Gina Gargano would much rather talk about Schuylkill County than herself. As a dedicated ambassador in her role as Executive Director at Explore Schuylkill, Schuylkill County’s visitor’s bureau, it comes more naturally for her to promote the region she calls home. But as this is a story about her, we persuaded her to share a little of her background.

The granddaughter of Italian immigrants on her father’s side, Gina was born and raised in Pottsville. In fact, she’s never lived anywhere else. She attended Pottsville Area school district and gravitated toward books and learning over sports.

She married and had four daughters (plus two granddaughters and another baby girl on the way). And then she set out for that college degree. She earned her BA from Penn State Schuylkill, an MBA from Misericordia University and for the past thirteen years she’s been at the helm of Schuylkill County tourism.

Her enthusiasm for this stretch of Appalachia she calls home is infectious. A region known for its rich history in coal mining, today is an outdoor recreation destination thanks to the Appalachian Trail, Weiser State Forest and three state parks where people go to bike, fish, hike, hunt, off-road and camp, access to the Schuylkill River (the most exciting section to paddle, she says), and Yuengling beer, of course. And in the middle of all that, she explained Why NEPA? is the only home for her.

How long have you lived in NEPA?

Oh. 54 years. I told you I’m old (laughs).

What do you love about your town?

I guess what I love…personally and professionally it’s tough. Like, professionally I represent the whole county, which is almost 800 square land miles and a lot of towns. I love things about the whole county, as well as living in Pottsville. I really do (laughs).

You know what I love? I love that it’s easy to have relationships here. It’s easy to have good, lasting relationships here. And there’s a lot of crossover in them. I have professional relationships that cross over into my personal life and into my family life and that’s what you get in smaller, less populated places. And I like that, you know? Don’t get me wrong, sometimes it can be tricky. There’re little nuances to things, but I love that it’s easy to form relationships here.

There’s so much connectivity which is a big thing for me personally. Like, I love the ease with which you can plug into people and organizations and opportunities, whether that be for learning or personal fulfillment or anything. I love that. The more impersonal we get as a population with technology, and I’m not anti-technology, I love it, right? If this goes down (motioning to her computer) I can’t do any work a whole day. Nothing. I can’t get anything done (laughs). So, I’m not an anti-technology person. But I guess I have a little bit of that old-fashioned, doing it boots on the ground, face-to-face connectivity. I find that easy and probably because I’m a Gen Xer. We had to do everything, that’s the way I look at it. But, ya, I love the connectivity.

What’s your favorite NEPA restaurant?

That’s very tricky. Oh, that’s so hard because I like to eat. I do. I like to eat and I like all different kinds of things, too. I really do. Oh, and I’m a pizza lover. I go mad for pizza. I could eat pizza every day. And just pizza alone there’s all different kinds. Isn’t there? Sigh. Goodness, gracious. I guess I would have to say, ugh, well, this is terrible. It’s so hard. What’s my all-time favorite? Gee whiz. That’s so difficult. I guess if I was going to think of a place where I could get a variety of different things, I’d have to say The Brickhouse in Orwigsburg.

The quality is top notch. The execution is always perfect. I don’t think they ever have a bad day. I really don’t. And they take great care with the ingredients. Great care with the preparation, which is how I cook. If you’re Italian, and I don’t know if other cultures are like this, but everything is important. And if everything is important, nothing is important, like, let’s not go there, but it is though. The treatment of each individual ingredient and how the dish is composed and what’s done with each ingredient within it is what makes the dish. And they do that perfectly. All the time. I don’t think they ever have a bad day. Which is hard to believe. But I truly don’t.

They do a variety. They have a consistent menu but they also have a lot of specials. They do a lot of farm-to-fork stuff. They’re very careful and thoughtful with their ingredients. Because food is ingredients. It’s all those ingredients first. And I like that approach and not everywhere has that approach.

What’s your favorite thing to do in NEPA?

Well, my job is very cool. I get to go to a lot of things and see and do a lot of things. We sponsor almost every event that happens in this county, which means I get to do all kinds of things. But I’m very much a homebody. I’m not the person that has to be at all the stuff, even though at work I am the person that has to be at all the stuff.

