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Santa stopped in Titusville for some hugs at annual celebration

11/26/2022

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"Don't tell me this town ain't got no heart, you just gotta poke around." This line from a Grateful Dead song comes to mind every time I cover a small town, especially when I'm trying to really learn what makes the place tick.

Well on Friday night there wasn't really a need to poke around too much - its heart was right in the center of town. People in Titusville come out. I noticed it earlier in the year when I photographed the bands in the park for The Titusville Herald, and later for their Oil Festival. People come out.
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A few hundred folks lined the street for a small nighttime parade, a decades-long tradition. "It's not a long, long parade, but it's nice," Titusville Area Chamber of Commerce director Boo Maginnis said as the front of the procession wrapped around to the end 10 minutes after it started. 

"It's a collaboration between the city, god bless them, and the chamber," Maginnis said.

She was in the park manning the hot chocolate and cookie station with Corlene Dailey. "She's our main coco person," Maginnis said of Dailey. 
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Then even before Santa made it down the first block of the parade, attendees were already forming a line to talk to Saint Nicholas. They stood in a line that stretched from the gazebo to the veterans' memorial at the corner of Scheide Park to get a chance to explain their wishes for the holidays. Some waited in line longer than the 30-parade lasted, but it left them time to converse with their neighbors.

And Santa was dedicated too. "(He'll stay) until they're gone," Dailey said.
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​The night also included the mayor reading a proclamation in honor of Santa coming "to Titusville first to our little children."

He also declared Santa would receive priority clearance when flying over Titusville on Christmas Eve and reindeer will be given a variance to be in the city. He also promised "all Titusville children will be asleep no later than midnight" that day.

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The park is lit with thousands of lights and 33 trees decorated by businesses, organizations and even a few individuals - a tradition begun in 2018 that keeps growing each year, according to Maginnis.
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The nighttime parade offered a few spectacles, some dogs with Christmas light collars, Roman soldiers carrying torches and plenty of little queens and princesses.
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Candy was thrown, as in most area parades; cookies and coco were handed out; but in the end, it was Santa they came to see.
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Below are a few more scenes from Santa coming to Titusville.
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A Titusville voice adds to Venango Chorus

11/24/2022

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Titusville’s Janet Zehner has been singing with Venango Chorus since 2009, after colleague Dr. William Fee suggested the group might be a good place for her to exercise her talented vocal cords.

“I really enjoy it. The fellow choristers are very welcoming and a lot of fun to sing with,” she said.

Zehner praises chorale director Beth Orris who brings people from varied backgrounds and levels of musical ability together into a chorus. "We really enjoy blending our voices together and it makes me happy to have the ‘surround sound’ of singing in a chorus."

She is no stranger to song. She sings in her church choir and the Berkshire Choral International in the summer. She also joins the choir for "Messiah" at the Barrow-Civic Theatre every other year.
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She and the Venango Chorus will be performing their annual holiday show. This year titled “Goin’ Home” at 7 p.m. December 3 at Good Hope Lutheran Church in Oil City.

Orris developed this year's holiday concert theme based on her daughter's experiences in Germany, where she hosted a family of Ukrainian refugees fleeing their war-ravaged home. (You can read their story here.)
During recent rehearsals, Orris asked chorus members to write down answers to the question “what does going home mean to you?" and she picked a medley of songs that portray the idea of "home."

​Zehner is right at home being a part of this collection of voices. “I can highly recommend Venango Chorus to people who enjoy singing in the tri-city area.”

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Opening the doors for Thanksgiving

11/24/2022

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The Titusville Mill and the Well - Coffee House and Eatery may be off the beaten path and tucked behind other places along the main drag, but on Thanksgiving, it was the heart of Titusville.

At least it showed its heart to the community by opening the doors to provide a free meal to anyone and everyone who wanted one. They delivered over 100 meals and served close to the same number in the restaurant.
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The Well owner Joe Thompson, stirring gravy in the kitchen, said that people deserve to be treated with dignity and be allowed to come inside for a nice, comfortable meal. He was happy to takeouts but wanted to open the doors to whoever just wanted company and a meal on Thanksgiving.

More than a dozen volunteers chimed in to help with everything from food prep and delivery to serving and clean up. It was a true community effort. Thompson said many others from the community stepped up with food donations as well.
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Titusville's tight budget proposal does not include a tax hike

11/17/2022

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Council's mantra for city finances - "Do more with less"
Tuesday's city council meeting showed that money is tight in the Titusville, but the city manager and council are determined to not raise taxes. The approved first reading of the proposed 2023 budget was passed along with the bill to fix the tax rates for the upcoming year.
​"So, basically there is no tax increase," Mayor Jon Crouch emphasized after city manager Neil Fratus presented the tax rates.

