Latest / WashCo Insider / JoAnne Marshall & Dana Bucci
Transcript
- speaker-0: Hello and welcome back to this week's episode of The WashCo Insider. Well, it's officially September and I'm ready for fall, especially considering who we have in the studio today. In this episode, my guests and I are taking a deep dive into one of the most popular events of the year for locals and visitors alike. It officially kicks off our fall season, celebrates our region's history and heritage, and is one of the high notes of the fall festival season in our corner of southwestern Pennsylvania. We'll be talking all things EQT Washington and Green Counties Covered Bridge Festival with Dana Bucci and JoAnne Marshall when we come back. Well ladies, thank you so much for being here today. I'm so excited to talk about this year's festival. Well, do you guys wanna start and tell me what your roles are with the EQT Washington Green Counties Covered Bridge Festival? Dana, why don't you start? speaker-1: thanks Ryan. As you know, the Washington County Tourism Promotion Agency and Green County Tourism Promotion Agency, we jointly lead the promotional efforts in coordinating the event in its entirety. But the Washington County Tourism Promotion Agency coordinates one of the sites, the Ebenezer Bridge site, in Mingo Creek County Park. And I've been proud to help run that event ever since I began working here for the better part of my life. speaker-0: Cool. JoAnne? speaker-2: Thanks, Ryan, for having me. basically Green County Tourism, we kind of have a back seat to the festival organization. We just help with the promotion of both of both of our sites and the nine sites total. And then we basically are a voicemail service for our festival sites in Green County. That way people have someone that they can call, ask information about the Cover Bridge Festivals, and we can help get them get in contact with the correct site. speaker-0: Gotcha. So I'm hearing festival sites. For those who have never been to the festival or have never heard about it or maybe have heard about it, can you guys give us an overview of the festival, you know, how it began, all the sites, just give us kind of the inside scoop. Whoever wants to start there. speaker-1: Sure. I mean this this event is one of the region's premier and most popular events in southwestern Pennsylvania, if not beyond. And it takes place at nine separate cover bridge sites, two in Washington and I'm sorry, seven in Washington County and two in Green County. speaker-0: Okay. It's always the third weekend of September. Okay. So people mark their calendars correctly. speaker-1: There are week in September each year. Okay. It's become an annual tradition for so many families. speaker-0: Yeah, and it this has been going on for a long time, right? Is this the what year fifty fifth? speaker-1: Fifty fifth year. speaker-0: Wow. That's a pretty big deal. So it's kind of a celebration of history. You know, some of these bridges are what, 150 years old, something like that. Can you tell us why there is a festival where covered bridges is kind of the headline and why we kind of have that? speaker-1: Sure, I know the festival began by one of our the agency's first executive directors. Her name was Charlotte Lane. It was her brainchild at that time in order to try to call attention to the number of covered bridges that we have in the southwestern corner of the state. many people are not aware that Washington County has twenty-three covered bridges, which is the second most of any county in Pennsylvania. I believe Green County has seven. We have seven and ranks perhaps sixth, I believe, in the state. so it's a great way to commemorate and honor the you know historical significance of the brid of the bridges in the c in both counties. Yeah. speaker-0: And the bridges are very unique and we'll kinda get into the dri I wanna talk about the driving tour later. but how has the festival kind of evolved since the nineteen seventies? You guys wanna talk a little bit about how things have changed since you've been involved? JoAnne, why don't you start there on Green County side? speaker-2: Essentially it's changed significantly in the last fifty years. What started fifty years ago was just set in Carmichaels, Pennsylvania, it was a art show and a children's show. And that's all you had. You had a couple food vendors, they were raising money for the Green Academy where they hold the festival site at. But now you look at it, we have the White Covered Bridge Festival, the Carmichaels Covered Bridge Festival, and you have thousands of visitors coming through. enjoying the grounds of both sites, traveling to Washington, it's not rare for us to hear where people have been. And most of the time they're coming from a Washington covered bridge site or a Carmichaels and they're going on the circuit. speaker-1: Wow. Yeah, from what I've been told to the the history of the festival, it began at four separate locations in its first couple of years. I believe the Carmichael site, the Henry Hughes, and Pine Bank. Again, from what I've been told. Day bridge as well? Mm-hmm. Okay. so it's really fascinating to know how where it started to where it is now. I know that there have been several cover bridges that have come and gone over the years. Each one of the sites is run by separate municipality or a nonprofit entity. But we're very pleased to now say that the festival takes place at nine total cover bridge sites and hosts more than three hundred vendors in its