Holiday event planned
CONNELLSVILLE – Connellsville’s celebration of St. Patrick’s Day will have a New Orleans flavor as the bicentennial time capsule is laid to rest. Mayor Judy Reed, who is spearheading the event, said the Saturday procession will include a parade, music and other festivities as the capsule is transferred by horse and buggy from the Paul G. Fink Funeral Home on North Pittsburgh Street to its final resting place at City Hall.
“This funeral procession shall be like no other parade that Connellsville has ever seen,” said Reed in announcing the celebration Saturday.
In 2006, the city celebrated its 200th anniversary with a variety of events, including concerts, a picnic in East Park, church tours, dedication of a Victorian-style clock at Veterans Park and a parade April 29 that drew Gov. Ed Rendell and former Pittsburgh Steeler Lynn Swann, who was running for governor at that time, and thousands of onlookers to the city streets.
To commemorate the bicentennial, funeral home owner Marilyn Fink donated a vault for residents to fill with memorabilia that would be reviewed by those celebrating the city’s 250th anniversary.
Hundreds of letters and artifacts have been placed in the time capsule that now will be buried near City Hall, said Reed.
“We’ll now lay the 2006 bicentennial time capsule to rest,” she said.
The Saturday event will feature the Molinaro Band, with Boy Scout Troop 101 serving as pallbearers, along with New Haven Hose Volunteer Fire Co. bagpiper Vincent Traynor.
Reed said that city residents, civic organizations, school-age children and Scouting groups are welcome to participate in the procession or congregate along the parade route that will stretch from North Pittsburgh Street to Apple Street and then to Arch Street.
Those taking part in the festivities are encouraged to wear attire befitting the Irish holiday or to decorate an umbrella, like what is done for a New Orleans-style jazz funeral.
Reed said that children taking part in the procession may pick up an umbrella and other decorative accoutrements at the funeral home prior to the Saturday departure of the time capsule.
“The focus of this event is the children,” she said. “I want them to recall this day when they open the time capsule in 50 years.”
Individuals, groups or other organizations wanting to take part in the procession or ceremony at City Hall are asked to call Reed at City Hall or at 724-628-4812 for additional information.