Kittanning Lights Up Market Street in Annual Celebration

by Jonathan Weaver

Temperatures Friday night didn’t threaten the freezing mark or snowflakes, but a few thousand local residents still helped Kittanning celebrate “A Sparkling New Christmas.”

People lined the sidewalks about 5:30PM for the annual parade, filled with community organizations, the Armstrong Junior High Marching Band and Santa Claus atop the Kittanning Hose Company #1 ladder truck before Santa heard Christmas gift wishes from children inside First National Bank.

Teller Jessica Moser, of Kittanning – who has worked at the bank for nearly three years – guarded the front door during final preparations for the opening.

“(First National Bank) takes turns (with Citizen’s Bank hosting Santa Claus), and we definitely wanted to see Santa,” Moser said. “It’s part of that excitement of the holiday.”

The first children in line were a pair of West Hills Primary kindergarten students - six-year old Francesca Graham (who was going to ask for an American Girl doll) and five-year-old Bayda Shepherd (was going to ask Santa for a Hatchimal toy egg).

Francesca’s mother said the girls waited in line for about an hour to see Santa, and were still able to enjoy the parade.

Those not in line for Santa Claus made their way to various stores in town or to NexTier Plaza for the annual pumpkin pie-eating contest – where contestants only had 60 seconds to eat as much pie as they could while only using their mouth.

The 20 contestants ranged in age from eight-year-old Kaden Rupp to 87-year-old Jack Norton, and even included County Commissioner Pat Fabian.

Armstrong Junior/Senior High Junior Defensive Tackle Jack Crissman, Sophomore Defensive Tackle Stephen Burns and Junior Defensive Tackle/Right Guard Joey Crissman represented the Armstrong River Hawks football team in the pie-eating contest.

“We tried to get the other guys, but they didn’t want to do it,” Jack said.
Their teammates might be regretting that decision, as Joey won the contest by eating nearly 1.3 pounds of his pie and Jack clocked in in third place after eating a little less than a pound.

Each pie weighed between 2.6 and 2.9 pounds before the contest began. Darren Stolitza and West Hills Intermediate Fourth-grade teachers Veronica Szybka and Susan Close calculated the final weights in the Armstrong County Tourist Bureau.

As the youngest competitor, Rupp won a River Hawks-themed ball.

Representative Jeff Pyle (who donated $100 for the first place winner) called Joey’s win “a world-class display.”

“Joey, it gives me great honor to hand over to you this crisp Ben Franklin ($100 bill) – spend it well,” Pyle said.

Joey indeed aimed to use the money while he was on Market Street.

Along with the money, Joey also was awarded three pies, with second-place winner Steven Lemmon given two, and Jack given a single pie.

The pies were donated to King’s Family Restaurant –and even a local employee participated.

Another event included the Christmas Circus at RadioActive Events Center a few blocks away – featuring the stunts of Brady “Klass Klowne” Wegener, of Brackenridge.

“I’ve been doing this all year long, and I had a whole bunch of new, crazier stunts for this year. A couple of them I couldn’t bring here because my big ball wouldn’t fit through the door, but that’s alright because everyone had a great time,” Wegener said.

Wegener, who learned most of his skills as a teenager and has never suffered a broken bone, is the only performer in his family, and can be noticed annually at the Pittsburgh Renaissance Festival each summer.

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