On Centre: Penns Valley

Valley cheering for homecoming

Ed Mahon

Here’s what keeps Shelly Weaver up at night: Will vendors bring too much food? Or too little food?

View larger

Last year, when Weaver led the committee to organize Penns Valley Area School District’s homecoming parade, she had different concerns.

“I had nightmares over whether anybody was going to show up,” Weaver, a 1978 alumna, said.

A week before the parade, dozens of groups had signed up for floats. But the worries didn’t fade.

“Then I went home and lost sleep. Was everybody going to be in the parade,” she asked, “and nobody there to watch?”

About 1,500 people showed up, far exceeding expectations for the first Penns Valley homecoming parade in recent memory.

“We were just completely amazed. It was wonderful, and people talked about it all year,” said Vickie Fultz, a 1980 Penns Valley graduate and a teacher at Centre Hall- Potter Elementary School.

There were so many people, in fact, that vendors ran out of food.

This year, there will be about 15 vendors, twice as many as last year, said Sara Strouse an eighth-grade teacher and one of the organizers.

This year’s menu includes nachos, apple dumplings, ice cream, chili, popcorn, pork sandwiches, hamburgers, clam chowder, baked potatoes, fries, pizza, hot sausage, hot dogs and hot apple cider.

The parade will begin at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 15 at the Grange Fair grounds in Centre Hall.

Two goals were to get elementary students and alumni involved in the homecoming event.

“Homecoming really was not alumni-based here, nor was there a lot of interest in the elementary grades ... We didn’t draw those kids in,” Weaver said.

She said it was fun to see how involved they got and that it gives them a sense of what being alumni is.

Students from each elementary school create a float for the parade, as do Penns Valley Intermediate School students. Ditto for seventh through 12th grade students. About 20 other community groups have signed up to participate, and there’s room for more.

Last year’s youngest winners came from Miles Township Elementary, who attached pictures of the town’s history to their float.

Marley Fultz’s sophomore class took the top prize for the upper grades.

“We put one

together pretty last minute, but then we got first place,” said Fultz, now an 11th grade student at the high school and the daughter of Vickie Fultz. “It was exciting because it was new and everything. ... Everyone just got pretty pumped up.”

Last year, she and her classmates had a banner that said Penns Valley is where the heart is, with images of the Grange Fair grounds, Penn’s Cave, the high school football field and historic barns.

The theme for this year’s event is “Welcome to Hollywood.” But Fultz isn’t tipping her hand about what she has planned.

“We haven’t really told anybody yet,” she said.

The parade will begin at Gate 4 and end at the Grandstand, where a pep rally will be held at 7:45 p.m.

Groups can still register to participate in the parade by contacting Strouse at sstrouse@pennsvalley.org.

To volunteer, contact Weaver at sweaver@pennsvalley.org.

Ed Mahon writes about news from the Penns and Brush Valley regions. He can be reached at 231-4619 or emahon@centredaily.com.