Festival's enthusiasm not dampened
CRANBERRY TWP — The rain that fell on and off Thursday may have held down the size of the crowd for the opening day of Cranberry Community Days, but it did little to hold down its enthusiasm.
The township's annual summer festival kicked off at the community park under cloudy skies and a steady rain. The deluge let up at 5:30 p.m.
While the car cruise was canceled, the Keystone State Musical Theater performers belted out tunes that filled the park.
Another familiar sound at the park was the whirring chain saw of artist Ken Tynan, who got a start on a sculpture of a young Seneca Indian girl in the throes of a native dance.
Tynan used a black crayon to sketch the scene on a long white pine log under a tent before plunging his saw into the log again and again.
The eagle dancer will show the girl's arms outstretched as she dances bent over, with eagle's wings fanned out on her arms.
Tynan said one side of the sculpture will be the front of the girl's body, while the other will be the outstretched eagle's wings and tail on the girl's arms.
The sculpture will be placed, along with seven other Seneca Indian sculptures, in Graham Park. The eagle dancer is the fifth Seneca Indian that Tynan has carved for the project.
Tynan said each sculpture take about 1½ weeks to carve. He carves them from huge logs he retrieves from companies clearing land.
While onlookers were few on Thursday because of the rain, Tynan sometimes draws huge crowds as he carves.
“If the weather is nice, I'll look up and sometimes there'll be hundreds,” he said, “and sometimes two.”
But he tries not to stop too often as curious onlookers always pepper him with questions that slows down the process.Tynan does has one sentiment to share with those manning the booths around his tent.“Sorry about the noise,” he said.Another sound pervading the community park Thursday was the shrieks of the young people flipping and spinning on the carnival rides, which are near the Rotary shelter.The favorite ride of Natalie Matthews, 11, of Cranberry Township was the Super Spinner.“It goes upside down,” Natalie said.Her friend and neighbor, 11-year-old Sidney Nolan, said her favorite activity is the balloon pop game. Sidney won a small stuffed pig and a blue ball Thursday.She said the festival is an important community event.“You get to see a bunch of people get together who don't know each other, and maybe you can make new friends,” Sidney said.Ryan Spithaler, 16, of Zelienople and Sara Flockerz, 15, of Cranberry visited the rides, food, crafts, games and booths Thursday evening.Sara's favorite delicacy is the funnel cake, while Ryan checked out every booth before placing his food order.“I've never been here before, and it seemed like a fun time,” Ryan said of Sara's suggestion to go to Community Days.“You see a lot of people from school that you wouldn't normally see in the summer,” Sara said.Amanda Magill, 14, of Cranberry milled around the ride area with six of her Pittsburgh Power softball teammates.“I like hanging out here with my friends,” Amanda said.
The girls, who played a tournament at the community park last weekend, also checked out the dozens of food booths, which offered everything from corn dogs to steak and crab cakes.“I like the monkey bread,” Amanda said of the cinnamon bun-like treat, which is served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.Today there will be the Lion Bison Burger cookout at 5 p.m. and the Sunrise Rotary Bean Bag Tourney at 6 p.m. Music includes the Cosmic Attack Blues Band at 5:30 p.m. and Glitz-Rock The Way You Like It at 8 p.m.Community Days continue Saturday. Admission is free.
