State College’s Summers on Allen postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic
The summer pedestrian plaza for State College will not happen this year as planned, organizers announced Thursday.
Centre Foundation and Groznik PR, the two organizations heading Summers on Allen, announced that the project has been canceled for summer 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Sponsored by the Knight Foundation, Summers on Allen planned to close the 100 block of Allen Street to vehicle traffic from May 11 to July 3, transforming it with outdoor seating, landscaping, a play area and performance stage.
In a statement, Brad Groznik, of Groznik PR, Molly Kunkel, executive director of Centre Foundation and Rob Schmidt, director of the Downtown State College Improvement District, said the decision to postpone was made “due to the unpredictability and the seriousness of the current health crisis.”
“We want to thank everyone who contributed their time, energy and support to this project — particularly the borough council and staff, Knight Foundation, the downtown business owners and employees, and the hundreds of community members who attended our workshops, volunteered their time, sent us emails and stopped us on the street,” they wrote.
After being voted down last year, the State College Borough Council approved the project in a 4-3 vote in January.
Centre Foundation received a $135,000 grant from the Knight Foundation to fund the project.
In February, Groznik said the Summers on Allen team had connected with local organizations and businesses to partner with this summer, including Centre Region Parks and Recreation, KCF Technologies and Bike Happy Valley. In conjunction with the Downtown State College Improvement District, the project had planned events and programming almost every weekend during the closure.
“We continue to believe in the vision of a vibrant pedestrian plaza downtown that brings our community together and celebrates its vitality,” the organizers wrote. “Later this year, we look forward to begin working with our downtown business community and local leaders to consider the best way to move this vision forward in 2021.”
