Donora to keep traditions alive at Kennywood Day

Miss Donora, the Man of the Year and Athletes of the Year will be selected at the Aug. 14 celebration.

Donora will soon head to Kennywood for the borough’s 97th annual community picnic.

The picnic, organized by the Donora American Legion for decades and more recently by the Smog Commemorative Committee, will be held Aug. 14.

Mary Gnora-Jericho, whose father Terry Gnora organized the picnic for years in his role at the Legion, is co-chair for the event this year along with borough Councilwoman DeAnne Pavelko.

Gnora-Jericho said a lot of local communities have stopped having their annual Kennywood picnics due to increased costs at the park and other considerations.

Donora hasn’t just kept up its tradition, it’s held onto all of the mini-traditions included in the event.

Gnora-Jericho said they still do a bean count contest for kids age 12 and younger, and Donora is the last community that still does drawings. The borough does around 40 drawings at the picnic.

Anyone who purchases a Donora Kennywood ticket is automatically entered into the drawing. Anyone who plans to attend the event but plans to use their season pass can purchase a ticket for the drawing for $5.

Gnora-Jericho said many Donora businesses donate to supply prizes for the drawings. For example, Marty’s Pizza donated five $25 gift cards and Burkhardt Construction donated cash to supply several cash prizes.

One change from previous years is that drawings are no longer done at the stage near the Potato Patch. Instead Donora has been given Pavilion 3 to use for the entire day.

Drawings will begin at 4:30 p.m. and winners must be present to claim their prizes.

Miss Donora and the Man of the Year will be named at the picnic, as always. Gnora-Jericho said the winners are usually nominated or suggested by residents or committee members and they’re almost always someone who lives and works in the borough.

The Ringgold School District athletic director chooses a Donora Athlete of the Year. This year, however, there is a twist. This time a male and a female have both been chosen and will be named at the picnic. Gnora-Jericho said the committee thinks they will continue to have a male and female winner moving forward.

The winners are typically athletes who graduated in the spring and who are heading off to play at the college level.

The mystery man and mystery woman also make a return this year. Gnora- Jericho said it’s a fun game throughout the day. Essentially, a committee member will find the first two Donora residents they see at the park and name them the mystery man or woman for the day. All residents are encouraged to question each other throughout the day to try to figure out who the mystery man and woman are, and those who guess them correctly will win a prize. The mystery couple also win prizes for being good sports.

“We’re the only town that kept all of our traditions,” Gnora-Jericho said with a laugh, adding that some of them are silly but they’re the reason the picnic is so loved.

There will be one new thing this year — the Ringgold High School Band will perform in the Fall Fantasy Parade on the day of the Donora picnic.

Gnora-Jericho hopes that will encourage even more people to come this year. She said some may not come if it were on a separate night because they would have to make two separate trips and that can get costly.

Several people have donated tickets to the committee to be used as they see fit. Some have been used secretly to ensure the Miss Donora, Man of the Year and Athletes of the Year will be there. But the committee has been in touch with the school and Mon Valley Youth and Teen to get suggestions of families that can use some help to attend.

Gnora-Jericho also said the committee will look to use some for senior citizens who would like to go but can’t due to finances.

Tickets are on sale now at Union Pharmacy and Marty’s Pizza during business hours. Aug. 13 and 14, tickets will also be sold outside of Union Pharmacy from 6 to 8 p.m. and the morning of the picnic tickets will be sold outside the pharmacy from 9 to 11 a.m.

Cost is $32 for seniors age 65 and older and $35 for everyone else.

Bus transportation to the park will be provided for $5 each way. Those tickets can be purchased at the same time and locations as park tickets.

The bus will leave Donora at 11 a.m. and will leave the park at 8 p.m. to return to Donora.

For more information, call 724-39-5630 or 24518-6719.