CONNOQUENESSING TWP — A new Connoquenessing Township even was held Saturday, Aug. 1, when the township and the Connoquenessing Volunteer Fire Company hosted the first Connoquenessing Community Day.

The event, which took place at The Stables at Connoquenessing and the neighboring Buttercup Woodlands Campground, featured a variety of different activities.

While children enjoyed Buttercup Campground’s playground and received a free T-shirt, adults could visit the craft show and enjoy local wines. Other activities included bingo, painting with goats and raffles. Several food trucks were also on site.

Attendee Amy Spangler said the event had something for every generation.

“My mom came mostly to eat, my son wanted to play and I’m here to check out the baskets,” Spangler said.

According to event organizers, bringing community members of all generations together was the reason for holding the event.

Although Community Day is a new event, its inspiration was drawn from decades past.

During the 1970s and 1980s, the fire department held a street fair in Connoquenessing Borough. Those events inspired Connoquenessing Township Supervisor Angela Fleeger, who wanted to bring something similar back to the area.

Fleeger said she spearheaded the event to bring the Connoquenessing community together.

“There’s a lot of things in our community that we wanted to bring back to life and pump some new energy into so our neighbors get to know our neighbors again and we become one solid community,” she said.

Fleeger proposed a community day at a January supervisor’s meeting and the fire department agreed to help out.

Connoquenessing Volunteer Fire Company President and Deputy Chief Matt McConnell said helping with community day was another way to thank the township for its support.

“The township’s always been a strong supporter of the Connoquenessing fire company, along with Connoquenessing Borough,” McConnell said. “If the township supervisors are asking for something, I am more than willing to help out.”

The next step in preparing for community day was finding a place to have it. The Stables at Connoquenessing eventually agreed to host the event.

However, after booking The Stables, neighboring Buttercup Woodlands campground, a longtime supporter of the fire department, volunteered to let the township use the playground and their pavilion for community day at no cost.

The township agreed and added the playground, as well as more activities at the pavilion, to their community day plans.

While planning for the event, supervisors decided to give all of the money the event raised through activities to the fire department

The funds are especially important now because the fire department is building a new fire station.

Although the company has received grants to help build the new station, construction costs have risen significantly, according to Connoquenessing Volunteer Fire Company Chief Mike Nanna.

Nanna said the funds raised will help combat those rising costs.

Although the new fire station will be finished in spring of 2027, according to McConnell, Connoquenessing Township plans to keep hosting community days well into the future and keep bringing neighbors together.

“Like we see in other municipalities, the more we bring the community together, the stronger our community becomes,” Fleeger said.

Visitor Amy Spangler, when asked whether she would come to next year’s community day, said she “absolutely” would.