HERMITAGE Costs, falling support jeopardize future of Buhl Day

It costs up to $30,000 a year to stage the celebration.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
HERMITAGE, Pa. -- The modern version of Buhl Day will mark its 25th anniversary in 2004 and that will be a big event, but the community celebration could end there.
It's getting too difficult to raise financing and find volunteers to help with the daylong affair, said Karen Campman Emmett, chairwoman of the Buhl Day Committee.
Some people mistakenly think that Buhl Park or the Buhl trustees run Buhl Day, but that isn't the case.
The trustees provide the park for the day, but all the money and organization for the event falls to the Buhl Day Committee to handle, Emmett said.
"We pay for everything -- even the toilet paper," she said.
It costs between $20,000 and $30,000 to put on the event, and that money is getting more difficult to find every year, she said.
"Everybody's tightening their belts," Emmett said, noting some companies don't give the sizable contributions they once did.
The committee makes an announcement each Buhl Day, held on Labor Day, asking people to volunteer, but that list gets tougher every year, too, she said.
Next year is the 25th anniversary of the modern version of Buhl Day.
"We'll definitely have a Buhl Day next year. Then, I think it will be play it by ear," Emmett said.
How it began
Buhl Day was started in 1915 to honor industrialist and philanthropist Frank H. Buhl and his wife, Julia, who created the 300-acre Buhl Park as a free recreational area for local residents.
It's privately owned and administered by the Buhl trustees but remains open to the public.
Buhl Day was held annually until the start of World War II. It resumed in 1980, and the event has drawn as many as 25,000 people to the park in recent times.
The tight money situation resulted in the Buhl Day Committee deciding not to have fireworks this year, opting to spend that $5,000-$6,000 on additional live entertainment, Emmett said.
Finding money to keep the event going is a concern down the road, she said, noting that costs for everything, from security to transportation, are going up.
She said she would hate to see the tradition die.
"It's a picnic in the park, a beautiful way to end the summer," she said.
It's also a time to honor the community's unsung heroes who give of their time and effort but seldom get much recognition, she said.
Honorees
The committee picks honorees each year and this year selected Adele Dengel of Hermitage, former Sharon Mayor Robert T. Price and Atty. Michael Ristvey Jr., also of Hermitage for recognition.
Dengel, a former employee of the Mercer County Board of Assistance, is active in volunteer roles at Christ Lutheran Church in Sharon.
She sings in the choir, serves as a lector, serves on various committees as well as the altar guild and is active in the CROP WALK, and is a frequent visitor to the sick and shut-ins. She also is a representative for Thrivent, a Lutheran Brotherhood aid association in Mercer and Lawrence counties, chairing its Care and Share program.
Dengel was active in setting up the local Meals-On-Wheels program in 1970 and still participates.
Price served as mayor for 24 years, but his community work spread beyond his civic duties.
He hosted annual Leukemia Society luncheons for seven years, raising $75,000 over that period. He also coached Little League Baseball.
His efforts have been recognized with the naming of a recreation area after him at the North Sharon Volunteer Fire Company. He was named a Penn State Shenango Citizen of the Year.
As a member of the Shenango Valley Jaycees, Ristvey helped establish the Midget Football League and worked with the Junior Achievement program.
He's served as attorney for the Mercer County Federation of Fraternal and Social Organizations for 35 years and has served on the board of directors of the Keystone Blind Association.
Ristvey is a member of the Arboretum Committee for the reforesting of Buhl Park and has been active in his church. He received the Mother of God Award from the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Diocese in 1985.
He recently began researching his roots back to a small village in central Europe, and through his efforts the grade school in that village has a computer and a computer room, helping to earn him an honorary citizenship in that community.
gwin@vindy.com