Celebrate Coatesville Day planned for Oct. 22
By Stephanie Weaver, Correspondent, CoatesvilleTimes.com
Organizers of the first Celebrate Coatesville Day meet to work on planning: From left; Gerry Hook, Jim Reach, Cathy Ranck Carr, Judy Jones, Cindy Pelet Hohl and Fred Byerley.
COATESVILLE — No matter where life takes you, your hometown will always be a huge part of you. It’s where your roots lie. Nine local residents understand the significance of this and are hosting an event called “Celebrate Coatesville Day” on Oct. 22 at Ash Park in order to celebrate their hometown pride.
Celebrate Coatesville Day is the brainchild of Judy Jones who got the idea for the event after she saw the success of her “You Know You’re from Coatesville When…” Facebook page.
“The Facebook page was a place where people could go and post about their memories of growing up in Coatesville,” Jones said. “Everybody started remembering all of these stories and soon the group grew to include over 1,260 people. It was amazing how we all had the same thoughts and I came up with the idea of a community event to revive the feelings of what we had back then.”
According to the Celebrate Coatesville Day committee, the intent of the event is to reinforce the positive connections which are evident on the Facebook page. They want to provide the community with a day that everybody can come together to share their Coatesville pride.
Cathy Carr, who is in charge of the art work and flyer design for the committee, was first in line to help out.
“As soon as Judy posted on the Facebook page that she wanted to have an event, I was the first to respond and say ‘Yes! Let’s do it!’ I have a background in event planning so having those design and organizational skills helped me to contribute to the event.”
Though the committee’s numbers are small, their commitment to the cause is mighty. The group has worked tirelessly to spread the word about their event to the community as well as get Ash Park ready in preparation for the big day.
“We distributed flyers and even went door-to-door,” Judy stated. “Gerry Hook, who is another committee member, also came up with a database from Yellow Pages with different companies so we could call all of them.”
The group also has been making routine trips to Ash Park prior to the event to pick up garbage and make the area look great.
“For the small amount of time we have had to put this together, we have made great strides,” said Judy.
Attendees of Celebrate Coatesville Day will get to enjoy an area where old classmates can catch up. There will also be live performances, complimentary “Celebrate Coatesville” bracelets, door prizes, and pony rides, playground games and face painters for the kiddies.
“I am hoping to see some people from the past,” said committee member Gerry Hook. “It’d be great to relive all of the things we did while growing up in Coatesville and everything that we remember including the old stores, the old music, the old clothes and getting in trouble.”
Committee member Cindy Pelet Hohl sums it up perfectly, “It’ll be a great time to revitalize the spirit of Coatesville and have the city come together.”
Celebrate Coatesville Day is on Saturday, October 22 from 11am to 4pm at Ask Park.
