According to Mayor Matt Pacifico, hotels for the week have been sold out for some time, mostly in anticipation of Big Boy’s arrival.

When Big Boy rolled into the city Wednesday, there was “a nice-sized crowd” of people gathered around downtown to view the historic moment, Pacifico said, noting people gathered on bridges, rooftops, the parking garage and all along the walkway behind the Railroaders Memorial Museum.

“It was cool to see all the hype and excitement around it and all of the businesses getting on board, coming up with T-shirts and specials themed around the Big Boy,” Pacifico said.

Pacifico said businesses like Crowned Boutique sold Big Boy-themed shirts, while others like Levity Brewing Co. had a Big Boy brown ale on draft.

Rick Peters of Frederick, Maryland, (at left) sits with his friend Fritz Keppler of Arlington, Virginia, Thursday at Tom and Joe’s restaurant. The two visited Altoona for the first time this week to see Big Boy make its arrival. Mirror photo by Matt Churella

Sarah Garber, owner of The Clay Cup, said her business was one of several that capitalized on the opportunity to promote Big Boy’s appearance. The coffee shop created a specialty drink, named in the locomotive’s honor, that was “basically a blueberry pie latte with four shots of espresso in it,” she said.

While Garber hasn’t looked at the sales for that specific item, she said The Clay Cup has been busy over the past week.

“We’re pretty busy in general,” Garber said, adding while there was a lot more noticeable foot traffic downtown, it didn’t translate to getting more business than the shop usually gets.

It was “nothing really crazy out of the ordinary,” Garber said in an interview Thursday morning.

Jamie Baser Foust, the city’s main street manager, said the Altoona Farmers Market, which operates from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Thursday in Heritage Plaza through Oct. 15, had extended hours this week. But vendors felt like many of the regular attendees stayed away, possibly out of fear that it would’ve been busier than usual with out-of-town guests, she said.

Kenneth Newton of Drakes Branch, Virginia, flips through a calendar in the Railroaders Memorial Museum. Mirror photo by Matt Churella

“We’ve all been joking that it’s similar to what Pittsburgh saw during the NFL draft where their businesses planned all of those things and then it almost scared the regular customers away because they were worried about traffic and parking,” Foust said.

“We’ve seen maybe a little bit of that as well,” she said.

For the most part, however, business owners were “pretty happy with the amount of foot traffic we’ve seen downtown,” Foust said.

“There were definitely a lot more people out just kind of strolling the streets and walking around downtown than what we see typically on a regular day,” Foust said.

Tom and Joe’s owner George Batrus said his restaurant has been busy all week. While they’re normally busy on weekends, they made “almost close to weekend sales” throughout the entire week, according to Batrus.

From left: Matthew Kostovny of West Mifflin and William Jester of Pittsburgh speak with Railroaders Memorial Museum volunteer Joe Harbula about the Pennsylvania Railroad K4 1361 restoration project Thursday at the museum. Mirror photo by Matt Churella

“Ever since this past Sunday, every single weekday has probably an uptick of maybe 20 to 30 percent,” Batrus said.

Only opportunity to see Big Boy

At one point Thursday afternoon, the line to get into Tom and Joe’s was out the door. Among those standing outside and waiting to get in were friends Rick Peters of Frederick, Maryland, and Fritz Keppler of Arlington, Virginia — both visiting Altoona for the first time.

Peters said he stumbled across news that Big Boy was doing a cross-country tour in honor of America’s 250th anniversary, so he and Keppler decided to visit the city, since it was the closest Big Boy was going to be from where they live.

They were among those who took the shuttle bus from People’s Natural Gas Field to see Big Boy arrive.

Railroaders Memorial Museum volunteer Larry Wilson blows the Pennsylvania Railroad K4 1361 whistle. The K4 whistle was put on this engine for the event, while the steam locomotive itself is being restored, officials said. Mirror photo by Matt Churella

“We originally went to Bellwood,” Peters said. “We were thinking we might watch the train go through Bellwood, but we decided we’d get better views of it in Altoona. We had a nice meal at the Main Street Grille of Bellwood … but then we drove down to Altoona and got on the bridge to watch the train come through.”

On Thursday, Peters and Keppler visited the Railroaders Memorial Museum, toured the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament and then visited Tom and Joe’s, which was recommended to them by one of the cathedral’s tour guides.

After lunch, the two traveled to Somerset County to visit the Flight 93 National Memorial in Stonycreek Township, near Shanksville, before returning to their respective homes.

As part of the events in downtown, the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament hosted guided tours, played a 10-minute organ recital at the top of every hour and welcomed visitors to attend the daily Holy Mass at noon, said communications director Tony DeGol.

