‘Our biggest fundraiser’: Palmer Township celebrates community with rides, food and games while raising money for local nonprofits | Easton Area

PALMER TOWNSHIP, Pa. – Get ready for a weekend of food, games, rides, live music and dancing, as Palmer Township is celebrating its 42nd Community Weekend.

The event kicked off Wednesday with a free family movie, and the memory-making continues through Sunday.

“This year, we have a lot of upgraded and bigger rides,” Tyler Lapham, Deputy Director of Palmer Township Public Services, said. “We’ve got our tilt-a-whirl, our swings, our massive slides, knockerball.”

“Bands tend to be our biggest thing here,” Justine Strouse, Coordinator for Palmer Township Community Weekend, said. “People come out. They will grab their seats an hour early to sit here.”

“Dance classes come here, and like, a Zumba class comes here,” Dan McKinney, Palmer Township Parks and Recreation Director, said.

Palmer Township’s 42nd Community Weekend is put on by the community, for the community — and proceeds go back to the community.

“The 28 nonprofits, they do games and food, and that’s how they raise money here,” McKinney said.

Palmer police are patrolling the area before and during event hours, while actively participating in the community weekend.

“We make sure that everyone in the community is safe, along with helping with any type of incident that might occur, and also with crowd control as well,” K9 Officer Kyle Kromer with the Palmer Township Police Department said.

Firefighters are also standing by for safety, while fundraising to keep the all-volunteer operation protecting the people.

“All the staff, the men and women of the fire department, all volunteers,” Stephen Gallagher, Palmer Township Fire Commissioner, said. “So this is our biggest fundraiser.”

More than four decades after the first Palmer Community Weekend, things have changed some.

“The community has grown to a much larger scale than when I was a child growing up here,” Palmer Township Police Chief Wayne Smith said.

The chief says Palmer police are pushing for a larger station in the near future.

“With the technology and the need to keep our little, our peaceful community, a peaceful community,” Smith said. “It just takes a lot of additional security measures and so forth.”

For now, police put all hands on deck at Community Weekend, protecting, serving and putting on K9 demonstrations.

The event continues on Friday night at 6 p.m.

Organizers say “goat cuddles” will also be offered at the event. Palmer will host a 5k Saturday morning at 9 a.m., and fireworks will be later that night.