.

Seeing people participate and get excited and sign up for the classes gets me all excited.

WARNER Our class is a mecca for the glass artist.

If it's something you think you want to do or you're trying to find out.

You walk into this store, you'll know we got something for everybody.

Crammed first rolled off the line in 1903.

Today, Crayola still stands for creativity, innovation, chemistry and, of course, education and kids and.

There is no manufacturing facility in the world like the Crayola plant.

70% of what we sell globally, we manufacture here in the Lehigh Valley.

The automation here has been so significant.

The first human that touches one of our trends and 75% of our friends is a child.

It's a brand that is really found virtually in every home in America.

And for us, education has been at the core of what we have done from the very beginning.

We're the stewards of the language of color.

That's why teachers.

Want their children to.

All have Crayola crayons in the classroom.

They know that all the children have the exact same crayon in their hands.

Something that everybody does want to know where Crayola colors come from.

Believe it or not, we do not have a secret naming department here at Crayola.

They come from a few different places.

Probably one of our favorites is consumer naming colors.

The world started with this very basic conversation.

Hey, kids should be able to color the world exactly as they see it.

How do we do that authentically?

We worked with the founder of Mac Cosmetics who provided some wonderful business and chemical know how in that space and the teens did an amazing job, 24 colors representing about 99% of different shades on a global shade palette around the world.

And really, the conversation that started both inside the building and with kids and teachers and parents and the colors themselves are just spectacular.

It starts with the child.

And the fact that that conversation starts with the child is universal and is truly global.

And I think that's why the brand has endured all these years.

Finally, our profile piece on Ed Welburn.

Ed was the first African American car designer ever hired by General Motors, the first black vice president in the American auto industry and the designer of the current presidential limousine.

Not bad for a kid from Philly.

Welburn, who lives here in the Valley, invited us over to his home to share his life story, a story so compelling we won a mid-Atlantic Emmy Award for it.

My character is a designer.

It's a sleek, sporty elegance.

I've been drawing cars all my life with other toddlers were drawing stick figures of horses and people and in buildings.

I was actually drawing cars.

Philadelphia Auto Show was my Disney World.

It was my fantasy land, you know, all the bright lights and the colors and the music.

My parents took me to the auto show.

I was eight years old then when we walked into this particular exhibit and I saw that car, the Cadillac cyclone, and I was standing right there when I read that as I sitting right there along the rail.

And I was just peeking over the rail at the car.

And that is when I said to my parents, when I grew up, I want to design cars and I want to design cars for this company.

And at age 11, I wrote my first letter to General Motors asking for their advice and careers in design.

So this picture just just makes me smile big time.

It's cool.

I grew up in Pennsylvania, actually, on the mainline Berwyn.

My father was an automobile mechanic in World War Two.

Once you got out of the war, he and his brothers started an auto body repair shop where I grew up in suburban Philadelphia.

There were very few people who looked like me that I could look up to.

I didn't have a single teacher of color until I went to college.

Never really thought about the fact that I might be the first African-American to design cars for GM.

This is one of my all time favorite photographs.

I was a summer intern at General Motors, and I'm shaking hands with the head of design.

One of my heroes, Bill Mitchell.

Look at all that hair I had an awful lot of people wanted to see, you know, how is this black designer going to do, you know?

You know, how capable is he?

Is he going to be able to deliver?

Having a diverse leadership team has an influence on the whole culture of the company or of that business or that activity.

And, you know, to this day, I see the positive influence that it has, the sensitivity to their customers, the understanding of their customers, their clients is so important.

I'm proud of the people of GM design, and I just think that people are capable of doing much more than we give them credit for.

Thanks so much to Ed Welburn and to all the local businesses and business leaders who invited us in to share their stories This year.

Remember, you can catch the full versions of all of these episodes online at PBS 39 dot org or on the PBS app.

We'll be back in 2023 with brand new episodes of the Lehigh Valley Rising.

And from all of us to all of you.

This is Grover Silcox saying Happy New Year.

Happy holidays and we'll see you next time.