AVONMORE — Penny Dunmire is looking ahead to the Avonmore Harvest Jubilee.
About two years ahead, to be exact.
This year's event kicks off Friday night and runs through the weekend with music, food and festivities.
The 2014 festival, she hopes, will offer all that and more — specifically the return of a favorite attraction that promises to send revelers off with a bang.
That will be the 50th anniversary of the community celebration, Dunmire said, “so we're hoping in two years we'll have enough volunteers and people to donate that we can have fireworks again.”
The community celebration that has been going strong for nearly half a century is tied to another borough fixture — the Avonmore Community Association.
The association, which helps to support and organize the Harvest Jubilee, has been around since 1949, said Dunmire.
Her involvement goes back to when she signed up to be a junior member as a teenager. Now retired from her work as a teacher in the Blairsville-Saltsburg School District, Dunmire operates as a communications person for the association. But her involvement encompasses many activities in which the group participates to support the borough.
“The community association works to get things organized so other groups can get some money or economic awareness,” she said.
According to Dunmire, the association also works so that all in the borough have equal access to the community events, such as the Harvest Jubilee or Avonmore's annual holiday festivities.
“Everything we do, we try to do it for free, so everybody gets the same thing,” she said. “We try to make sure if we have horse-and-buggy rides, everybody gets a horse-and-buggy ride at Christmas time.”
The events are designed to bring families together. As Dunmire said, “that's the spirit of it.”
Aileen Reid, mayor of Avonmore, notes that while Dunmire excels in marketing, public relations and communications, she contributes in other ways as well, such as bringing her knowledge of local history to efforts and economic development projects with the Avonmore Economic Development and Revitalization group. The group has worked on projects such as the development of a bike trail along the Kiski River.
“There's a lot of zeal in Avonmore Borough,” Reid said. “People are really coming out of their shell and getting involved, and of course, Penny is a major part of that disk in the backbone that supports these efforts. She's one of my main go-to people. She's a blessing.”
In addition to the festival, the community association has seen a number of unique projects get off the ground, such as a sign in town that announces information such as the birthdays of residents.
Dunmire and the association also have been instrumental in construction of a boat launch and pavilion at a popular spot for kayakers and canoeists on the Kiski River.
“So a lot of things have been happening and what we're trying to work with (is) what we have to offer and what we have to offer is the beauty of the area, the river and the people,” she said.
There is another site that helps bring Avonmore together, Dunmire pointed out — a website. The Facebook page “Avonmore PA” has more than 600 members. The borough, according to the 2010 census, has slightly more than 1,000 residents.
Whether posting about council meeting minutes, yard sales or the borough's Hollywood debut (much of the upcoming Matt Damon film, “Promised Land,” was filmed in the borough), the site is an active avenue for local dialogue.
For Dunmire, that communication is key for the community.
“The more we understand and communicate with each other, the better things are going to be,” she said. “We want everybody to feel a part of our community.”
Julie E. Martin is a freelance writer for Trib Total Media.
