Shannock Valley Community Festival Opens Tonight

By Jonathan Weaver

The 26th Annual Shannock Valley Community Festival begins tonight in Shannock Valley Park along Route 85 with activities, entertainment and rides through Saturday.

All activities during the weekend benefit future community festivals, starting with tonight’s pet contest and wiener dog races.

Tiffany Harkleroad, of NuMine, coordinated the 7PM dachshund races.

Born in Templeton, Harkleroad has been chairing the Thursday night wiener dog races for the past three years even though she doesn’t have one herself. Her sister, Stephanie, has a wiener dog, but doesn’t participate with it since she lives in Tennessee.

“I don’t know (why that’s where I assist) – they just assigned me to it. (The wiener dogs) are really, really cute and really fun,” Harkleroad said. “I have a cat and a rabbit – that’s enough.”

Along with four children – Emily, 11, Judah, 6 Elijah, 5, and Isaiah, 3 - who are entering the pet contest with the family cat, Kitty Softpaws. The children are also going to wear matching costumes with the cat, though Harkleroad isn’t sure of the costumes until tonight.

“I’ve had a few ideas,” Harkleroad said.

Harkleroad is the daughter of Festival Chairman Joe Weister.

“They needed more volunteers, so I volunteered,” Harkleroad recalled. “It can get very stressful trying to get everything rounded up.”

Harkleroad’s main sponsor, the Dayton Feed Mill, enables Harkleroad to buy some prizes for winners and participants.

“We get the donations from the Dayton Feed Mill for some prizes and then we put together some participation bags with some dog bones and treats and stuff– we usuallymake up about 20 bags,” Harkleroad said.

As of Tuesday evening, there were eight dogs signed up, but more can be registered Thursday evening for $20.

Future sister-in-law and Rural Valley resident, Sarah Grantz, assisted Harkleroad with the set-up for tonight.

Brother, Brandon, assists with registration for the Friday night parade.

Brad Bowser, of Worthington, took over chairing the Saturday Mountain Bike Race in 2010 after participating in the race himself since 2003. Former Committee Chair Al Scott moved to State College after helping Bowser

“This will be the 18th year (for the Mountain Bike Race),” Bowser said. “I actually helped him a couple years prior to him asking me to take over – that last year, he actually stayed on for me to learn.

“You have to learn the land owners, the trails, the firemen – there’s a lot that takes place; it’s not just a bunch of people showing up and going for a ride. It takes like a month to get everything set up.”

The race begins with the expert riders at 10:30AM and the sport riders an hour later. This year, the race will finish on 2nd Street to avoid closing Main Street.

More than 100 riders participated last year and Bowser – who will compete in the sport class - expects just as many riders – the majority aged 30 and above - this year based on other local races.

“You’ll get a few newbies, but I think the majority of the racers are experienced riders,” Bowser said.

Those experienced riders include past winners Brad Kriley of Butler and Shane Gouldthread of Weedville (Elk County).

Sport riders will complete 11 miles of trails, while expert riders complete 17 miles after repeating portions of the course.

Bowser cautioned all riders that the race will be intense and to bring their own hydration.

“There’s a few log crossings and a couple small streams, and there’s quite-a-bit of climbing involved in the course,” Bowser said. “Every year, it seems like its raining or extremely hot – there’s no comfort.

“It can be rigorous – it’s challenging in its own unique way. I try and add new trails every year.”

Bowser rode the course earlier this week and marked the terrain with orange ribbon and arrows.

Sponsors Rapp’s Bicycle Center in Butler and Eric Shick Insurance of Ford City enable the top three winners of each age bracket to receive trophies.

He was assisted by local land owner Jim Dickey, and fellow racers Clayton Shaffer of Margaret and Mike Brown of Boggsville.

Dickey, a local firefighter for more than 40 years, looks forward to helping Dave Knepshield and Fire Chief Kevin Nelson sell ribs with the fire department.

“They don’t last very long,” Dickey said. “I’m going to everything.”

Though the Mountain Bike racers share Miles of Smiles Timing Service and has the same start line, the race is staggered between the 20th Annual 5K Walk/Run race also held that morning.

Eric Shick, of Rimersburg, won the 5K last year in a time of just over 22 minutes.

Along with musical entertainment, a car show with the Shannock Valley Car Club Chapter of AACA will be held Saturday as well before the evening fireworks.

Festival Chairperson Pam Steffey has been on the festival grounds all week and commended the committee members for their effort this year.

No Comments

No comments yet.

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI

Leave a comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.