Thanks for Another Great WordCamp Lancaster

Thank you for joining us at WordCamp Lancaster 2017. We had a blast! This community will never tire of learning, catching up with friends, or forging new bonds. These moments were captured in photos thanks to Doug Stuart.

Our event would not be possible without you or our generous sponsors. Thank you, and thanks to BoldGrid, WooCommerce, JetPack, BlueHost, GoDaddy, RedX Web Design, WPML.org, Dreamhost, SiteGround, Paid Memberships Pro, SiteLock, and Pantheon.

You can be the first to find out about future WordPress events in Lancaster by joining our WordPress Lancaster Meetup.

Sponsor: BoldGrid

BoldGrid is a website builder powered by WordPress. It is a free set of WordPress plugins, themes, and other content that allows site creation and management similar to non-WordPress website builders. By placing WordPress more in line with DIY site builder solutions on the market, our mission is not only to make WordPress more accessible and easy for beginners to utilize, but also automate and streamline typical WordPress tasks to provide a fast, creator-friendly platform that even web professionals will appreciate.

Experience WordPress as a website builder, including: free pre-built themes, drag and drop editing, integrated image banks, simplified photo editing, built-in staging, automated backups, and so much more.

BoldGrid will have you creating professional looking WordPress sites in minutes!

Generous sponsors like BoldGrid make WordCamps like ours accessible to anyone who wishes to attend.

Sponsor: WooCommerce

37% of all online stores are powered by WooCommerce. Built on WordPress, WooCommerce is a fully customizable, open source eCommerce solution.

Whether you’re selling a few handcrafted items to a niche market, taking an existing business online, or going global with an enterprise level eCommerce business – WooCommerce will get you set up and selling fast and scale securely as you grow. Plus your content will be forever yours and customizable down to the finest button color.

Developed and supported by a distributed team, WooCommerce is powered by Automattic, the creators of WordPress.com.

We are thrilled to have WooCommerce as a sponsor for WordCamp Lancaster 2017!

Sponsor: Jetpack

Jetpack is a free WordPress plugin that simplifies managing your sites. This single plugin enables Photon (a global CDN for images), uptime monitoring, brute force protection, traffic-boosting tools, single sign on, multiple-site management, and automatic or bulk plugin updates. Additionally Jetpack includes several features that help you customize the look and feel of your site without installing other tools. More information can be found at jetpack.com.

Without sponsors like Jetpack, the price of your ticket would be much greater than $20. Thank you, Jetpack.

Things To Do In Lancaster on Friday

When I wrote about the hotels where you should consider staying during WordCamp a few weeks ago, I suggested that you might consider coming to Lancaster on Friday instead of Saturday morning. Allow me to expand on that thought, because there are a lot of reasons you should visit Lancaster City and especially this Friday, March 3rd. Here are a few.

It’s First Friday

Lancaster celebrates its culture and commerce on the first Friday of each month. This means art galleries and shops stay open late, special events and plates are prepared, and the community and tourists alike explore the city.

Peep this list of First Friday Events. A number of these events, but by no means all, take place on Gallery Row.

Photo by Lindsay Lazarski/WHYY

Gallery Row is the first and second blocks of North Prince Street and the center of Lancaster’s art scene. In addition to some of the city’s galleries, these blocks are home to the Fulton Theater and The Ware Center.

Central Market until 4pm

Lancaster Central Market, our country’s oldest farmer’s market, is a required stop at the center of our city for any foodie touring the area. More than 60 vendors sell local and imported foodstuffs to 3,000 visitors each week. In 2013, Central Market was named one of the world’s 10 best fresh markets by CNN. The market opens at 6am on Friday and Saturday, and the closing times are early at 4pm on Friday and 2pm on Saturday.

Photo by Ann Witmer/PennLive

Foods and Drinks

Lancaster County has a rich restaurant and craft beer scene. Recently, local restaurant Ma(i)son received high praise from Alton Brown, the host of the Food Network’s Good Eats. Last year, four Lancaster County breweries won medals at the World Beer Cup. One of those breweries, Lancaster Brewing Company, is just minutes down the street from our venue.

Local restaurants, like Federal Taphouse & Hunger N Thirst, are making their names on their craft beer collections. The former boasts 100 taps and the latter maintains a tap list and bottle shop full of rarities.

We even have a vegan restaurant with an impressive tap list in Root on Walnut Street. Last time I was there, they had a St. Boniface Oatmeal Stout on tap, which was the first time I had seen that beer available outside Ephrata, the town 15 miles to the north where it is brewed.

Rice and Noodles is a fantastic Vietnamese restaurant that was opened by a family that relocated to Lancaster after being forced to evacuate New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. After all of their restaurants were heavily damaged in the storm, they sought refuge with a relative who lived here. Their restaurant just north of the city limits has been so successful that they’ve opened a second location downtown on Gallery Row called Sprout.

