Waynesburg plans to celebrate season at open house
WAYNESBURG – If the forecast holds true, a touch of snow Friday will add to the festive mood for shoppers who stroll through downtown Waynesburg during the sixth annual Waynesburg Prosperous and Beautiful Holiday Open House, sponsored again by Consol Energy. The festivities will take place from 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Weather plays an odd role in Waynesburg Borough for such occasions. As Rain Day planners hope for enough rain to make it official but not so much to drive crowds away, the open house committee welcomes enough snow to feel like the holidays but not so much to keep shoppers at home.
“We’d love to have snow,” said open house chairman Karen Calvert. “I think people will enjoy that.” With warming barrels scattered throughout the borough, carolers, hot chocolate, Santa Claus and a few flakes here and there complete the scene, she said.
Fittingly, the popular Flix on Brix will return with a free showing of Bing Crosby’s classic, “White Christmas,” to be projected on the wall next to the open air food court across the street from Joe Rigg’s Sporting Goods. Calvert said the food court is a good place for shoppers to bring their food items, sit and and rejuvenate. At the food court and all along High Street will be a mix of sandwiches, Sorella’s pizza, Moore’s hot dogs, Michelle Sloan’s homemade chocolates, cotton candy, Rising Creek Bakery items, walking tacos, wraps, candied nuts and Willow Tree Farm baked goods, among others.
Many of the offerings will benefit various clubs and organizations such as the Humane Society, the local Boy Scout chapter, the Rabbit Leadership Scholarship Fund, and the Waynesburg Central High School band boosters.
“The Humane Society will be selling its new calendars again. You don’t want to forget to get one,” Calvert said. The calendars feature a three-digit number. If that number matches the Pennsylvania Daily Number drawn at 7 p.m. on any given night during the year, the amount in the calendar square for that date is awarded to the person with the number.
Children’s activities will include horse-drawn carriage rides through the borough, free ornament decorating in the former GreeneSaver Building, and free caricature drawings in front of the Fashion Shop. Free gift wrapping of purchases will also take place in the old GreeneSaver Building. Pictures with Santa on the courthouse steps, taken by McMillen Photography, will cost $10.
A special production of the Waynesburg University Fine Arts Department’s Tuba Christmas will take place at 7 p.m. on the courthouse steps, with conductor Dr. Ronda E. DePriest.
Calvert gave credit to the Waynesburg Moose Lodge 461 for getting the season started in the borough.
“This is the 50th year that they have decorated the Christmas tree in front of the courthouse. They buy the bulbs and put the lights on and we really appreciate it. Christmas starts with that,” Calvert said. “The county uses the boom truck to help set the tree in place and the fire company brings in its ladder truck to help the Moose members decorate. Someone donates the tree each year and that person never really gets credit for it but it comes from an individual rather than a supplier.”
The whole process involves more than just placing a tree there. There is even a plate that is removed at the top of the landing on the courthouse steps where the tree trunk slides into.
The tree, the window decorating contest, the committee that brings it all together and the sponsorships of Consol, Community Bank, Our Glass Creations, Bob Teagarden, along with the cooperation of the merchants and vendors, have made the holiday open house a continued success.
The popularity of the open house has grown beyond what Calvert said she could have imagined in the last six years.
High Street from Morgan to Morris will be closed to automobile traffic.
“It has grown to the point where it has become a problem (not shutting down the street). Last year I had the police out with their lights on at the top of the hill and that still didn’t slow them (cars) down enough,” Calvert said. “We are pleased that it has gotten to the point that so many people come out. That’s what it is all about. It is about the retailers and what we can do to help them kick off the holiday shopping season and have a successful season.”