Latrobe skips holiday parade, keeps post-Thanksgiving bonfire

Latrobe will not host a holiday season parade this year, but plans are still on for the traditional bonfire to kick off the season the day after Thanksgiving.

Council this week voted against rescheduling the bonfire to Dec. 1 — a date proposed by committee members who are planning a Holly Jolly holiday celebration and a Santa’s Party in the Park that day in downtown.

The parade was cancelled by a slim 4-3 vote Tuesday night. Mayor Rosie Wolford, Paul Bartels, Christine Weller and Gerald Baldonieri voted not to hold the parade. Robert Forish, Jim Kelley and Jack Murtha wanted one.

“I think every year we can revisit it,” Wolford said of the decision.

Holly Jolly planners last month told council members they’d heard the parade was sparsely attended along much of its route — possibly because many who attend crowd near the end close to the park where Santa arrives to visit children.

Organizers of Santa’s Party in the Park said they’d still like Santa to arrive at the event in a city fire truck, but they suggested dropping the parade, which normally includes Santa.

Beth Straka, a community service officer with the Latrobe Police Department, has taken a leading role in organizing city h0liday events in the last several years. She said attendance at Latrobe’s holiday season parade was never meant to rival that at the city’s major annual parade, on the Fourth of July.

“This is something I wanted to do for the people in the community,” Straka said of the parade.

Holly Jolly planners last month asked council to consider rescheduling the bonfire so that all holiday activities in the city would fall on Dec. 1.

Weller said it’s too late to change the date because of arrangements Straka has in place for the bonfire, which is held next to the city fire department’s Goodwill Hose Company in the First Ward. Weller suggested a change in the date might be considered for 2019, with plans begun further in advance and improved communication among the entities involved.

Wolford said she’d learned in August that community organizers wanted to move the bonfire and other activities to a single day. But the proposal wasn’t presented to the full council until Sept. 24.

Holly Jolly organizers argued that having all holiday events on the same day, a weekend later than in past years, would be less confusing and avoid competition with other season kickoff events in neighboring communities during the weekend after Thanksgiving.

Kelley argued spreading activities across multiple dates provides more opportunities for people to visit downtown Latrobe and patronize businesses.

Some city officials said they’d heard from residents who wanted to keep the bonfire on the day after Thanksgiving.

Wolford voted to retain the usual bonfire date this year but expressed concern that council, by doing so, was failing to cooperate with those who wanted to consolidate the holiday events.

“When you have businesses and volunteers that want to combine these things, and the city is the only one standing in its ways,… I think it doesn’t reflect well on how we want to work with our downtown businesses,” she said.

Past holiday bonfires have attracted at least 500 people, according to Straka. This year’s event, lengthened by a half hour, will be from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Nov. 23. It will feature an open kitchen at the fire hall, hot chocolate, music by a disc jockey and lighting of community holiday decorations.

There was no disagreement on Halloween activities in the city, set for Oct. 27. Council scheduled a parade for a 2 p.m. start, followed by trick or treating from 4 to 6 p.m.

Jeff Himler is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Jeff at 724-836-6622, jhimler@tribweb.com or via Twitter @jhimler_news.