entirety. speaker-0: It's quite a sight and I know people they travel all across, they make kind of a weekend of it, they check out each bridge, 'cause each bridge, they look the same and a lot of people will see if they pick up the bridge shore, that each bridge kind of looks the same, but they all have something unique about them. I think it's windows, length, their different style, and not all of them are original to where they are now, correct? I think some of them have been moved over the years. speaker-1: They have, I believe there's only one in Washington County that isn't native to the county, and that's the Pine Bank Bridge. It was originally located, I believe, in Green County and moved. but there are maybe another half dozen that have moved from other places within county limits of Washington County. speaker-0: Okay. So they each have kind of a fascinating history. And I do want to highlight, if you want to download the full festival brochure, there's a breakdown of what's going to be at every bridge site. And then there's also a blog on our website that breaks down a little bit of history of all of the cover bridges because it really is quite fascinating. I love the history of it. And I hope people come and appreciate it. JoAnne, you kinda hit on something interesting that people come from all across the region. What's like the craziest place that you've heard people coming from to appreciate the festival? I wouldn't speaker-2: say the craziest, but we do have a visitor that is a repeat visitor. About every other year a couple from England arrange their trip to make sure that they come to the United States during the Covered Bridge Festival weekend. And then they of course visit their favorite white covered bridge because any attendee has a favorite bridge and they're loyal to it. But then they'll go off and explore the other bridges and just report back and be like, We picked up this craft or item from this vendor at this bridge site or we saw this or and it's just very, very neat to just see the eclectic visitors we get and how much they share and enjoy each other. speaker-0: Yeah, it's a really big kind of highlight of our region and they kind of are like the jewel. They're you know, they've been here for a really long time and I hope that people can come to the festival and appreciate them. So beyond, you know, the bridges, can you tell us a little bit about what people can expect when they visit the bridges? And then we'll kind of list all of them out in a second. But craft, food, what else can people expect? speaker-1: I can say it like you had said earlier, Ryan, that each one of the sites has its own unique appeal. for the sites in Mingo Creek County Park, the Ebenezer and the Henry, it's all about the arts and crafts vendors. when it comes to a lot of the other sites, they have a lot of different activities, whether it be historic historic reenactments, demonstrations, live entertainment, food booths, and things that they kind of really focus in on and promote to their visitors. speaker-0: Awesome. Well, so we have quite the list of bridges, and I want to make sure that we kind of shout each one out. So I'm gonna read to make sure I don't mess it up. We have the Bromley Bridge, which is in the McGuffey, and this is Washington County, by the way. We're starting with Bromley Bridge, McGuffey Community Park. We have the Hughes Bridge, which is in Amwell Township, Wood Sprouse, which is in East Finley Township Park, the Ebenezer Bridge, of course, in Mingo Creek County Park. Also in Mingo Creek County Park, we have the Henry Bridge. We've got McClure, which is in Hanover Township. And then I wanna highlight the Pine Bank Bridge because this one's a little different than some of the other ones. Do you wanna talk about what's different about Pine Bank? speaker-1: Sure, they are unique in the fact that they do not have a vendor marketplace, but they are located within the Metacroc Metacroft Rock Shelter and Historic Village. It the bridge itself is the only unpainted bridge in Washington County and I believe the one of like twenty King Post trust designs that stand in the United States. So it's very unique to Washington County. And what's great is that Metacroft does offer free admission. During the entire weekend of the Kevridge Festival to their three historic villages. speaker-0: And I can highly recommend Meadowcraft Rock Shelter and Historic Village, by the way. If you are a visitor to the county, it is a big deal. It is the oldest site of human inhabitation in North America. 19,000 speaker-1: Correct. speaker-0: years there's evidence in that rock shelter that goes back to. So it is pretty cool. If you are coming for the Covered Bridge Festival and you have time to get out to a Vela, highly recommend going through Meadowcroft. So after that we have We're down to Green County. So we've got Carmichaels and the White Bridge. And JoAnne, I also want to talk about what's different about the Green County Bridges, 'cause they are different than the Washington County Bridges. speaker-2: We have two different differences. whereas most of Washington County's painted red, except for Pine Bank, w our three of our seven bridges are painted white and two of those are part of the white covered brid or sorry, the white covered bridge festival and then the Carmichael's covered bridge festival. Then our other four bridges that aren't part of the festival sites but still available in the tour, they're the natural wood. okay. Just like the Pine