Wasted Hours

For many years one of the major Lancaster Country tourist attractions was Willow Valley Restaurant and Inn.  Folks came from all around to stay in this beautiful setting which included a lake, a covered bridge, a golf course, area bus tours, a great bakery, a gift shop, fine rooms and pools, and a great restaurant.  The original owners created a family atmosphere and daily worked there and talked with the visitors who came from all over the world.  It was really Pennsylvania Dutch hospitality at its best.  But over the years things changed.  Younger family members took over and change was inevitable.  The food was expensive and not quite as good or as much as before.  A liquor license was obtained and that was quite a contrast from the days when the restaurant would not open on Sundays.  Then the newer part of the complex with its beautiful atrium was sold to Doubletree.  Then very unexpectedly, about two months ago, all the employees were told that Willow Valley Inn, Restaurant and Bakery would be closed and torn down.  And it would not be rebuilt.  The community was stunned.  Folks who had worked there for many, many years would be unemployed.  A few days ago it was announced that everything in the complex would be sold - signs, bedding, tables, chairs, televisions, toilets, sinks, all the kitchen materials, sheets and pillows, cookware, the salad bar and even the doors - everything.  For up to 30 days, or until all was sold, it would be open for anyone to come and purchase what was left.  The sale was to start on Thursday, November 15. They expect to clear $300,000 from the sale of these items.  When the sale was completed the complex will be demolished with no information about the site's future. The only thing of interest to us at the sale were the 32" Samsung LCD televisions.  They had 160 of them for sale at $165 each.  So we decided to go and see if we could purchase one.  When we arrived there already was a line of well over 200 waiting.  The line quickly doubled and tripled after our arrival.  To control the crowd, they only allowed groups of 50 to enter at one time.  We were in the fifth group and we waited outside for about an hour to gain entrance.  Then we learned that you had to stand in another line to make your purchase and only then would you know if what you wanted was still available.  So we joined the line hoping that they would have one television left when we reached the cashier.  The problem with that was that the line was the whole way through the lobby, down the stairs and into the bakery.  We only had an hour that we could wait since we had other appointments that we couldn't miss.  After about 40 minutes in line, when we had only moved about five yards to the bottom of the steps, I decided to investigate.  It appeared that there were about 100 folks in front of us and it looked like they only had two cashiers.  It then became obvious that we would never get to the cashier in time.  Later we heard that one person waited in line for two hours and I can easily believe that.  So we had no choice but to leave without having a chance to make a purchase.  The company man at the door said they never expected that number of buyers. How stupid could that be - anybody with common sense would know that Lancaster Countians would flock to such a sale, especially from one of the best known establishments in Pennsylvania.  We did return about 3:30 in the afternoon and the line was gone - but so were the televisions.  And maybe that was good since we had no idea how good they were and there was no guarantee and no returns allowed. So in a way it was a gamble.  But there were some other things still to sell - the swinging doors to the bakery were still there and could be had for $450 and the single door there was just $250!