America is getting ready for its 240th birthday — and few places know how to celebrate it better than Happy Valley with Central PA 4th Fest.
This year marks the 15th anniversary of 4th Fest, and, with July 4 on a Monday, the event is scheduled to run over two days — July 3-4.
This also is the first 4th Fest for new executive director Karl Libhart. Libhart takes over for Bernie Keisling, who had held the position for 13 years, and will coordinate the efforts of the all-volunteer (some 600 of them!) organization.
T&G: How did you find yourself in the position of taking over as executive director?
Libhart: I was fortunate that this fell into my lap. A year ago, I was contemplating retirement from my job at Penn State and was looking for something to do on a part-time basis and saw that this job was available. Two weeks later, they offered me the job. Before that, I’d been at Penn State for about eight years.
T&G: What sets 4th Fest’s fireworks show apart from other fireworks shows?
Libhart: First of all, we’re an all-volunteer fireworks show. People who set off fireworks have to be certified as pyrotechnicians, and we’re fortunate that we have two volunteers in our organization that are certified. There are no fireworks displays anywhere in the world that compare to the size and scope of ours that are run by volunteers. USA Today and, I believe years ago, the Washington Post ranked us within the top five fireworks displays in the country, and we’re very proud of that. We like to keep it growing and keep it exciting. We also like to provide the local people with a full day of activities, not just a fireworks display at night. We have a full afternoon and early evening of activities up around Beaver Stadium and the Bryce Jordan Center where families, for no charge, can eat hot dogs and birthday cake and enjoy activities and special events, and we have some really special things planned for this year. We’re having the State College Roller Derby Club put on a roller derby match — they call it “Red, White, and Bruise.” Then, we’ve also contracted world-record holder David Smith, the Human Cannonball, who will do two shots up at our fair. He shoots himself 60 feet in the air and 120 feet down the road!
T&G: How has 4th Fest evolved since it began?
Libhart: We continue to improve the fireworks, but we also continue to grow the other aspects of 4th Fest. In fact, since Fourth of July is on a Monday this year, we’re actually going to open on Sunday afternoon around 5 p.m. It’ll be the first time we’ve ever done a two-day 4th Fest. So people will be able to come out Sunday evening and enjoy the carnival rides and live music and food. Then, we’ll still have a full day of activities on the 4th.
T&G: It seems that new things get added every year. Is there anything in the works for next year that we can expect?
Libhart: We pretty much just take it one year at a time. Last year, we took a risk with a concert by Craig Morgan, and that was a good experience. But we did that because it was on a Saturday night. This year, it’s on Monday, so our little experiment this year is going to be opening the second day so that we can hopefully attract a crowd that will fill up some hotel rooms in town and help out the local businesses in that way. We’ll have to wait until next year to se