paint speaker-1: Bang bang. speaker-2: Pine Bank. So because they can in an It's kinda neat 'cause it divides kinda straight down the county. The eastern bridges are the white covered and then the western covered bridges where Pine Bank came from too is the natural wood. Okay. speaker-0: So when people come to Green County, are there certain ones like when they do a little tour? Do they go in a certain order? Are there ones they want to see first? speaker-2: Kind of you could pr it's pretty much a circular tour, so you can start wherever you want to. we did do a traffic study at one point though, and the most traveled bridge is the Shriver Covered Bridge in western Green County. Okay. Mainly because it's next to a high school. So you could be going to school you know, every day and you're traveling across the covered bridge to get to school. speaker-0: Okay. And also, if you ladies know, I also want to kinda tell people what these bridges used to be used for and like what kind of era we're talking about to give people an idea of like the historical knowledge. do you have any insight on that? speaker-1: I know that the majority of them are built in the late eighteen hundreds, early nineteen hundreds. There's certainly a lot of myths as to why the c the bridges were were covered, but to my knowledge they were covered simply to protect protect the deck from the environment. speaker-0: Okay. And then going back to Green County Bridges, do you want to highlight some of the activities and things that people can find at Carmichaels and White over the weekend? speaker-2: I think just kinda like Mingo and all of the others, there's craft and vendor fairs at both of them. Green Academy with the Carmichaels covered bridge focus more on the musi musicians. Everyone's a fan favorite of the American Legion band. When you have an over thirty piece member band with mostly brass instruments playing, it's a crowd favorite. But then the white covered bridge is known for its historical reenactments. They have a Civil War reenactment where they have The Confederates and the Unions fighting for the Battle of the Bridges. Exciting. speaker-0: That's so speaker-2: Always up in the air who's gonna win on which day. speaker-0: I saw a video of that on Facebook last year and people were like going nuts in the crowd when they started shooting the muskets and stuff. It looked awesome. I would love to get down there sometime for that. speaker-2: It's wonderful. I also like that they take the time after the reenactment to actually describe what life was back in the Civil War era and why battles happened, what happened. They're very as long as w I I always kinda say it's boys with their toy soldiers but in real life. But at the same time they're really going back to that horse historical element and making sure that they give you some education on what it was like. speaker-0: Okay, 'cause again, the foundation of this is all about kind of the history and our heritage and everything like that. So that's really cool to hear about. I would love to see that sometime. Okay, Dana, you are up. You manage the Ebenezer Bridge site in Mingo Creek County Park. Can you talk a little bit about that site and how many vendors are at the site? Let's start with that. speaker-1: Sure thing. I'm happy to report that this year we're at a record high now of arts and crafts vendors. We have one hundred and seventy nine that we are plan to welcome during that weekend. While I cannot it would be impossible to cite a favorite vendor of any of them, but I am pleased to welcome a new food vendor to our lineup, the pickle the pickled chef. as well as two new beverage and beverage vendors and a few new bakewid vendors as well. Okay. We also from the arts and crafts side we have a brand new artists group collective that's coming in to share space and be selling their books as well as a silhouette artist who will be on site to customize different pieces for their customers. speaker-0: People are gonna go nuts over the pickle. It was speaker-1: I'm I'm very excited about that. speaker-0: at Picklesburg and they had a line that was like halfway down the bridge. Like people were going crazy for it. I didn't get to try it, so maybe I will on the weekend. speaker-1: You sure will. speaker-0: So since you manage that site, can we give people kind of an insight look as to you know, what it's like to manage a festival site, what it's like to get Mingo Creek County Park, which is beautiful by the way, if you've never been, highly recommend. can you talk a little bit about the preparation that's done to get that park site ready for a festival of this magnitude? speaker-1: Sure. Well, planning this site truly takes place all year long. We start vending start sending out vendor applications roughly around the first of the year, and then we start working with contractors and volunt volunteers to get this site ready to institute traffic control, first aid services, you know, numerous equipment rentals, but it could not be managed without the assistance of the Washington County Department of Parks and Recreation as well. Not only do they work tireless. tirelessly throughout the year to upkeep the park's amenities, but the week leading up to the festival, they are there full speed ahead in riping off parking lots, in installing signage for the festival and just really ensuring that the park is as pristine as possible for the influx of visitors that it receives over that weekend. speaker-0: And it is a beautiful park and