The Home Page Network

ROARING BRANCH – Johnny and Shawna Lee recently celebrated their fifth year anniversary of holding ownership of the famous Midway Truck Stop.

They also celebrated a total of 75 years that the Midway has been serving the community. Since it was a big week for them, they planned delicious specials for the whole week. On Wednesday, March 29, marking their fifth year anniversary, they offered a $5 special, among other reduced priced items. They even had pulled out an old menu and photos for everyone to see.

Their location, although some may feel is a little out of the area, is so convenient being along busy Route 14, below Canton. It makes it very easy to stop in on the way to Williamsport or on the return trip back.

Over all of the years ,they have kept this business operating, even through the shutdown of Covid. They have always considered the community in their decisions and try to assist in any way they can.

Although, they deal with the same issues as other businesses, such as finding/keeping employees, increase in food costs and higher operating costs, they seem to always find the right balance to keep the doors open.

They provide a wide variety of menu options from which to choose, including a daily special menu. Typically, after consuming a meal, it is difficult to find room for one of their assortments of homemade desserts.

It seems their patrons do not come for just the food. It is a great place to meet or see someone you haven’t seen for awhile.

“We always say, you never know who you will run into at The Midway.” “It’s a meeting place for many,” Shawna said.

The business was started in 1948 by the Tebo family. It started out just as gas pumps and then within a year or two the restaurant part was built. Bill Snyder owned the restaurant for more than 40 years. He was an avid racing fan so that is why in the older days there was a lot of focus on racing memorabilia.

Shawna parents, Mike and Sherry VanHorn, owned the business for 27 years. During those 27 years, a lot of the remodeling took place to make it look like it does now. They expanded the dining area by enclosing the front porch.

The Lee family then purchased it from the VanHorns.

“My mom passed the spatula onto me.” Shawna continued, “everything we do, is for the two little girls who were just babies when our journey started.”

She is so thankful to give them a life where they can see hard work and dedication and leara old fashioned values at! They have grown so much as a family and business over the last five years. She is hopeful some day one of the little girls in the picture will have her own success story about working hard to keep the family business around.

“I am so thankful for all my dedicated employeees who show up endlessly to help out to make the business successful,” Shawna stated. “Without them, we would not be here because I certianly can’t do this alone!”

Of course, part of the success in keeping a business open, are the valued customers.

“I also want to thank each and every one of you out there who have supported us near and far,” Shawna said. “Your kindness and support over the last five years has been such a blessing to us!”

To show their appreciation, each day they gave away a $75 gift card to a lucky patron, from that day.

Shawna’s favorite part over their anniversary celebration was listening to everyone’s stories about the history and their memories of the place.

“We continue working hard to give the community a fun place to gather.” Shawna continued. “My hope is that over time one of our children will want to continue the business and it is my goal to be here for the 100th anniversary!”