Mount Gretna (Pa.)

Mount Gretna is a borough in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of the Lebanon, PA, Metropolitan statistical area. The population was 188 at the 2020 census. The borough was founded by the Pennsylvania Chautauqua Society, which was attracted by the area's natural landscape and beauty, by the 1890s. Mount Gretna is a popular destination in the summer. It features a nationally ranked juried art show (third weekend in August), jazz and chamber music concerts, lectures, book reviews, and an annual tour of historic homes and cottages (first Saturday in August). The Connewago Lake features a Victorian-era bathhouse with high-dive, floating docks and a sandy beach area. The community also has a roller rink, open-air playhouse, miniature golf course, several restaurants, playgrounds, and an award-winning ice cream parlor known as the Jigger Shop. Gretna Theatre, the independent professional non-profit theatre company performing at the Mount Gretna Playhouse, is one of the country's oldest summer stock theatres, having opened in 1927. The surrounding area, which includes seven distinct neighborhoods, has a year-round population estimated at 1,500 people. Summertime population increases to about 2,500.