More memories of Chance’s Restaurant

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Remember how I said I’ve been recently reworking some “Do you remember?” posts into a column in each Sunday’s Your News section?
Well, it turns out people really do still read print newspapers (and I am quite thankful for that.) How do I know this? Because each week, I’ve gotten more than a dozen responses to topics from that print column!
One in particular came more than a week ago as a handwritten letter. (Nice change from bills, I have to add!)
Anyway, I wanted to share this letter, from Kenneth Willwert of the Stewartstown area, because I bet you’ll like it, too. It’s about Chance’s Restaurant, which used to be near the square in Dallastown.
Kenneth wrote:
“I am writing to let you know more on Chance’s Restaurant. Well, when I was a teen growing up we raised potatoes on the farm. The restaurant was owned by Chancey Sidenstrickler and every two weeks, we would deliver him 5 or 6 hundred-pound bags of potatoes. We would put them in the cellar which had a door and steps from in back.”
He continues, “Now after you put the potatoes in, you always was told to come in the restaurant and he would have a ice-cream-fountain drink waiting for you free of charge. Chancey loved baseball; if he was watching a game, he never talked too much.”
“Chancey was always chewing tobacco, and most times the cook would take care of meals and Chancey would have the dish towel and wipe dishes and plates. The restaurant stood where Turkey Hill is now” in Dallastown, Kenneth added, concluding: “Chancey was a kind and well-loved man.”
Thank you, Kenneth, for sharing this story that I’d never have known otherwise. I feel like I can taste the ice-cream soda myself!

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