Chicken wing connoisseurs need not venture too far from our venue to find Rumplebrewskin’s, perhaps the best wing joint even locals have never heard of. With 5o flavors of wings on the menu, the hottest variety I have tried was only their third hottest, Wicked Chili, and there is no way I could have finished a full order of them. I recently heard a rumor that the famous crab cake recipe belonging to the owner of Hall’s Cafe, the bar that previously occupied this space, was included in the sale but is only prepared on First Fridays.

Lancaster Awaits

There are gems to be found almost anywhere you look in this city, and it would be a shame if you didn’t experience some of our treasures during your trip to WordCamp. Try us! Join us this weekend to celebrate WordPress in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

 

Sponsor: Bluehost

Bluehost has been a WordPress partner since 2005 and powers over 1 million WordPress sites worldwide. Their objective is to help customers, whether novice or pro, create a thriving online presence at an affordable price. With a team of in-house tech experts available 24/7, Bluehost dedicates time and resources to providing the best support and services in the industry. Join millions of other site owners and see what Bluehost can do for you and your online presence.

Generous sponsors like Bluehost allow us to offer low ticket prices to WordCamp Lancaster, and for that, we are grateful.

Our After Party Will Be Held At…

The Lancaster Science Factory! 🎉

The Lancaster Science Factory is a hands-on, interactive technology and science center one mile from our venue on the same street. We are thrilled to celebrate WordPress and our community at this museum, and we have been eagerly looking forward to this announcement.

We hope that you will join us for a day of learning and inspiration at WordCamp Lancaster 2017. Tickets are on sale now!

Accommodations & Lodging Near WordCamp Lancaster

If your WordCamp weekend will be longer than a day trip, Lancaster welcomes you with a unique array of rooms to accommodate your stay.

Near the Venue & in Downtown Lancaster

Lancaster, Pennsylvania is a friendly, vibrant, and walkable city with deep roots in American history. Today, Lancaster is home to thriving theater and arts scenes, hundreds of casual and fine dining restaurants, five museums, and many attractive events.

Guests staying at the Lancaster Marriott at Penn Square will rest at our city’s center and wake up across the street from Lancaster Central Market, the oldest farmer’s market in the country. The best reason to stay Friday night may be because Central Market is not open on Sunday mornings.

The Lancaster Arts Hotel is a boutique hotel of just five floors, filled with contemporary art, and built in a 19th century tobacco warehouse. Today, the hotel is a smoke-free building that also houses a restaurant.

The Hotel Lancaster is two blocks north of the square and was designed for business travelers from top to bottom.

The closest rooms to our wonderful venue, the IU13 Conference and Training Center, are just down the street at the Cork Factory Hotel. Unfortunately, we have been told that they are booked for the weekend of March 4th.

Outside City Limits & Amenities Galore

The Eden Resort has two restaurants situated in an amenity-rich, relaxing environment for guests. The Eden is also home to a gorgeous wedding venue and sits adjacent to route 30, providing perhaps the best access to our areas highways.

Outside City Limits & Near Tourist Attractions

A few miles east of Lancaster on Route 30, a bustling shopping district attracts so many tourists that hotels are built faster than mapping services can create listings for them. Tanger & Rockvale outlet shopping centers, the (closed for the winter) Dutch Wonderland children’s amusement park, and Amish shops & villages are key drivers behind the nearly two billion dollars that are spent by tourists in Lancaster County each year. Choosing a hotel on route 30 near this business district will mean competitive rates and traffic with access to hundreds of retail stores and restaurants.

Join us on March 4th! Plan your stay and check out our advice for travel: Getting In and Around Lancaster.

Getting In and Around Lancaster

Traveling to Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Lancaster is the eighth largest city in Pennsylvania and was the nation’s capital for one day on September 27, 1777, after the Continental Congress fled Philadelphia during the Revolutionary War. We hope this travel information will make your trip to Lancaster more pleasant than that of our revolutionaries.

By automobile

From the west, via the Turnpike/I76

Take exit 247 Harrisburg East & follow 283 East to Lancaster

From the east, via the Turnpike/I76

Take exit 286 Reading & turn left on 222 South to Lancaster

From the south, via I83

Take exit 19 for PA-462/Market St & turn right onto 30 East to Lancaster

Parking

Parking at our venue is plentiful and free. Street and garage parking are administered throughout the city by the Lancaster Parking Authority.

By public transit

Via train

Lancaster has an Amtrak station, LNC.

Via bus

Ten of the Red Rose Transit bus routes extend outside city limits into surrounding towns.

By plane

The closest comfortable airport is Harrisburg (MDT), but you’ll still likely need to catch a connecting flight at a larger regional airport. Connections from Washington, DC (IAD) are about 20 minutes wheels up to wheels down.

Philadelphia (PHL) and Baltimore (BWI) are both about 90 minutes away.

Lancaster Airport (LNS) has daily service from Pittsburgh (PIT) and Baltimore (BWI), but these flights are on small propeller planes that frighten casual fliers even though ear plugs are usually provided.

By boat

You can’t really take a boat directly here. If you must take a boat, try to dock in Baltimore, then take a Penn Station Amtrak train to LNC station in Lancaster.

Showing up is 90%!

WordCamp Lancaster, PA is over. Check out the next edition!