Bedford County Labor Day Festival fights to continue going

BEDFORD COUNTY, Pa. (WTAJ) — The Bedford County Labor Day Festival at the Cumberland Valley Recreation Park has been a staple in the community for 52 years, but this year could be its last.

Dave Miller, President of the Cumberland Valley Parks and Recreation is in charge of the festival, but he’s unsure what next year will look like.

“Next year may not happen. As with anything, volunteers are hard to come by. I mean, everyone that does stuff that has volunteers understands what I’m talking about. And it just may not be here. We’re hoping that somebody maybe will step up in the community and take it over. I’ll gladly help. It’s just that, you know, I just want to sit back and enjoy now. So we’re hoping that somebody will step up and take over the event and it’ll continue on for another 50 years,” he said.

It takes the recreation board around $3,000 to run the festival each year. The cruise-in brings local visitors and ones from out of state, all to see the cars.

“I like to see more cars, you know, all the time, and more people enjoying the cars,” Jim Jewell, who’s been attending the festival for 50 years said.

Jewell said it would be unfortunate if the festival goes away.

“It wouldn’t be good. It wouldn’t be good for the community. I’d like to see it continue. And hopefully we can get the help to keep it going,” he said.

Abby’s Angels was also at the Labor Day Festival to host a cornhole tournament and raise money for the care of animals.

“So people play for fun all the time. And then a portion goes back to the winners. And then the other portion goes back to the rescue. It’s a Cumberland Valley Rec park. So there was a baseball field, there’s a playground. So it’s very beneficial for people to attend this festival because then they can raise funds to keep this fairground, this festival open. And the fields and the playground up to date so the kids can still play on these fields,” Lindsay Salas, Vice President of Abby’s Angels Animal Haven said.

“It’s takes a village. It really does,” Miller said.

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If you’re interested in helping with next year’s festival, becoming a volunteer or vendor, you can email Dave Miller at eocdjmiller@emarqmail.com . The subject of the email should be Labor Day Vendor or Labor Day Volunteer.

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