So, what do I like to do? I love to go for a walk. It’s my favorite thing to do. And I think it’s because I do everything else at my job. I think all the things that people answer, like, I love to go to this winery and I love to kayak the Schuylkill. I do all that for work. We go to the airport and fly a lot for different things. We go to the fair. I get to drive a tractor at the fair (laughs). Sometimes I taste test food on the radio show at the fair. I work Lager Jogger. So, things that other people are doing in their recreation, I’m doing in my job, truly.

So, my answer is…I love to grow a garden. Flowers, vegetables and herbs, spring through the fall and take care of the dirt in the winter. I love to tend to my garden. And I love to take a walk. It doesn’t matter where. It can be just right around where I live in the Yorkville section of Pottsville, at Locust Lake or Sweet Arrow Lake. My favorite things are just real homey things and cooking. I love to cook and I love to bake.

What’s next for you?

I really don’t know. You know, now that I’m older, I’m a very day-at-a-time person. Like, I have a structure and I have a schedule, we all have to, but I’m so different from when I was 30. I’m even different from when I was 40. I worry a lot less now. And I don’t sweat the small stuff, which I really have always done. I’m a lot calmer now. But I’m also a lot more confident now to and I see our area growing.

When you’re responsible for tourism in a given location, it’s all a partnership. It’s all relationships. It’s not competition. In tourism, the way things grow and the way things get better is everybody being partnered and connected together. It’s the restaurants and the bakeries and the wineries. It’s all your food and beverage partners. It’s all your outdoor rec partners. It’s all your historical societies and museums and art centers. It’s everybody working together. It’s everybody cross promoting. It’s everybody in partnership. It’s events inviting others to their events. It’s everybody coming together for specific things and everybody benefits. And I have seen a great increase in that over the past thirteen years. The mindset that people get away from competition and think about working together.

And so, I am very optimistic about that and I see more of that happening. I see more of a coming together. More of an embracing of that. And our role is just to be there helping. Whatever way it takes. That’s what I see. I don’t see myself looking to do anything else. I really enjoy this.

Where do you see NEPA heading in the future?

I feel like that connectivity, that openness to relationships. Connectivity and partnerships over competition. I think that can take us in a growth direction. Do I know what’s going to grow? Is everybody going to grow? I like to believe if the tide rises, everybody rises. I like to believe that. I don’t know if that’s how it’s going to work out. But that’s what I feel.  That’s what I see and feel happening. If it can stay in that connected partnership, I feel like the tides going to rise. What’s going to be predominant? I don’t know. But I feel like it’s going to take everybody up. Which is only good.

We had all of those effects from Covid. Covid made people move out of cities and made people look at places like where we live and be like, I can work remotely. I’m going to live here and I’ll know the other parents in the school district. That works for us in Northeastern, Pa. I feel like there’s a big shift. Don’t you think? Because most of my life it was outmigration, especially of education, of educated youth.

My generation, Gen Xers, 80% of them got educated and didn’t move back here. Even my parents, the Golden generation, a lot of them did not stay here. They went in the service and they went where jobs took them. Significant portions of the population. That’s just been a thing in all of this Appalachian stretch for generations and generations and generations. Covid changed that. It shifted. I don’t know if it will stay. I hope it stays because that’s what I think is going to do it for communities like this all over the country.

Why NEPA?

Well, why not? Pennsylvania, Penn’s Woods, is a great state. We’re the original home of America’s government. We’re the original home of the Revolution. Of the Founders. It’s beautiful, the topography of the land. A lot of agriculture here. And a lot of Penn’s woods in general, I think, that is what we are.

I like a green town. Now, I’m not the person that can live on a farm. I don’t like 40 minutes to milk or eggs or bread. I find that inconvenient. I find really, really rural remote living inconvenient. I would never. I’m a town kid. I am. But I’m not a city kid. I like when the sunlight hits the pavement. I don’t want to be in a city where the sunlight never reaches the pavement and you have to go to a park to see green. You see green in all our streets. You see it in every direction. Every town you’re in you look and there’s a mountain. They are everywhere. I find it beautiful. I find it comforting.

I feel like, why Northeastern Pennsylvania? Because these mountains are home. We can do everything in them. They did not impede us. They don’t stop us from anything. They are people mountains. They are friendly. They are surmountable. Navigable. They’re workable. You can live on them and in them. They are not remote and they foster life.