After the Fair Leaves: How Centre Hall Spends Its October Weekends

"Every day we get to look at the beauty of this valley." That's Marie Librizzi on the view from Liberty Eats, the food trailer she opened in late May at 2658 Earlystown Road. She first planned a brick-and-mortar restaurant. When agricultural zoning made that too difficult, she switched to a trailer on a lot whose owner, she said, farms 700 to 800 acres.

That workaround sums up October around Centre Hall. Once the fair is gone, almost every good fall stop near the borough is a working farm doing a second job. One is an arboretum, one supplies grain to a brewery, one runs boat tours under its fields, and one hosts a lunch counter. The first is the farm where the Grange Fair began.

The farm where the fair's founder lived

Rhoneymeade sits at 177 Rimmey Road. It lies between Boalsburg and Centre Hall, on a ridge in the valley between Nittany and Tussey Mountains. Michael Rhone first settled the 150-acre site in 1794, and it has been farmed continuously for more than 200 years. His grandson Leonard Rhone, who started the Grange Fair, finished the brick farmhouse near the center of the property in 1853.

So the fairgrounds empty out in late summer, and in October the attention moves a few miles to the Rhone family farm.

The property's modern form dates to 1984, when retired Penn State professor Dr. Richard Morgan bought the farm and began landscaping the six acres around the house. In 1986 he signed a conservation easement with ClearWater Conservancy to protect the land's open space. Rhoneymeade was incorporated as a nonprofit in 1989. That easement is a big reason the walk still runs through fields and hedgerows.

Here's what's there to walk:

• The Tree Walk covers more than 25 kinds of trees in a short loop that starts and ends at the studio. Signs marked with a C show the six trees that were standing when the house was built, and the studio has an annotated guide.
• Fall color on the arboretum pages comes from black gum, European larch, sassafras and katsura trees.
• The sculpture garden has outdoor pieces in bronze, marble, wood and iron.
• The labyrinth is in a quiet wooded spot.
• The White Oak Trail goes into the woods. Other paths cross farmland, meadows and gardens.

The grounds are open Wednesday through Sunday, dawn to dusk. The buildings are still closed to the public. The studio and exhibit space open when staff are there, Wednesday through Sunday, or by request from 12 to 4 p.m. The visit page doesn't list a grounds fee. To book a guided arboretum or sculpture garden tour, contact Executive Director James Lesher. Tours run on a suggested donation, and event rentals carry fees. Plan around the Monday and Tuesday closures. A weekday walk has to fall on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday.

A wheat field you can order by the glass

Rhoneymeade also grows einkorn wheat. Boal City Brewing uses it in its Einkorn Witbier, a Belgian-style wheat ale made with barley, coriander and orange peel. The brewery lists it at 4.7% ABV and 28 IBU. Its tasting notes read coriander, orange and lime.

The beer was poured on Saturday of the Moss Farm Film & Arts Invitational, which ran at Rhoneymeade October 2 through 4. The weekend had films from around the world, natural-materials art activities, an evening performance by Eric Ian Farmer followed by an outdoor screening, and an Act 48 workshop for educators on Sunday. There was also a food truck.

A farm founded in 1794 now supplies a brewery menu. That's the same pattern as the trailer on Earlystown Road: the farm keeps farming and takes on another role.

The October calendar, by date

Rhoneymeade's own calendar fills most of the month. Here is what's confirmed, with notes on what isn't.

The Fall Festival is the big date. At the festival, Patrick Miller of Miller's Wildlife and Conservation Specialists will bring raptors up close. The program also has drone demonstrations, live music, the forest and meadow trails, a Children's Nature Area, and tables from local vendors and nonprofits. The calendar summary adds pumpkin painting and hot cider. Neither listing mentions admission or tickets, so check the Rhoneymeade events page before you go.

Boats under the fields at Penn's Cave

Penn's Cave & Wildlife Park, at 222 Penn's Cave Road, is the other big October draw. This month it runs a Halloween version of its all-water cavern tour. The boat ride is guided and lasts 45 minutes. Battery lanterns, light decorations and stories about the cave's legends set the mood, and the page says the goal is to entertain without "scaring anyone off the boat." All of October, Pete's Miner's Maze has Halloween decorations. During the All Hallows' Eve celebration hours, 4 to 9 p.m., it adds props and scares.

The event page doesn't list which evenings those hours apply or what tickets cost for this year. The regular October hours are posted. The visitor center is open daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and cavern tours leave hourly from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Farm-Nature-Wildlife Tours run weekdays at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m., and hourly from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends. That farm tour fits the pattern too. Above the cave is farmland, and it's part of what you pay to see.

Lunch on Earlystown Road

Back at Liberty Eats, Librizzi brings years of local restaurant experience. She was the original owner of the Pump Station in Boalsburg. She also ran the former Sadie's Gourmet Waffles downtown and The Gathering Family Restaurant at the Nittany Mall, and she co-owned Old Main Frame Shop & Gallery for many years.

The menu is built around low prices:

1. Paninis and subs are $8.95 and come with coleslaw. The turkey and avocado panini with sundried tomatoes and cream cheese is one of the most popular.
2. Hot dogs are $1.50 and can come with a house-made mexi-hot beef sauce. Seven pierogies cost $7.95.
3. Breakfast includes a bacon, egg and cheese for $4.25, served on 4-inch water bagels brought in from New York.
4. Fall adds homemade soups such as stuffed green pepper for $7.95.

The trailer also carries donut holes from Mammy's Donut Shop in Rebersburg and sticky buns from Williamsport's Mr. Sticky's. It covers credit card fees itself, and it's open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Saturday, all year. In August, Librizzi described the September and October events as sausage and pepper sandwiches on the deck, music, games and local nonprofits, and vendors can join for free. For dates, check the Liberty Eats Facebook page.

What's changing on the roads to all of it

Earlystown Road has another project coming. Wawa has a store planned on the former Snappy's site in Potter Township. Centre County's planning commission approved the final land development plan in July 2025. As of the Centre Daily Times' September 25 report, the Centre Hall site had not broken ground.

Closer to the borough, PennDOT's 2026 program includes a $1 million restoration and drainage project on Route 144 near Route 192, covering parts of Centre Hall Borough and Potter Township. PennDOT's preview gives no fall work dates or detour plans. If you're driving to Rimmey Road on October 24, check PennDOT's traffic updates before you leave.

Whether you know Rhoneymeade's labyrinth well or still haven't visited Penn's Cave, I'm always glad to talk about the farms, trails and roadside stops that make Centre Hall feel like home. If you're thinking about a place with a little acreage of your own, Theresa Layton knows how the zoning, easements and farm roads around here work, and can walk you through them. Let's Connect.