COUDERSPORT — Local citizens calling themselves “Friends of the Coudersport Arboretum” are rallying the troops in an effort to save the park.

They’ll be holding their inaugural event at 2 p.m. on Sunday.

It’s billed as a community get-together titled Gala in the Garden. There will be live music as well as free hot dogs and lemonade.

The purpose of the gathering is to galvanize support for the arboretum as Coudersport Borough Council moves forward on a proposal to sell a portion of the park to allow the adjacent Sheetz convenience store to expand.

At its May meeting, borough council voted not to sell. However, with one member missing and another changing his vote, that action was reversed at council’s June meeting.

Arboretum supporters are now asking council members to reconsider when they convene for their next public meeting at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the borough maintenance building on Damascus Street.

They cite petitions circulated last year that garnered hundreds of signatures urging council to keep the arboretum where it is.

Coudersport Area Lions Club, the Chamber of Commerce, American Legion Post 192 and Sons of the American Legion, and the Arboretum Committee, as well as many volunteers, have worked together over the years to establish the park as an aesthetically pleasing venue that’s also a heritage area recalling the Coudersport & Port Allegany Railroad.

Among the historical elements are the C&PA Railroad Depot, now the Coudersport Borough Office; the restored C&PA caboose; and a Pullman rail car similar to those that carried passengers on the local railway.