With nearly 45,000 students and 11,000 employees living among the mountains and valleys of the Centre Region, Penn State has a profound impact on State College and things to do in the area. The diverse population makes the area a natural for a wide variety of cultural activities. The Bryce Jordan Center has become a major source of entertainment hosting over 1,300 events and drawing more than 11 million people to such acts as Bruce Springsteen, Kanye West, Prince, The Black Eyed Peas, T.I., Rascal Flatts, Dave Matthews Band, Metallica, and many more.
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The ebb-and-flow of activity in State College has created a vibrant downtown that always is bustling with a mix of students, visitors and residents gathering in their favorite spots, dining at the wide variety of restaurants, attending a movie or the theater, enjoy a wide selection of live music or shopping. Downtown activity is even more pronounced during home football and basketball game weekends, as well as commencement weekends. More than 2,000,000 visitors travel to the Centre Region each year. Centre County teems with outdoor recreation with a plethora of hiking, road and mountain biking trails, lakes and streams, game lands and forests. National Geographic’s Adventure magazine named State College one of its 50 next great adventure towns among its list of the best places to live and play. The 16,000-seat Bryce Jordan Center is one of the top grossing venues in the nation, as well as one of the top university venues — of any size — in the world. It regularly host a full slate of popular acts including recent stops from Rihanna, Bon Jovi, Will Ferrell, 50 Cent, Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw, Dane Cook, Akon, John Legend and many others. Eisenhower Auditorium presents more than 40 professional performances annually by the world’s foremost artists. Touring Broadway shows, music, drama and dance are among the events, which take place in the 2,500-seat campus facility. Also popular is the Distinguished Speakers Series. Among the speakers in recent years: actors Danny Glover and James Earl Jones, Reverend Jesse Jackson, journalists Sam Donaldson and Robin Roberts, Academy Award-nominated directors Spike Lee and John Singleton, politician Howard Dean and sports legends Hank Aaron and Magic Johnson.