Annual festival continues Saturday night with fireworks
Trending
Crowds lined the street on Thursday in Jersey shore for the annual Town Meeting's parade. The parade was led in by the Lycoming County police followed by this year's town crier Elijah Rauch. The parade featured community groups, the Jersey Shore cheerleaders and marching band, fire companies from both Lycoming and Clinton Counties, and the Queen Tiadaghton contestants.
Following the parade, the crowd moved to the main stage for the crowning of the Baby Sweethearts and Queen Tiadaghton. Crowned Queen Baby Sweetheart was Cadence Kneale. Crowned King Baby Sweetheart was Zaydon Allen. The race for Queen Tiadaghton was a very close one. Awarded first runner-up was Bailee Stroup. This year's Queen Tiadaghton is Ava Pennycoff.
The Baby Sweetheart contest was started in 1963 by Sallie Dershem and the nurse's auxiliary as a fundraiser to help provide extra money to parents while their infant children were being cared for in the hospital. The contest is now run by the local sororities Xi Eta Theta and Laur Alpha Omicron. The contest is the two sororities' largest fundraising event.
"I think the importance of the Town Meeting and Queen Tiadaghton is having the younger generation learn more about the history and the honor that the titles hold." said pageant coordinator Alyssa Fink. "As a previous Queen it is very important to me that the girls that participate realize this isn't just a beauty pageant, this is an opportunity to be involved in your community and an honor. The next queen of Jersey Shore should strive not only during her term, but in the future years, to create something for the good of the people in our community."
"I'm going to try and make an impact the best I can, especially on little girls." shared 2023 Queen Tiadaghton Ava Pennycoff. "I want to show them to not be ashamed of your faith. That's a big thing nowadays."
Every year a local youth is chosen to be the town crier. This is an important role as it calls back to the town's history. The crier is counterpart to Queen Tiadaghton. This year's crier is Elijah Rauch. This will mark Rauch's second year as the town crier.
"I love all the types of parades that I've been to during my two year reign." said Elijah Rauch. "It brings me joy when I meet a lot of people."
The Jersey Shore Town Meeting is a celebration of the Independence of our nation. Local legend states that in 1776, a group of men, the Fair Play Men, from the Tiadaghton area met under an elm tree to sign their own Declaration of Independence. A few days later in Philadelphia the actual Declaration of Independence was signed ahead of the Revolutionary War.
This year the Town Meeting committee faced unpredictable weather and problem solved their way to put on the event.
"We can't control Mother Nature." Kelly Schweikarc, President of the Town Meeting said. "But I think the turnouts been good. Parade went well. The crowning went fabulous."
"We are 100% volunteer," said Ron Spacing, the committee's drums chairman, in regards to who runs the event each year. "We are not associated with the Jersey Shore borough in any way, shape or form."
"We all have jobs." shared Schweikarc. "We do this on the side."
The Town Meeting will continue into tonight. The event will come to a close with aerial and ground fireworks beginning at 9:45 p.m. Food and drink vendors like Park Pizza, Gunzie's Hot Sausage, Roger's Lemonade, Mr. Sticky's and Sunset Ice Cream will be in attendance. There will also be live music, carnival games and rides for enjoyment.