Archbald will kick off its 150th birthday celebrations with a winter carnival next week.
Archbald Borough and the Archbald Neighborhood Association are partnering to hold the wintertime event on Feb. 7 from 1 to 3 p.m. in and around the Borough Building, 400 Church St., and the nearby High School Plaza Park. The carnival launches what will be a series of monthly events collaborating with different community groups for the borough’s 150th anniversary, said Kayleigh Cornell, co-founder of the Archbald Neighborhood Association.
“We just wanted to do something once a month throughout this year to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Archbald, and we’re trying to involve as many different groups, businesses, just anybody who wants to get involved with all these activities,” Cornell said.
Organizers wanted to make as much of the carnival as they could free, and to help offset that, they received a $1,000 America250 grant through Lackawanna County, which is funding free horse-and-carriage rides from Brookvalley Farm, she said. Events will include at least a dozen outdoor games and half a dozen indoor craft stations for kids, along with free s’mores donated by Mayor Shirley Barrett, free hot dogs from the local Sons of the American Legion and free popcorn from the Karen Spataro family; fire pits setup by the Fire Department, drone demonstrations from the Archbald Police Department, a touch-a-truck with the Eynon Sturges Hose Company 3, desserts from Queen of Tarts Desserts, hot chocolate, coffee, soup from Ginger’s Pies, barbecue from the Smoked & Sauced food truck, a winter story time led by the Valley Community Library and free hair tinsel by Mandy with Holiday Hair, according to Cornell, Barrett and an event press release.
“It’s just a way to bring people together, especially during the cold winter months,” Cornell said.
Other 150th anniversary events throughout the year will include other community groups like the Archbald Borough Veterans Monument Park Committee, the Gravity Slope Colliery Committee, and the Archbald Neighborhood Association also will hold a beach party at Aylesworth Park in the summer, Cornell said. The borough will additionally close down part of Main Street with vendors and music in July, and the Veterans Monument Park Committee hopes to hold a dedication ceremony in May for their upcoming park on Kennedy Drive to coincide with a Memorial Day parade, said Barrett, who is also a member of the monument park committee.
Throughout the past year, Archbald residents and borough officials have navigated multiple controversial data center proposals leading to packed, sometimes heated meetings.
Cornell said that makes community events important.
“It’s so important to balance the fighting with coming together in community, because, to me, that’s why a lot of divisiveness happens — if you just don’t know your neighbor, if you don’t know the people around you,” she said. “Hopefully we could just start talking on a human-to-human level, and then it’ll help us solve the larger problems facing our community.”
Organizers want to bring different ideas and different events to the town, using different facilities throughout the town, Barrett said.
“We’re hoping that the residents all will come out and join us and participate in it to make this an awesome festivity to go along for the celebration,” she said. “We’re trying to do different things to get the town involved.”
The rain date for the carnival will be Feb. 14, according to the borough.