Things to Do in Pottsville

As more theaters converted to high-quality digital projection, FunTime Cinemas knew it had to keep up with the times. There was one small problem: the cost. Independent from the industry behemoths, the community-focused FunTime Cinemas needed some help to fund the conversion and maintain its affordable ticket prices. So it reached out to its patrons through the Dollars for Digital campaign, which helped raise enough money for all three theaters to become 100% digital. The updated projection allows FunTime to continue showcasing the newest major releases, as well as special one-time screenings of smaller features, with crisp picture and sound at deeply discounted prices.

After practicing a new way to combine balls with baskets during the pro lacrosse clinic, both newbies and enthusiasts of the sport can kick back and enjoy the sights and sounds of the LXM Fan Experience. When the blades of grass settle, Wale will get them jumping again with tracks like his Billboard-charting singles "Pretty Girls," "Chillin," and more. By then, the crowd should be plenty amped for the main event—the LXM PRO Lacrosse Game. On the field, dozens of the sport's best players, including Kyle Harrison and Joe Walters, will split into two teams and go goal-for-goal and stick-for-stick as they play for sheer love of the game—inspiring the crowd's aspiring youth athletes with rocket-powered passes, last-second catches, and thrilling goals. There's no cap for today's Groupon, so feel free to bus in with a team or carpool in with a family.

Founded on Christmas Eve in 1741 by a small group of Moravian settlers and christened “Christmas City, USA” in 1937, Bethlehem turns its gaze toward the past during the holiday season with guided tours and museum exhibits. The 10.9-mile Heritage Trail snakes through 80 historic stops, including two National Historic Landmarks, Victorian-era homes, and the nation’s oldest gift shop. On historic walks, guides lead tour groups through the now-defunct site of Bethlehem Steel, the city’s oldest cemeteries, and the 1762 Waterworks, known as the first municipally pumped water system in the country. Located inside the 1741 Gemeinhaus, the Moravian Museum of Bethlehem curates a collection of exhibits about the town’s settlers, including their missionary work, education system, and medical techniques.

Hershey Theatre, conceived in 1933 by noted philanthropist and chocolatier Milton S. Hershey, stands as an opulent tribute to the performing arts. Taking architectural cues from Saint Mark’s Basilica in Venice, the foyer’s towering arches gleam with golden paint and crystal chandeliers. The blue-and-gold mosaic that leads to the main seating area is the masterwork of two German artists who spent two years on its construction. Once inside the theater, audiences might think they’ve stepped onto the streets of Venice thanks to the atmospheric ceiling, stonework facades, and gondoliers paddling them to their seats.

Several decades of disparate architectural styles stand at the corner of 69th and Ludlow: an old-fashioned radio tower atop the Doric columns of a faux-classical cupola atop a streamlined marquee that broadcasts the year the Tower Theatre opened as a music venue: 1972. That's when it began helping introduce the world to such acts as David Bowie, Genesis, and Bruce Springsteen. Inside, red lights glow over an auditorium done up in the 1920s style of the movie palace that originally filled the venue, with marble pillars, Italianate archways, and an enormous light fixture that resembles an old film reel from the days before movies were beamed from computers into audiences' brains.

Propelled by an affinity for fresh air, the family that helms Hispaniola Cycling fosters the same free-spirit mentality in its guests who embark on the outfit’s bike tours, which include cycles and helmets. Hispaniola’s guides are experts on the local topography, calling upon their respect for Mother Nature and a healthy fear of her mood swings to guide groups for spins around town or weekend jaunts through Valley Forge and along the Schuylkill River Trail. They can also expand fitness with wellness tours and camaraderie with corporate tours that follow custom routes around worksites, kick-starting employee heart rates a midday slump after they wrestle faulty fax machines.