‘Going to be greatly missed.’ Centre County fire company to discontinue annual carnival
After more than 75 years of hosting an annual carnival and parade, the Pleasant Gap Fire Company announced Monday that the popular events will be discontinued for the foreseeable future.
The announcement was posted on the fire company’s Facebook page Monday evening, and since then community members have shared their memories of the carnival and disappointment about the tradition ending. Others wrote that they understand the decision, with the fire company writing that the increased amount of time and resources needed to hold the events, plus a “decreasing financial trend,” were the driving forces.
The carnival was held each summer on the fire company grounds, featuring rides, games, music, a chicken barbecue and more, along with an accompanying parade.
Rick Meyers, the president of the fire company, told the Centre Daily Times that the financial trend had reached a breaking point.
“We’ve been hosting the carnival and parade here for many, many years, but it finally came to a point where it just wasn’t financially feasible to pull off anymore,” Meyers said. “It’s been tough to just break even these past few years, and this year we decided that we just couldn’t make it happen, especially with the rising prices of everything nowadays.”
Other factors that contributed to the discontinuation of the events include the lack — and rising age — of volunteers, lowered attendance rates, weather unpredictability and an inability to secure ride vendors, Meyers said.
Despite the carnival and parade no longer taking place, the fire company plans on hosting a new family-friendly event — a one-day fall festival.
The specifics of the fall festival are still being planned, but Meyers and his crew felt that because one community-gathering event was ending, another should begin.
“One of the best parts about the carnival and the parade is that for a couple of days, it brought a lot of people in Pleasant Gap together, and I think that’s going to be greatly missed ...” Meyers said. “We’d like the new fall festival to hopefully inspire the same amount of community togetherness, but we’ll see what happens.”
They’re looking at possible dates for the fall festival, and Meyers urged those curious about the event to regularly check the fire company’s Facebook page for updates.
While the discontinuation of the carnival and parade may leave hearts aching, Meyers didn’t rule out a return for the two events in the coming years, saying that the fire company is “open to anything,” within reason.
“We’ve got the land to host a carnival in the future, and that’s something that we definitely hope to do again someday too, but it just can’t happen this year,” Meyers said. “We’re open to anything as long as it isn’t outrageously priced. We absolutely still want to make sure the community has an event like this to enjoy every year, we also have to make sure that we can afford to host it, too.”
In recent years, fire departments across the country have seen a decline in members and an increase in demand on current volunteers. Fundraisers are often important pieces of the operations, and other Centre County fire companies host carnivals for that purpose, including Boalsburg, Snow Shoe and Gregg Township.
