43
‘Awesome’ in Austintown
Photo
Miranda Truslow (second from left), Carmella Scheafnocker (far right) and friends sing karaoke at the Wickliffe Presbyterian Church Fall Festival. Area fall festivals are the inspiration for the 2010 "Awesometown Fall Festival," and the next "Awesometown" planning meeting is at 7 p.m. Jan. 14, at Austintown Township Park.
By ASHLEY LUTHERN
aluthern@vindy.com
AUSTINTOWN
Inspiration can strike in unusual places.
For Brad Bloomster, director of ministries at Austintown Community Church, the idea for the 2010 “Awesometown Fall Festival” came to him at a gas station on Mahoning Avenue.
“I was putting gas in my car and thinking about the name Austintown... Awesometown. I thought ‘Wouldn’t that be wonderful if that’s what we called home, this place? Awesometown,’” said Bloomster, who moved to Austintown from Erie, Pa., four years ago.
Bloomster contacted the Rev. Elmarie Parker of Wickliffe Presbyterian Church, and the two agreed that Austintown Township Park would be an ideal location for the event, which will be held on Oct. 9 and 10.
“Brad and Elmarie approached me this past summer with the idea of doing this festival, based on the fact that all the churches do fall festivals, but this will be a non-religious, communitywide event ... The park has worked in a lot of partnerships and is a central point of the community,” said Joyce Gottron, Austintown Township park supervisor.
“Awesometown” is still in planning stages and Bloomster, Parker and Gottron are inviting community members to the next organizational meeting at 7 p.m. on Jan. 14, in Stacey Pavilion at the Austintown Township Park. The first meeting was Nov. 19, and about 30 people representing many organizations, from churches to businesses, attended, Gottron said.
Although the festival is still in the brainstorming stage, organizers said the event will feature food vendors and family-friendly entertainment.
“We hope to have music on the stage in the band shell and other entertainment ... We hope to have some hayrides, climbing walls and bounce-arounds,” Bloomster said.
Festival attendees might have to pay a minimal admission, unless costs are subsidized by selling T-shirts or other fundraisers, said Bloomster, who added that he wants to make the festival as “accessible as possible.”
“Awesometown” organizers have three goals for the program: to build unity and goodwill in the community, to celebrate everything good about Austintown and to connect people in need with resources available locally.
“We’re trying to link people with resources,” Parker said. “We’ve talked about the possibility of having some of our different medical resources in the community come to ‘Awesometown’ and provide screenings, which has been a piece of the fall festival at Wickliffe.”
For many involved with the planning, the goals of “Awesometown Fall Festival” are more than words.
“I was born and raised in Austintown. I went to Austintown schools. I’ve worked for the township,” Gottron said. “Any event that focuses on the good points of Austintown is of personal and professional interest to me because I am committed to this community. It’s a strong community with good people, and I think it’s great to have an event celebrate that.”