Woodward Township Supervisors speak on another successful Riverfest

 

By Emily Wright

DUNNSTOWN, PA – Supervisors at the Woodward Township meeting on Tuesday evening declared Riverfest 2023 a success, leading them to begin exploring the idea of holding a similar festival in the fall.

Township Supervisor Kyle Coleman opened up the meeting by speaking on behalf of the festival’s volunteers, vendors, prize winners, and events. “We had Riverfest this past weekend which was a success the whole way around. I think this year was the highest year I’ve seen in duck derby sales. We also had a good amount of vendors this year. Things have been coming back since COVID took place.”

Coleman said that the inflatable slide and the new ice skating rink were a hit among festival goers, and claims that locals provided lots of positive feedback about the bands that played all three nights.

“We had good volunteer help,” Coleman said. He mentioned that the county offered an opportunity for individuals needing to complete community service hours by helping out with the festival. “They were a tremendous help getting things taken care of for us down there,” he said.

The annual duck derby included a total of 1,399 participants, and the grand prize for the derby went to an 8-year-old Lock Haven native.

In terms of holding a festival in the fall, township supervisors and other attendees at the meeting discussed their ideas. A few ideas tossed around were having a chicken barbeque and vendors serving different soups to bring in the fall season. The potential fall festival would include live bands as well. Supervisor Coleman noted that the festival would need to be scheduled around Penn State’s home football games in order to see another successful turnout.

“I think some good things are coming with Riverfest and our other recreation stuff,” Coleman said.

The recreation meeting concluded with discussion about making changes to the prizes given away during the annual Riverfest. According to Coleman, prizes that aren’t claimed by winners during the festival are often forgotten about and never picked up. Unclaimed prizes often cannot be returned, so “We’re going to try a couple of different avenues for next year,” Coleman said.

According to Woodward Township Supervisors, winners receiving cash prizes and gift cards typically pick them up, but individual items are often left unclaimed, leading them to contemplate the idea of exclusively offering cash prizes along with gift certificates for local businesses in future years.

“We did discuss in our recreation meeting that we’re going to put a deadline at the end of August for winners to claim their prizes, so if they are not picked up by that point they may be donated to another organization,” Coleman said.

Coleman mentioned that he plans to announce the deadline to pick up prize winnings on the Woodward Township Recreation page on Facebook.