Winners Circle

Grantville, PA

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Holiday Inn

I remember the porte cochere (which in those days I didn’t know what the covered hotel drop off was called). We pulled off the interstate in Hershey, PA about sunset. The Holiday Inn glowed large next to the highway, and expanded in footprint as we drove around in search of the lobby. A long roof extended wall-less from an otherwise blank facade. The porte cochere’s shape was geometric, balanced, and entirely odd. 30 years later it hadn’t changed.

Tucked in the back corner of the lobby was a bar. I can’t imagine I saw it when we checked in. After settling into our rooms, my Dad told us we were going to the hotel bar for dinner.

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**somewhat occupied (2018)**
Mark Sanders

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The Winners Circle

I’m surprised by how much I remember about this bar. We entered from the back. There was bar seating all the way down the right side. We sat and ate on a platform three steps up from the dance floor. I ate a hamburger and fries. Garth Brooks followed an unknown 80s country music hit song on the speakers.

Sitting by the rail on our perch, my Dad exclaimed, “Now that’s my kinda music!” as a grid of people moved in total synchrony on the dance floor. Backward, forward, rotate 90-degrees, dip, repeat. So this is line dancing.

I was mortified.

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After finishing dinner and waiting for what seemed an eternity, my Dad let my brother and me leave to explore the lobby, the arcade, and the pool. We probably all slept that night content: Dad had a line dancing bar, we had a pool (and arcade).

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This Holiday Inn was more than a roadside hotel, it was a ‘resort’ hotel. It had a restaurant with breakfast buffet, a themed bar, conference rooms, indoor and outdoor pool, and arcade. There were things to do and redo for days. If you were there for work, bring the family. If you were there for recreation, every family member has something to do.

We were there for less than 12 hours and then hopped in the car to finish our drive north. No visits to Hershey Park. No reason to leave the premises.

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25 years later I am again traveling north through Hershey, PA. I look left off the interstate. Can it possibly be? Is that it? It has to be. The image and experience of the Holiday Inn and the line dancing bar flooded back.

With a little research, I discovered the Holiday Inn I’d seen housed a country / western bar—with line dancing.

We’ve driven past the hotel a dozen times on our way to visit friends in the Catskills. Each time I think of the bar, my embarrassment, my Dad. I threaten to stay the night and see how my memory measures up with what is still there. Finally, I made a reservation site unseen.

Nervously we pulled off I-81 at exit 80. The approach was pure deja vu. The lobby had been updated, but in the back corner there was a neon sign over a door. Beyond that, there was a bar down the right side, line dancing in the middle, raised seating to the left, and a stage in the front. This time I drank craft beer and Irish whiskey. Everyone was pleasant.

I’m pretty sure we stayed at the Holiday Inn other times because of my Dad’s fondness for that bar. I still love road trips and pulling off for the night because of these nights with my family. You can always count on a place to sleep, something to eat, and something entirely unexpected.