Chris Lauer decided to walk across the country.

The Minnesota native set off with not much more than a backpack and camping gear, bound for Philadelphia. But about 1,000 miles down the road, his four-month journey hit a snag on Route 30, in south-central Pennsylvania.

“I fell in love with Gettysburg and stayed,” Lauer said.

That was 12 years ago. He’d studied studio arts for several years, but hadn’t completed his degree. He made friends in nearly every town he’d walked through, and Gettysburg was no exception. But something about Gettysburg also inspired his creativity, so he found an apartment and studio space in an old warehouse. Years ago, a man named Waldo Pepper ran an auto-detailing business there, so the vintage sign still read, “Waldo’s.”

Click here to continue reading “Where’s Waldo’s?: Gettysburg artist community flourishes, underground,” TheBurg, October 2020