it's the best time of year to visit. I might be a little biased because I love fall. and it's beautiful in every season, but fall especially is stunning with all the trees and the creek and then that beautiful picture, the bridge. It is a volunteer effort at all of the sites. I I mean most of them are run by volunteers and nonprofit organizations. but I think we said that earlier that we should highlight that every site is managed by a different organization. we've also included contact information. If you have specific questions about specific sites. But let's move on to the driving tour as well. while the festival weekend might not be a good a great time for the driving tour, I still wanted to highlight it because fall is a beautiful time to visit all of our bridges in Washington and Green County. so I just wanted to say that it's broken up into three subtours, right? speaker-1: Three in Washington County and one in Green County. Okay. We've kind of separated them based upon their geographic region because there are the the the majority of the bridges are located in the southwestern corner of Washington County. We have a few in the northern county northern section of the county and others in the eastern side. And then Green County has the seven bridges. speaker-0: Okay, and e have either of you done the driving tour? speaker-1: I have. I I was I had helped to create that guide many, many years ago and driven it a handful of times. it's it's a really well thought out piece that helps to navigate visitors from one bridge to the next. if there's any advice I could give is not only to perhaps not choose the weekend of the festival to take the full driving guide or driving tour simply because of traffic concerns and and time that you would want to spend at the festival sites. But any other time of the year, you know, fill up your gas tank, pack a picnic lunch. It's really a nice time to break away, to relax, enjoy the outdoors, unplug and you know, experience our our great countryside. speaker-0: Yeah, and make a day of it. Can you tell people where they can find information on the driving tour? speaker-1: Sure, it's located within our visitor's guide, yours as well too, Jan. on our website as well. We have that available. speaker-0: Okay. So as we start to wrap up on the drive off sorry, not the driving tour on this episode, is there anything we missed, anything you want people to know about either Green County or Washington County's sites? Anything additional you want people to know about this year's festival? speaker-1: Well, I certainly want to thank EQT as our title sponsor. They've been instrumental for several years with their support and it's really helped us to expand our advertising and marketing efforts you know across the region. So we're very, very grateful for their support. speaker-0: Okay. JoAnne, anything additional you got about Green County? speaker-2: I'd say I thank the EQT of course, they've great partners of ours and have been there for the years. They also come to this v the different sites and check them out. speaker-1: Yes. speaker-2: but more importantly also thanking the volunteers that have worked out we could not have this region wide tourism app, you know, event if we didn't have those volunteers at all nine sites directing the v you know, the guests, showcasing our region. in putting in an entertaining weekend together to kick off the fall season. Absolutely. speaker-0: This is such an important draw to not just our two counties, but our region as a whole, our history. And so in closing, why do you think this festival is important? Why is it important for people to attend this festival? Whoever wants to start on that. speaker-1: I just think it's a great kickoff to the fall festival season. it's it's great to honor and commemorate the covered bridges, the history of the southwestern corner of of Pennsylvania and to experience all we have to offer. speaker-0: Anything additional on that? speaker-2: feels like coming back home. It it does. You just come to the any of the sites. You just feel instantly at home. speaker-0: And fall is such a homey time, you know, you're looking through all the little crafts, you're snacking on some some candy nuts. I'm very excited for that by the way. it's just I don't know, it just feels cozy, it feels right, you know, it's football time, the leaves are falling, so it's a great time to get out and enjoy our beautiful history and heritage. Okay. Where can people keep up to date? I know we already plugged the website, but any social medias, any additional things you want people to know where they can keep up to date on the upcoming festival. speaker-1: Yeah, not only do we have a printed guide that's in circulation, like you mentioned, our website, and also we have a Facebook page on the Coverbridge Festival as well. Okay. speaker-0: Okay. Well sounds good. Well thank you ladies so much for being here. Really appreciate it. I'm so excited for this year's festival. It's gonna be a good one. Fifty fifth. speaker-1: Thanks, Ryan. speaker-2: Thanks for having us. speaker-0: That's all for this episode of The WashCo Insider. The EQT Washington Green Counties Covered Bridge Festival is September nineteenth and twentieth this year in nine different locations across both Washington and Green Counties. It's completely free to attend, but be sure to visit coveredbridgefest dot net to learn more about all the different sites. As always, thanks for watching and listening and we'll see you next week.