Renovo Heritage Days are Here Again!
By Christopher Miller
The small group of volunteers at The Greater Renovo Area Heritage Park are once again planning a slam-bang event for Renovo Heritage Days this year!
Heritage Days officially kicks off on Thursday, June 17 and runs through Saturday. One of the highlights of this year’s event, according to volunteer and organizer-among-many Mary George Rhone, is the concert on Saturday afternoon featuring singer-songwriter Van Wagner.
“It’s the opening of the Renovo Concert Series, it’s going to be great,” Rhone said. The show begins at 1pm on Saturday at the Renovo Heritage Park building, 530 Erie Avenue.
Another fun event happening this year is the bed race down Erie Avenue. “We need more participants,” Rhone exclaimed. “That was fun last year, you can race anything with 4 wheels and a mattress down Erie Avenue and sometimes people just get so creative, I get a big kick out of that!” For those interested, the bed races take place on Friday at 7pm.
“We build on it every year,” Rhone explained. “It’s a big event that focuses on the heritage of the entire western end of the county, and we are building on it every year, it’s a nice community get together and family event.”
New to the Renovo Heritage Park crew is fellow event organizer Amy Strong.
“I moved to the Renovo area to be with the love of my life and husband, Tom…this will be my first official Heritage Days since last year was all virtual due to COVID,” Amy said in an interview. “I am really looking forward to the Van Wagner show, and all the great food being offered!”
When asked about her role within Renovo Heritage Park and Renovo Heritage Days, Amy replied, “as a volunteer and member of GRAHP, I’ve been active in several fundraising projects and events since around the end of 2019 when Rich and Mary George brought be on board…I think that was the date, but don’t quote me!”
“I am a member of the Fundraising and Finance Committee, as well as stepping into this newly formed Marketing Committee role,” Amy said. “As far as this year’s Heritage Days, I have been creating social media promotions for Van Wagner, and will be at the Heritage Park Lot helping the team with food sales…I am excited to be a part of this!”
Also expected this year are presentations in the Maxwell Building from 10am – 12pm. Rich Wykoff will be presenting on The Great Log Drives, CCC Camps of Clinton County, Renovo Through Time (a new podcast about the Renovo area history), and an introduction to the music of Van Wagner prior to the start of the concert.
Food and drink will be available for purchase on Friday and Saturday, with a nice spread expected on Saturday afternoon.
•Thursday, June 17 will be Virtual Heritage Days – Watch for updates on FB.
•Friday, June 18 – Bed Races 7pm, Walking Tacos, Hot Dogs and Drinks available 5-8pm.
•Saturday , June 19 – Rich’s presentations in the Maxwell building from 10am-Noon
•The Great Log Drives (Presentation Dad made of Great Log Drives on the Susquehanna and a Silent movie from the railroad logging days),
*CCC Camps of Clinton County (Presentation about
the ten CCC camps in Clinton County),
*Renovo Through Time (Introduction of the new
podcast about our Renovo area history and showing
of the video clips from Renovo Area
Community Choir’s Sesquicentennial Concert),
*An introduction to Van Wagner (video clips about
Van Wagner and his music)
Starting at Noon, Hot dogs, sloppy joes, macaroni salad, drinks and ice cream sundaes will be available for purchase.
•1pm – Van Wagner
