Cranberry Community Days returns after hiatus
CRANBERRY TWP — Cranberry Township residents looking for an eventful start to July are in luck: The Cranberry Township Community Days festival returns this week after its pandemic hiatus.
The three-day festival, operated by the Cranberry Township Community Chest and sponsored by UPMC Passavant, among others, will run from 4 to 10 p.m. Thursday, 4 to 11 p.m. Friday and 1 to 11 p.m. Saturday at Community Park, 111 Ernie Mashuda Drive.
It will feature a variety of events, from carnival games and activities for children to live music at the newly renovated Rotary Amphitheater, a car cruise, pickleball training workshops and more.
In past years, the festival has drawn more than 30,000 visitors from across the county and from out of state. More than 100 vendors and more than 40 nonprofit organizations are involved.
“We're all just so happy to have the festival going this year,” said Bruce Mazzoni, president of Cranberry Township Community Chest and member of the Cranberry Township Board of Supervisors. “Everyone attends for free — that's the beauty of Community Days; a family of four can come and have fun for zero dollars.”
While admission to the festival is free, proceeds gathered through vendors and sponsors will benefit the 2022 CTCC Project of the Year, which has not yet been selected.
Mazzoni expects the project to be chosen later in the fall or winter.
“In the past, we created a new project of the year going into the festival, and we made this decision this year because some of our projects have gotten so big that it's hard to finish them in a year,” Mazzoni said. “There may not be a new project every year going forward — we are working on developing a new format for the project of the year. The goal is to get the money up front, so that we know we can finish what we start.”
Mazzoni hopes to partner with the township and community members to get input on future projects.
“In the end, it's the public and business who fund these things and make them happen — they are a tremendous asset to the community,” Mazzoni said.
This year's festival will have a somewhat more spread-out layout, and parking will be free of charge for attendees.“We've cautiously been planning through the pandemic — we've only been able to host in the past few months once restrictions were dropped. We've been working with our sponsors — the community has been very supportive,” said Audrey Rattay, co-chairwoman of Cranberry Township Community Days and the county's external affairs specialist. “We're taking a proactive approach to creating more space within the park and making sure that everyone is comfortable.”A new addition this year is the free Kids Zone, which will include several inflatable attractions for children to play on over the course of the festival, along with caricatures and balloon animals.“We really wanted some more free things for kids to enjoy,” Rattay said.Many classic parts of the festival are returning this year as well.The carnival attractions, annual Cruisin' Cranberry Car Show, Lion's Club Pancake & Sausage Breakfast and Sunrise Rotary Bingo all have come back, along with the grand Zambelli fireworks finale in the evening.“Realistically, this is the biggest event in Cranberry, and not having it last year really took a toll on people,” Rattay said. “This is bringing our community back together.”
On Thursday at 5:50 p.m. during the festival proceedings, the township will dedicate and hold an opening ceremony for the newly renovated Rotary Amphitheater, CTCC's most recent project of the year. Sponsored by UPMC Passavant and Armstrong, the ceremony will feature the national anthem performed by Morgan Gruber, as well as a performance from the Rex Brown VFW Color Guard.“We have been calling it a renovation, but it's been practically redone,” said Mazzoni. “It's very much been expanded — the lighting has been revamped, the structures were redone, there's a new restroom and paving on the road heading in. We really brought this into being a bigger project, and it will be enhanced and utilized by the community moving forward — not just for concerts, but as a sort of gathering place.”Live performances are scheduled at the Rotary Amphitheater on all three days of the festival.The lineup includes Sing Sing Sing and Miss Freddye on Thursday, The Waterview Band and The Swearing Hats on Friday, and Young Brothers, Bell School of Irish Dance, Avigna and First Class Bhangra, Pittsburgh Xiaobo Waist Drum Dance & Tai Chi, The Fantastix, This, That and The Other Thing and The Hobbs Sisters on Saturday.
