Cemetery trees become part of 'Living Dead' Wood crafts to help fund EDCO park
Spooky craftwork was afoot in Evans City Friday when Bowls for Good, a woodworking charity organization from St. Petersburg, Fla., came to town to gather wood from the Evans City Cemetery.
Bowls for Good plans to take the wood to the Spooky Empire horror convention in Orlando in October. Horror buffs will be able to make their own pens and have them signed by several actors in the 1968 zombie cult classic “Night of the Living Dead,” which originally used the Evans City Cemetery as a filming location.The proceeds from selling the pens will go to benefit EDCO Park and Pool in Evans City.“A lot of the fans of 'Night of the Living Dead' all over the country can't get here to Evans City, and you can't just take stuff from the cemetery,” Bowls for Good director of operations Michael Petruzzelli said. “To have something from this location is a special thing. Horror fans, we're crazy, and we love it.”“The idea of doing something like this is just like magic,” said Bowls for Good founder Ben Farrell. “All of this stuff is like magic for the fans.”Bowls for Good started out in Florida doing woodworking with at-risk youth as a form of art therapy. The organization began raising money for youth organizations by holding events during which people could make and buy pens made from wood from places that were meaningful to them, such as a historic pier in the city that was being torn down.
“There's a whole subculture of people who care about historical wood,” said Petruzzelli. “We get wood from all over the place — from churches that are being remodeled, even from people's Christmas trees.”Last year, the group procured wood from Christ Church College in Oxford, England, where several scenes from the Harry Potter movies were filmed, and made magic wands, which were sold at the Spooky Empire convention to benefit the Police Athletic League youth organization in St. Petersburg.“They wanted to do something with a charity that had to do with Evans City, so that it could have that 'Night of the Living Dead' connection,” said Evans City Borough secretary/treasurer Beth Crowley. “And EDCO Park and Pool is a big part of Evans City.”Petruzzelli and Farrell visited EDCO Park and Pool Friday to show Evans City residents, including mayor Dean Zinkhann, how to make pens from wood samples using a wood carving lathe.
“We certainly have a lot of 'Night of the Living Dead' fans who come to Evans City,” said Zinkhann. “I have married couples at the chapel in the cemetery from as far away as Australia.”Farrell is excited about the chance to bring the wood to the convention.“The fans love this stuff,” Farrell said. “Everyone gets something they want — the fans get a pen made of the wood from the cemetery, the park and pool benefits … all using just an old log from behind the cemetery.”