Creating the budget was a cooperative effort, according to Fratus. "Every department was directed to look at their budget with a fresh perspective to prioritize needs over wants," he said during the meeting. "We looked to cut where possible and add where needed." In the end, Fratus and council agreed it is a "fiscally responsible" budget geared toward ensuring the services residents have come to expect. Council member Bill McCrillis admitted it's not what he'd want for a budget and wished they could do more, but added "it's totally manageable."
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Just how much the city is tightening its belt came up earlier in the meeting when council members voiced concern over a $10,000 request from the Titusville Redevelopment Authority. The funding would be put toward an engineering study to revamp the area near the high school football stadium, including improvements to drainage, parking, pedestrian traffic and accessibility to businesses and the stadium.

The TRA is trying to gather $50,000 to match funds for a grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission to develop an engineering plan and make the project "shovel ready." The Titusville Area School District  has $10,000 committed and the authority has approached some businesses in that area about possible contributions, according to a report provided by Kristen Kerr of the Titusville Community Development Agencies, which oversees the TRA.

Kerr said the engineering plan will go a long way to getting the millions in funding for the project. Right now the authority only has a concept, not a detailed plan, so attempts to get funding for the project have failed twice. She believes the engineering study will show they can hit the ground running with the project and improve the chances of getting a grant.

"I know it's an important project. Do we have $10,000 that we can commit to this?" asked deputy mayor Sara Jones. 

Councilor Sam Logsdon said "I don't mind supporting with a letter of support, but we're trying to get life saving equipment into the town that we're struggling for the money. We can't afford this, that's my take on that."

Fratus said it is a problem area that needs to be addressed but admitted that he'd have to find the money from somewhere. "It's been a project that's been needed for 20 years," Crouch said, asking Fratus to look into finding the funds. "We certainly want to be a part of the solution," Crouch said.

In the end council voted 3-1 to send a letter of support and pledge $5,000 contingent upon whether Fratus could find the money. The grant application grant deadline is December 2, adding a bit of urgency to the matter since the council does not meeting again until December 5. 

In other news

Council agreed to send a request from the Oil Region Alliance for a zoning change for a North Washington Street building to the Titusville Planning Commission for review. The ORA is requesting the Scheide House, which they own, be turned into limited commercial use. It is currently residential only. The house sits at the intersection of N. Washington Street and W. Walnut Street where three other businesses are currently operating.

​Junior council member Chloe Watkins reported that Titusville High School students were hoping the city would consider a temporary ice skating rink this winter. No action was taken on this request.

Thankful season and a civics lecture

At the end of the meeting the councilors took a moment to express some Thanksgiving thoughts. The mayor was particularly thankful for how the current council, city manager and city departments are working together for the city. "We're not a council that just rubber stamps everything," he said, adding how at all the budget preparations meetings they all showed up and took part in the solutions.

When McCrillis took his tur,n he also thanked everyone for their work on the budget. They held seven public meetings to go over what was to end up in the proposed budget. "It's also been a learning process for all of us," he said. McCrillis expressed disappointment at the lack of public involvement with the budget meetings. "I would put out there, if you are interested in this city... do something... come in. We had nobody (show up) from the public. Not one citizen came in to go over the budget and that's a shame."

​Below you can view the proposed budgets for 2023. These are public records that can also be found on the City of Titusville's website.
2023_proposed_expense_budget_-_not_final.pdf
File Size: 174 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

2023_proposed_revenue_budget_-_not_final.pdf
File Size: 93 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

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Maplewood headed to state championships

11/15/2022

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Eight & 322 file photos
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Coach Sheila Bancroft is no stranger to PIAA state championship Volleyball  finals. With the win over Oswayo Valley in hard fought straight sets Tuesday night in Warren, Bancroft is set to take her ninth Maplewood Tiger squad to the title round.

This year’s squad only lost one conference match to District 10 rival Cochranton who they split with in the regular season. Then the Tigers swept the Cardinals in the district finals. 

Wood hasn’t lost a set in the state championship run  defeating Elk County Catholic in the opening round and Homer Center in the quarter finals.
The semi-final win over Oswayo Valley will put them up against the winner of the Sacred Heart Academy vs. West Branch High School.

The State Championships it set for 10:30 a.m. at Cumberland Valley High School in Mechanicsburg.
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Maplewood girls Volleyball has five state championships in 1985, 1992(Bancroft’s first) 1995, 2005 (against Titusville) and 2017. They won silver in 1993, 2000, 2007 and 2009. Bancroft also took the Maplewood boys to a silver medal in 2009. The school’s storied volleyball history also has two boys championship titles in 1989 and 2000 and another silver in 1979.

