Clinton County Commissioner encourages attendance at banner ceremony
LOCK HAVEN — Clinton County Commissioner Angela Harding encouraged the public to attend the upcoming Hometown Heroes Banner Ceremony on Saturday, Aug. 28 at the J. Doyle Corman Amphitheatre. Harding spoke during the board of commissioners meeting on Thursday morning.
“A lot of volunteers over the summer have contributed to this program. The hanging of banners has transpired over the course of this week and they will be unveiling some special banners this Saturday,” Harding said.
The ceremony is held every two years when banners for active-duty military personnel, veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces, emergency first responders and health-care workers are placed throughout downtown Lock Haven. Nearly 200 banners were hung downtown with the help of volunteers this week.
With this latest campaign, the nonprofit and its key campaign partner — the Clinton County Veterans Affairs Office, now headed by Jennifer Hagaman — will have displayed some 2,500 banners along the streets of downtown and on the Riverwalk.
The program — an important fundraiser for Downtown Lock Haven, Inc. — will begin at 10 a.m. and include a number of speakers.
Among them will be guest speaker, Navy Rear Adm. Sara “Clutch” Joyner, a Navy pilot who has made several deployments in support of Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom and Operations Southern Watch.
Joyner has earned numerous commendations/medals and accumulated over 3,700 flight hours and 750 arrested landings on Naval aircraft. She currently serves as Navy chief of legislative affairs for the 117th Congress of the United States.
Other speakers will include Randy Padfield, director of the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) and local speakers Timothy Reeves, CEO of Bucktail Medical Center; Angela Harding, president of the board of directors of DLH; U.S. 12th Pa. Congressional District Rep. Fred Keller; 25th District Sen. Cris Dush; 76th District Rep. Stephanie Borowicz and Lock Haven City Mayor Joel Long.
Cara Montarsi, a local State Farm agent and chair of the Hometown Hero Banner Program Volunteer Committee, will serve as master of ceremonies.
Padfield has more than 30 years experience in emergency services delivery and training, including fire-rescue, Emergency Medical Services and emergency management-incident management disciplines.
Before his role at PEMA, he was the director of Public Safety Training Center at Harrisburg Area Community College. He has been involved in numerous local, regional, state and federal responses throughout his career, including the World Trade Center attack on Sept. 11, 2001, Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy.
Reeves will make a special presentation on behalf of Margaret “Margie” Palmer, a Bucktail Medical Center staff member who lost her life to COVID-19.
Also integral to the program and ceremony with volunteer participation are: the Korean War Veteran Honor Guard; Vocalist Kendall Eichenlaub; Pastor Frank Hartzel, USAF, Vietnam Veteran; vocalist Elaine Barth; area Veterans and families representing all branches of the service and all military eras; Monica Anderson, SFC, U.S. Army, and bagpiper John MacMillen, USAF, Vietnam Veteran.