The annual Kinzua Bridge Fall Festival is slated to be held Saturday and Sunday.
This will be the festival’s 20th year. Park manager Mitch Stickle, with the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, stated that park staff is already busy getting ready for the festivities by setting up vendor areas and preparing for traffic and parking spaces.
The first day will see a number of bands and musicians perform throughout the day including the Birch Street Boys and the five-piece band, Luke the Drifters. The park will also host the Pennsylvania WoodMobile, a traveling exhibit that provides information on the state’s forest resource and the state’s forest products industry.
Visitors to the exhibit will see how the forests of Pennsylvania have shaped the history of the state and nation in the last 100 years. They will also be able to touch the various hardwood species produced in Pennsylvania as well as use touchscreen technology to interact with various threats to the forests such as invasive insects and plants, diseases and white-tailed deer.
The second day of the festival will also include a variety of music as well as the Bigfoot Calling Contest wherein participants are rated on their best impersonation of the mythical beast Bigfoot.
There will be a trolley to accommodate visitors who will have to park further away on the access road to Kinzua Bridge State Park.
Other agencies will be in attendance including the Army Corps of Engineers, the Pennsylvania Game Commision and the Allegheny National Forest Visitors Bureau.
Kinzua Bridge memorabilia will be available on both days of the event. There will also be gift drawings every hour and a pony-and-horse riding station.
The Mount Jewett Volunteer Fire Department will be hosting a chicken barbecue on both days.
“The Kinzua Bridge State Park Fall Festival is one of the busiest weekends of the year,” Stickle said. “We would like to see everyone come out and enjoy our Kinzua Bridge State Park that so many have dedicated their time to preserve for years.”
He added, “This will only be trumped by sunny days during the spectacular fall foliage season.”
Both days of the festival, the DCNR State Park staff will feature activities such as apple cider pressing, leaf waxing, and candle dipping. Eagle Dream Rehabilitation Center will feature live birds of prey.
Horse rides will be available across the parking lot by the McKean County Wranglers 4-H Club. Handicap parking will be available at the Visitors Center.
The Fall Festival is organized by the Kinzua Bridge Foundation Inc., a group of volunteers dedicated to the restoration and preservation of the Kinzua Bridge and State Park.