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Today's Online Front Page: Maplewood moves into semifinals; History Hobo visiting Titusville; Franklin's Light Up Night a regional draw

11/14/2022

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With Saturday's win, the Maplewood Tigers move into the state semi-final against Oswayo Valley at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Warren High School. See more pictures from Saturday's contest in Sports. 

Light Up Night parade, tree lighting Saturday in Franklin
Franklin, the business community and residents are joining together to make sure the city is merry and bright on its “most beautiful night” despite a change in the downtown decorations.

“This is quite a unique year as far as decorating goes,” said Ronnie Beith, Franklin events and marketing coordinator. “We have challenged the town to help us light up Liberty in any way they can. We are challenging the businesses, our volunteer ‘Santa Helpers,’ our parade entries, etc. It is a community effort,” she said.

The annual holiday kickoff event, which will take place on Saturday, November 19, includes a  parade, fireworks and the lighting of the large tree in front of the Venango County Courthouse. While those events all happen in the evening, the entire downtown and beyond will be filled with activity throughout the day.

​Check out the list of all happenings in the Eight & 322 tab. 
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Free lecture series mixes history and music
Titusville Summer Theater and Rocsato Conservatory of Music will host a series of visits from the History Hobo, Steve Cicero.

Cicero, a retired history teacher from Butler, will give a four-part
 lecture series on musicals. The first talk will be "Hamilton: The History Behind the Man and the Musical" at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at a conservatory, 701 N. Perry Street, Titusville. 
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Read more about the series in the News From You section.
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Wood splits day with one win, one loss

11/12/2022

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Maplewood Volleybal
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Maplewood Football
Click photo above to see more.
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Today's Online Front Page: Community marks Veterans Day, Corry Journal announces news effort, Holiday horse parade

11/12/2022

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Veterans Day Performance harkens back to out tradition
It was small-town America on full display as members of several community groups came together to pay tribute to their friends and neighbors who served in the armed forces.

The idea to reinstitute a Veterans Day program came after the Titusville Summer Theater had to cancel its annual performance for the third year since the start of COVID.

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“We still wanted to do something for the community. It’s been so long,” said Stephanie Cicero. She serves on the theater board, which sponsored the holiday performance and donated ticket sales to local veterans’ charities.

See more pictures and read the full story here. 

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The Corry Journal and the Sample News Group announced that they will be starting up a weekly newspaper to be delivered free to the Titusville and Hydetown zip codes.  Read more, including the whole statement, here.
Editor's Note: Eight & 322 remains committed to our plan of covering Titusville-related news. We look forward to building strong relationships and telling good stories.​​

Saddle Up: Pleasantville holding horse parade
​It will be a holiday celebration of the four-legged kind as Pleasantville once again hosts the Christmas on Horseback parade at 1 p.m. Sunday, December 11.

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All riders with horses, ponies, and mules are welcome to participate, according to Tara Nason. “Feel free to decorate your critters up for the holiday,” Nason wrote on Facebook. “We would also like the community to come out to watch the horse parade proceed through the town.” 
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Read more on the event in News From You.
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Submit your information
Submit your information to our Calendar of Events. It includes information on this happening throughout the region. And it is free to review and free to post. 

To be included, submit your information to [email protected]. While posters are great, your item will get up faster if you send the information in the body of the email or message. 
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Titusville brings back Veterans Day program

11/11/2022

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​An old Titusville tradition was brought back Friday night as more than 300 people packed into the YMCA gym for A Veterans Day Performance.

It was small-town America on full display as members of several community groups came together to pay tribute to their friends and neighbors who served in the armed forces.
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The idea to reinstitute a Veterans Day program came after the Titusville Summer Theater had to cancel its annual performance for the third year  since the start of COVID.
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“We still wanted to do something for the community. It’s been so long,” said Stephanie Cicero. She serves on the theater board, which sponsored the holiday performance and donated ticket sales to local veterans’ charities.
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She paired up with her dad, Steve Cicero, to spearhead the Veterans Day concert, which included a mix of music, history and radio clips from throughout the World War II era.

