Clarksville Festival a free event for Greene County kids

As Halloween approaches, the sixth annual Clarksville Festival is, as well. The event will run Oct. 6 to 8 at the Clarksville Volunteer Fire Department. This annual event was originally celebrated during the month of August, but according to Vice President of the Clarksville Borough, Sherry Forman, the event was shifted to October to allow more people to attend the festivities.

“We changed it from August because we ran into the fair and other venues,” Forman said, “We wanted to try [the event] in October to see how well it goes over.”

There will be different activities each day for the event. The kick-off will begin Friday night at 6 p.m., with several food and craft vendors and DJ Mickey D.

The event will continue, Saturday, with a pumpkin decorating contest. Forman said 127 pumpkins were picked for the contest, which will be broken up for kids and adults. Later in the evening, the band, Long Shot, will perform from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.

Sunday will be the final day for the event, and there will be a car show, which will be hosted by Hoyles Auto Salvage. Motorcycles and trucks are also welcome to the car show event. For the enjoyment of children, free face painting and a strolling magician act will take place.

The Clarksville Volunteer Fire Department will be hosting vendors as well as DJ Dusty Joe.

Forman said the festival relies on local donations each year. This year, small donations from EQT, the office of Pennsylvania State Representative Pam Snyder and Chess Farms made the event possible to plan.

“They allow us to be able to have a band – to afford to have some form of free entertainment,” Forman said.

Forman encourages people to contact her by calling (724) 377-0155, as she is still planning more kid-interactive events.

“We try to do as much for kids and free activities, however, I have not been able to confirm our kid’s games,” Forman said. “We’re always trying to make it something fun for the kids.”

Forman hopes the event to have a good turnout, but it will be dependent upon the weather. She wants people to be able to attend a local event at little to no cost.

“I’m hoping to have a really good turnout, I hope the weather holds out for us and it allows us to have a better crowd, just because we want people to enjoy the area and have something to do locally that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg,”

Forman said.