Autumn Festival Ushers in Foliage in Renovo, Western Clinton County

Record EditorOctober 15, 2020Last Updated: October 15, 2020

3 minutes read

The float above was put together by Margaret Riggle which represented 4-H, Pat Reeder’s Tavern, Heritage Park and the Class of 76. These groups always takes pride in the community and helps when they can. When Margaret heard Angela Intallura was selected as Miss Bucktail to represent Bucktail High School, she invited her to ride on the float. On the float is: Miss Bucktail 1975, Margaret Riggle (right) and Miss Bucktail 2020, Angela Intallura (left).

By Christopher Miller

Tradition!

It’s a word that is rattled right off the tongue when speaking about the heritage of our beautiful area. Be it Haven Holidays in downtown Lock Haven, Little League Baseball games on a humid summer evening, or the Renovo Christmas Parade the Saturday following Thanksgiving, Clinton County is surely steeped in tradition.

One major such event that is steeped in tradition spanning nearly three-quarters of a century was surely missed this year in the Renovo area.

The Flaming Foliage Festival, a large highlight of the year for the Renovo area was canceled this year due to you-know-what spreading around the world. But the people made due, and still held a wonderful Autumn Festival event in the borough at the Flaming Foliage Visitor’s Center Lot.

My wife and I, who are not strangers to the Renovo area and constantly seek excuses to explore the western end of the county were among the hundreds who ventured out into the mid-October “heatwave day” that saw temperatures hovering in the mid to high 70’s.

There were many chances to win big with basket and firearm raffles, homemade pies by the dozen, and craft vendors galore spread throughout the local area.

An impromptu parade of a borough vehicle and a truck pulling a float was observed driving down Huron Avenue to honor Angela Intallura, the 2020 nominated Miss Bucktail who will also represent Bucktail at the Laurel Festival in Wellsboro in the Spring.

But let’s quickly rewind back to 1949 and the beginning of the Flaming Foliage Festival’s roots in Renovo. As my good friend and columnist Lou Bernard explained in last week’s history column: the festival has had a very colorful history in our local area.

Local newspapers from the area in 1949 herald then Pennsylvania Governor James H. Duff as being “unbelievably impressed” to describe the view from Hyner Mountain. It seemed as if the festival’s beginnings in 1949 also coincided with the grand opening of a 6 mile stretch of road from the village of Hyner below to the top of Hyner Mountain, now known as Hyner View State Park.

In fact, the newspaper reports that the West Branch area was to be known as a “vacationland” due to gradually restoring the West Branch fish life and clean streams, along with the smell of the woods and beautiful flaming foliage.

Back in those days, it appeared that events were fairly spread out between Renovo and Emporium, citing a rededication ceremony of the monument to the Bucktail Rangers, and a large crowd being gathered in Emporium for a square dancing contest with “the best old time fiddler and square dance callers” around.

Modern marketing efforts in 1949 were also extraordinary in the fact that “Bucktail Balloon Derby cards, carrying word of the Flaming Foliage Festival, have made landings in five states,” as a newspaper reported. The newspaper said that recent landings made it as far away as Jersey City, New Jersey, a distance of 190 miles from the Hyner View launch site, while the current record holder was found as far away as the northeast corner of the state of Maine.

It appears that in 1951 the festival had become so popular that the venue for the crowning ceremony had to be changed from Hyner View to “a blazing scene at the foot of the mountain” due to traffic difficulties. In those days a rhinestone studded tiara, matching choker, bracelet, and earrings were part of the ensemble presented to each queen at her coronation. It was also reported that the tiara was given to the festival committee as a “permanent trophy” by a New York costume jewelry manufacturer, J. J. Denberg and the remaining items coming from Wiedhahn Jewelry Store. Back in those days it also appears that the Queen’s Luncheon was held at the Fallon Hotel in Lock Haven, probably where most of the contestants also lodged with their families.

Throughout its long and colorful history the Flaming Foliage Festival has been a staple and great cause for celebration and jubilee in the western end of the county. Though 2020 hasn’t been much of a cause for celebration, the people remember and celebrate the past and have gotten creative with unique ways to celebrate it today.

See you next year, Flaming Foliage Festival.