CAMBRIDGE SPRINGS, Pa. - The sign for the Riverside Inn's Dinner Theatre is one of the first things you see as you drive up Fountain St., approaching the historic Cambridge Springs hotel. Now, it's one of the last things that survives after Tuesday's devastating fire that destroyed the building, founded in 1888.

"You always think at the end of the run in December that we'll be back next year, but it's just... gone," said Ken Falkenhagen, former Dinner Theatre manager.

The dinner theater was home to dozens of performances each year since it began in the late 1980s.
Even our own Amanda Post took the stage, famous for her rendition of Patsy Cline. But more than the plays, it was a tourist hotspot, attracting busloads of people from around the United States to this Crawford County town.

"People four to five hours away would come, stay over night, see a show, have dinner," said Falkenhagen.

"The (Medieval) Feast is the biggest thing we have every year, and we were going to start in September this year because so many tickets are sold every year," said Donna Coburn, who worked at the Inn for more than 20 years.

And for the Riverside's employees, the tourists were actually family.

"I'm just going to miss the whole thing," said Coburn. "This was my life."

For the firefighters forced to put out this blaze, the memories of the 138-year-old Riverside Inn run deep. Some of them say they were here just this past weekend.

"The Adult Prom, stopped in," said Jeff Murdock, Cambridge Springs Vol. Fire Dept. fire chief, "Many weekends spent here, football boosters always had their  party here."

The memories, still fresh in the eyes of onlookers, shocked that this historic hotel is no more. But the signs of that dinner theater, still remain.

Cambridge Springs V.F.D. will remain on the scene throughout the night monitoring for any remaining hotspots.

A Pennsylvania State Police fire inspector will return to the scene Wednesday morning to search for a cause.