May 16, 2008 By Rebekah Sungala 3 min read

Royalty will preside over activities occurring in Hopwood throughout the day Saturday as part of the National Road Festival. Festivities will begin at 11 a.m., when Harry McElroy and Genevieve Odom are crowned king and queen of Hopwood.

The royal celebration, held in the Hopwood Fitness Center parking lot, will be immediately followed by the dedication of the new stamped concrete sidewalks.

The sidewalks were recently completed as part of a streetscape project organized by the Hopwood Village Project, a volunteer group dedicated to restoring the historic Route 40 corridor in North Union and South Union townships.

The streetscape project, worked on by Maccabee Industrial Inc. of Belle Vernon and McMillen Engineering of Uniontown, involved demolishing and removing sidewalks and pathways in Hopwood and replacing them with more than 3,000 square feet of stamped concrete sidewalks of varying widths.

The $1 million project was paid for with a federal grant from the office of U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Hollidaysburg, and administered by the state Department of Transportation.

Shuster will be the main speaker at the dedication ceremony for the new sidewalks and will participate in the ribbon cutting.

Information regarding a walking program associated with the Fayette County branch of Steps to a Healthier PA also will be presented Saturday during the dedication ceremony.

The walking program was established after the sidewalks were completed and is designed to encourage people of all ages to become more active while promoting healthy lifestyle choices.

Last year, Steps to a Healthier PA gave the Hopwood Village Project a $3,000 grant to mark the sidewalks with distance increments and create a walking map that showcases historical places.

At noon, the wagon train, led by wagon master Doc Sherry, is expected to stop for lunch in the grassy knoll behind Hopwood Fitness Center.

The annual parade will begin at 1 p.m. Participants will line up at noon at the Hopwood Volunteer Fire Department Social Hall on Old Furnace Road.

Staff Sgt. Thurman S. King of Hopwood will serve as the parade grand marshal.

King has 25 years of military service and served two tours of duty in Iraq. He was injured Dec. 26, 2004, while serving overseas and was awarded several medals, including the Purple Heart.

Following the parade, a youth fishing derby will be held at Hutchinson Park beginning at 3 p.m.

An old-timers baseball game will be held at Hutchinson Park at 6 p.m.

For more information regarding Hopwood’s Pike Festival celebration, visit online at http://hopwood.ourburbs.com.

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