Free parking is coming to downtown State College. Here’s how to take advantage later this month
Free holiday parking is coming to downtown State College in time for Thanksgiving and is staying through New Year’s Day, thanks to an ongoing partnership between the borough and the Downtown State College Improvement District (DSCID).
From Nov. 22 to Jan. 2, four-hour parking (or less) will be free at the three garages — Beaver, Fraser, Pugh — by picking up validation from one of the dozens of participating downtown businesses. During that same time period, street and surface lot parking (e.g. McAllister Deck) will be free with a three-hour limit.
And, from Dec. 22 until Jan. 2, garage parking will be free and unlimited.
“The free parking program is important to businesses during the holiday season because it removes a barricade for many shoppers and creates a more welcoming and friendly experience,” DSCID executive director Lee Anne Jeffries said in a written statement. “We want to do what we can to facilitate that and hope that our community understands the importance of spending their dollars locally.”
State College Borough Council voted unanimously Monday night to approve the 2021 Holiday Parking Program.
DSCID and the borough usually partner to provide free parking every year, but this year is unique in that the free parking is starting a little earlier. In 2019, for example, the free four-hour parking didn’t start until December and the weeklong unlimited free garage parking lasted two fewer days.
On-street meter parking currently costs $1.25 an hour and is enforced from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., with most Sundays free. Off-street parking at the garages is $1 an hour from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. and 75 cents an hour outside of that. (The first 30 minutes are free, and most Sundays are also free.)
This story was originally published November 9, 2021 at 12:22 PM.
