Outdoor events bring visitors and fun to Canonsburg
Katie Anderson
Residents scout several vendor booths in June at the Canonsburg Farmers Market in the parking lot of St. Patrick Catholic Church.
Katie Anderson
Residents stop by produce stands at the Canonsburg Farmers Market in June in the parking lot of St. Patrick Catholic Church.
Observer-Reporter
Residents stop by produce stands at the Canonsburg Farmer’s Market last June in the parking lot of St. Patrick Catholic Church.
Celeste Van Kirk
Gloria Dunkle hands Olivia Jones, 3, of Canonsburg a Hallmark Christmas tree ornament during the 2018 Canonsburg’s Old Fashioned Christmas celebration.
Celeste Van Kirk
Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus arrive on a fire truck during Canonsburg’s Old Fashioned Christmas Celebration in 2018.
Celeste Van Kirk
Pike Street is transformed into a winter wonderland for Canonsburg’s Old Fashioned Christmas in 2018.
Canonsburg has been the place to be this summer, as new and growing outdoor events have attracted the town and then some.
The Canonsburg Farmers Market has been around five years, but a new location and more than double the vendors have made it a destination every Tuesday.
“In previous years, we had about 10 vendors, but this year we have over 33,” said Roly Petrone, chairperson of the farmers market.
It’s the first year they’ve had food trucks, and they now have three farms bringing fresh produce, one of them organic. According to Lonnie Flood, event coordinator for the Greater Canonsburg Chamber of Commerce and co-chair of the farmers market, Simmons Farm recently sold out their stand and sent a second truck to restock.
They also recently had a seafood vendor selling frozen fish at his booth, Flood said.
“He did really good last week, so he’s coming back this week,” she said in a recent interview. “It really is amazing how this has taken off. It’s still growing. There are more vendors calling us who want to come.”
Flood said they’ve lucked out this year with not much rain, though they have had some sweltering days.
“The weather doesn’t deter people from coming,” she said.
In the last couple of years, they moved the market to the parking lot of St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, a larger space with more visibility along Pike Street. Because the vendor list has grown so much this year, that space is now getting tight, Petrone said.
“We’re outgrowing that cove a little bit, which is a good problem to have,” she said.
Petrone said they’ve increased the advertising for the market, placing signs throughout the town and along the highways. She added her husband, Dean Petrone, has also helped advertise the market on more social media platforms.
Last month, they held a market that had a Christmas in July theme, for which the borough’s infamous Grinch showed up.
“It was just something different and fun,” Roly Petrone said.
She’d like to have a First Responders Day theme for one of the markets in September.
“As long as there’s a variety to choose from, people keep coming,” Petrone said. “A lot of our vendors helped out by bringing in more vendors. I think even our community members would come up to me and say, ‘you should call so-and-so and see if they can come out.’ If it’s a joint effort you can make it grow bigger and that’s exactly what happened.”
The other event of the summer has been the new Alleyway Saturdays, sponsored by the chamber.
“The lights strung over the ally come on, so it is a really nice environment and summer get-together for the community,” said the borough’s economic coordinator Lisa Scarmazzi.
It was a new event June 5, intending to bring more people downtown on weekend evenings. Following that first one, they were set for every last Saturday of the month. According to Scarmazzi, July’s Alleyway event was “extremely successful.”
“We had a really great crowd, the Grinch was there, and the food trucks did phenomenal,” she said. “The vendors asked to come back because they did so well.”
Scarmazzi said the idea is to have each be a little different by means of a theme and things to do, with live entertainment, food and children’s activities. She said the committee needs help planning them.
“If anyone wants to help or come up with a theme, we’re really open to ideas,” she said.
The Canonsburg Old Fashioned Christmas Committee has already started planning for the holiday season, with decorations and vendors, Scarmazzi said. They plan to have the festival from noon to 7 p.m. Dec. 3 and 4. The tree lighting will be on Dec. 3.
She said they moved the times to earlier in the day because it previously was too late.
“People were going home early because it was too cold,” she said.
Also, instead of a center stage, they’ll have mobile groups of carolers and musical groups performing throughout the festival.
“I think this year will be a much bigger response because people are ready to get out again,” Scarmazzi said. “But I am getting concerned about the increased number of COVID-19 cases. We’re keeping our fingers crossed, because you just don’t know what to expect anymore.”