May 3, 2018 3 min read

The National Road Festival will go on in Scenery Hill later this month, after Community Bank and Washington County Tourism Promotion Agency donated $5,000 to replace festival supplies lost in a fire last year.

“We work together in the community and were just talking about Scenery Hill and the difficulties they’ve had over the past two years,” said Jeff Kotula, president of the tourism agency.

A Christmas Eve fire destroyed a garage along Route 40 that housed items used in the National Road Festival (to be held this year May 19 and 20) and the Heritage Festival (scheduled for Sept. 8), including a stage, traffic cones, signs, picnic tables and paperwork.

The $2,500 from the bank and $2,500 from the tourism agency will help the Scenery Hill Civic Committee, which organizes the festivals, to replace what was lost.

“We thank you for your generous donation,” Renee Rudnisky, a member of the committee, said during a check presentation Wednesday at the site of the fire. “We will be able to replace those things and have a successful festival.”

Rudnisky owned Crafts By Renee, a small shop that was one of two businesses with office space in the building.

“It was like a bad dream,” she said of the fire.

The building, the former Frank Huffman auto dealership and garage, built in 1929, caught fire early in the morning on Christmas Eve. It took four fire companies to bring the fire under control, but the upper level of the building was destroyed. The rubble still sits along Route 40. The property is owned by the Dunker family, who have said they plan to rebuild.

In addition, the Century Inn returns this year as the center of the Scenery Hill National Road celebration. It recently reopened following a devastating fire in August 2015.

Rudnisky said the bank and tourism agency reached out to her last week to offer the donation for the festival.

“We’ve had a lot of community donations, but times are hard, and donating to a festival is not at the top of families’ budgets,” she said. “This is making it so much easier.”

Kotula was joined by Pat McCune, CEO of Community Bank, to present the check Wednesday.

“I grew up right over the hill in Daisytown,” Kotula said. “This is an important part of our spring and summer.”

The two-day National Road festival will have live music, dance performances, food and craft vendors and a wagon train. Residents along Route 40 also typically have yard sales during that weekend. The committee is borrowing a stage from Marianna Outdoorsmen Association until a new one can be built.

“It’s invaluable to continue to recognize our heritage,” McCune said.

Washington County Commission Chairman Larry Maggi also commented on the festival’s importance.

“This road is such a big part of not just Washington County, but of our American history,” he said. “We know how much the fire hurt you and how important it is for this festival to continue.”