The sound of the cathedral’s organ was “beautiful,” Keppler said.

It’s one of the only working Steinmeyer organs in North America, according to Bob Long, the cathedral’s music director.

“The instrument is unique because it was commissioned at the same time the cathedral was built, so it’s nearly 100 years old,” Long said.

Members of the Steinmeyer Co. of Germany came over to view the building and made their design for the instrument, Long said, noting they went back to Germany, built the organ and shipped it overseas.

The instrument came on a ship from Germany to New York and was then put on the railroad to bring it to Altoona, where it was dedicated in 1931, Long said, adding the only other Steinmeyer instrument that he’s aware of is in Canada.

“But they’ve made some changes over the years. I think the console part that you sit at has been replaced,” Long said of the organ in Canada, noting the cathedral’s organ is “very close to what it was in 1931.”

Jim Schnur and his son, Zack, both of Frederick, Maryland, were also waiting outside Tom and Joe’s for lunch Thursday.

Jim Schnur said they’ve driven through the city many times on their way to camp up in Elk County. But this week is the first time they’ve stopped to explore Altoona after seeing Big Boy.

“We wanted to come up because it was the only opportunity we were going to have to see it unless we went to the West Coast,” Schnur said.

Like his father, Zack Schnur said he is a rail enthusiast.

Last year, the two rode on Norfolk and Western’s 611 locomotive, known as the “Queen of Steam,” and were lucky enough to see Big Boy — nearly double the weight and built for sheer pulling power — this year, they said.

“It’s been fortunate that they’ve been relatively close to us, like two hours at the max,” Zack Schnur said.

‘Pulls us back to our roots’

At the Railroaders Memorial Museum, dozens of visitors were shopping in the museum’s gift shop and waiting in line to tour the museum, including Kenneth Newton of Drakes Branch, Virginia, who was in town for Big Boy.

Inside the Harry Bennett Memorial Roundhouse, Phyllis Martin and her husband, Joe, alongside their friend John Wyckoff, viewed parts of the Pennsylvania Railroad K4 1361 locomotive (see related story, Page A1), which is currently under restoration, museum volunteers said.

The Martins are Altoona natives who currently reside in Bellefonte. They were entertaining grandkids when Big Boy arrived Wednesday, but they wanted to view the locomotive Thursday with Wyckoff, who lives in Millersburg, Dauphin County, about 120 miles from Altoona.

“My dad was a PRR (Pennsylvania Railroad) employee for 41 years in those shops down there,” Phyllis Martin said. “He gave up all his life (to the railroad industry). When you think about it, it’s quite a number of years.”

William Jester of Pittsburgh was among those who also visited the museum before checking out Big Boy, alongside his friend, Matthew Kostovny of West Mifflin Borough, Allegheny County.

“I’m a big train enthusiast, and the restoration of the K4 is really interesting,” Jester said. “They do a lot of good work here, and I wanted to check it out.”

Speaking of Big Boy, Jester said it was “very impressive” to see such a large piece of machinery operating.

“To see it come across the country and go through all these different cities to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary is a very great thing for the country and it just pulls us back to our roots,” Jester said.

Impact is huge

The economic impact of Big Boy is huge, said Stephen McKnight, president and chief executive officer of the Altoona Blair County Development Corp.

“This is likely the largest single event for visitations and spending in Blair County’s history,” McKnight said, noting the event’s major impact on hotel bookings for the area.

Throughout the weekend, McKnight said he expects increased spending in the city’s restaurants, main street businesses and other historical destinations, notably the Railroaders Memorial Museum.

“Overall, we have been working with Discover Blair County and other planning partners to coordinate a single message for those visiting to do many other things while they are here,” McKnight said.

“We want them to consider a return trip in the future. The short-term impact is big, but just as important is translating this event into future visits,” he added.

While it’s nice to have an influx of visitors spending money in the city, Foust said she hopes the Big Boy attraction encourages residents to rediscover downtown Altoona’s shops and restaurants.

A lot of people Foust spoke with Wednesday during Boy Boy’s arrival were people who live in the area but were unfamiliar with what businesses are currently downtown, she said.

“I almost hope that locals use this as an opportunity to come downtown if they haven’t been there in a while and sort of rediscover some of what we have open down there right now,” Foust said, adding there’s plenty of parking to visit downtown.

Foust said officials counted the number of available parking spaces in the city’s parking garage during the peak hours of Big Boy’s arrival Wednesday and there were about 40 to 50 untaken spaces.

“I know the parking situation often deters people from coming down, but I think a lot of it is just a perceptual thing and not an actual lack of parking,” she said.

Mirror Staff Writer Matt Churella is at 814-946-7520.