All Roads Lead to Gettysburg

A wanderer found a community—and purpose—in small-town Pennsylvania.

 

When he was in his 20s, self-described “vagabond” Chris Lauer packed up a few belongings and began on a trek on foot from his native Minnesota, camping along the way.

“For a few years, I had no permanent residence,” says Chris. “I was mostly living out of a backpack. I would stay for a while and then work a season, then travel. I was very excited about the idea of being a traveler forever, hitchhiking around, finding new communities and, apparently, leaving. But after about three years, I really started to feel the pull of rootedness, of connectedness, in a long-term sense.”

While traveling was wonderful for the stories, he says, it didn’t do much to foster that sense of community for which he longed.

Chris found that community in Gettysburg—and began making his own unique contributions to the town.

Part coffeehouse, part art space, Waldo’s & Company is located on Lincoln Square in the heart of downtown Gettysburg. This nonprofit organization Chris founded, now in its 12^th year, is focused on ensuring individuals have the capability to make art. “It’s really exciting to give people the tools just to create and grow,” Chris says. “We want to make sure that you are free to do the art. Leave everybody else to worry about the interpretation.”

Chris became interested in the visual arts at an early age, and it became his defining trait growing up. “The challenge was finding space,” he recalls. “Where do I belong in the arts world?”

He went to college and considered careers in art education or graphic design but came to a realization. “So often people are trying to take the arts and use it to do something else, as if only the art is not good enough,” he says. “I wanted to stop there—let’s just do the art.”

Now more than a decade later, Waldo’s continues to thrive and provide support for artists in a creative atmosphere. And as the community continues to grow, Chris finds building relationships to be refreshing and rewarding. “There was so much of my traveling life where I spun a tale about who I was, and that tale isn’t the complete story. It’s only the nice bits,” he explains. “Community, to me, is where it becomes challenging. It’s where that being known becomes challenging—and if it’s not there, then we’re missing out.”

Becoming invested in a place is also a necessity. “Communities are more whole for each of its people being involved,” he says. “The more that each person takes their skills or their personality—or takes who they are—and gets plugged into this thing that’s community, the better.”

Though he’s been happily connected in Gettysburg for the past 17 years, he says never would have imagined he’d be living in small-town Pennsylvania when he started that trek years ago. As part of Adams County Arts Council’s People Project this fall, Chris will be sharing the children’s book version of how he went from a wanderer to a rooted member of the Gettysburg community.

“I regularly call Gettysburg the mini-est metro,” says Chris. “At times, it feels metropolitan in the mini-est way, but it is so very connected to the rest of the world. You know your neighbors; you know your space well. And yet, there’s always going to be people to meet, there’s always this influx of students and tourists, and it’s been fun. You can’t compare Gettysburg to really any other town.”