“The WWII music is just some great music,” Stephanie Cicero said of the setlist. It included patriotic standards like the “Star Spangled Banner”, “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” and “Armed Forces Salute” as well as a few vintage Christmas numbers and other 1940s war-inspired songs.
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Between many of the numbers, Steve Cicero would narrate or play recordings from famous moments in WWII broadcast history.
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It was a first-time event for the two. The younger Cicero moved to Titusville to teach music at Pleasantville and Hydetown elementary schools. The older Cicero is a retired history teacher who lives in Butler.
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Though they might not have been around when Titusville held previous Veterans Day shows, they certainly had the backing of the town to make it happen this year as dozens of community members provided their talents to bring the Ciceros’ vision to life. 
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The Queen City Community Band, under the direction of Gregory Rock played four numbers and an ensemble of local singers lead by Stephania Cicero performed eight songs. Instructors from Bridge Studios offered up two Christmas tunes, local Scouts presented the flag and lead the Pledge of Allegiance, and students from Titusville High School sang one number and a few others danced to another.
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And the audience did their part too. Nearly 300 people attended the show. The audience filled all the chairs set out around the tables decorated in red, white, and blue table clothes. 
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An overflow of folks, many dressed in their patriotic best, had to settle for seats in the stands off to the side of the room. The gymnasium echoed with applause between each song and it was a standing ovation at the end.
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“We had no idea (what to expect),” Stepania Cicero said of the turnout.  “We’re excited and thrilled we filled the gym.” ​​
Story by Jill Harry
See more photos at ​https://sayerrich.zenfolio.com/p787499573
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Titusville community getting some help filling news void

11/11/2022

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Just last Saturday The Titusville Herald announced its last edition, ending 157 years of being the eyes and ears of the community. The roughly 2,000-circulation newspaper was the oldest "daily" in the region.

Today, the Corry Journal and the Sample News Group announced that they will be starting up a weekly newspaper to be delivered free to the Titusville and Hydetown zip codes - 16328 and 16354. 

Corry Journal publisher Bob Williams said folks outside those zip codes can also purchase a subscription for $26 a year. He also said several copies of the paper, which will be the same page size as The Titusville Herald, will be dropped off at local businesses.
 
The Sample News Group has a longtime relationship with The Titusville Herald. They printed the Herald for years and Titusville's late owner and publisher Mike Sample is part of the multigenerational Sample family, though the Herald was not part of the media group. Mike Sample died Jan. 3, 2022. His family tried to keep the paper going but recently decided they had to close the doors.
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“I’m glad to hear the Titusville community may have another source for local news,” said Debra Sample, president of The Titusville Herald. “We wish all the best to any group looking to start a publication in the area.” 

Williams said the goal for the new weekly, which will be called the Titusville News-Journal, is to have the first issue published and delivered next Friday. Read the full statement published on the Corry Journal Facebook page today.

Editor's Note: Earlier this week, Eight & 322 announced we will be doing what we can to help fill the void left by the Herald's closing. We created a blog-style page on our website to begin sharing news important to Titusville and the surrounding areas. We, along with other members of the community, are encouraged by the Journal's announcement.  We also remain committed to our plan of covering Titusville-related news. We look forward to building strong relationships and telling good stories.​


Press release from the Corry Journal 
​​The Corry Journal along with its owners at Sample News Group is starting a free weekly newspaper in Titusville in the wake of the Titusville Herald newspaper’s abrupt closing.
The Herald published its last paper on Saturday, Nov. 5. The newspaper had been in existence since 1865.
The new newspaper will be called the Titusville News-Journal. Residents in the 16328 and 16354 ZIP codes will receive the paper every week free of charge.
The first issue will be in mailboxes on Friday, Nov. 18, one week from today.
Multiple attempts over recent months and up until noon on Thursday were made by The Journal to merge with the Herald to save the paper and its employees. The offer to merge was turned down by the Herald owners.
The Herald had previously been a print customer of The Journal, whose press published the Herald nightly for its five-day-a-week editions.
“The legacy of this 157-year-old newspaper and all those who worked to make it what it was needs to be kept alive,” Journal Publisher Bob Williams said. “We’re proud to be able to keep a locally focused newspaper in the Titusville community and to provide residents their local news, obituaries, sports and events.”
The Journal is no stranger to hyper-local coverage, as it has successfully provided the news, in addition to the Corry area for more than 120 years, within the North East News-Journal and the West County News-Journal for over 20 years. 
Williams began the North East and West County papers to provide those communities with their own source of locally driven coverage.
“We want people to have their news, school events, sports pictures — all of it — and so we’re just going to give it to them,” Williams said. “What’s unique is this is free, both print and digital, and it’ll be all the local news that you just can’t get anywhere else.”
Sample News Group, with publications throughout Pennsylvania and New England, is one of the largest family-owned and operated newspaper companies in the country. 
Williams said he is attempting to save as many employees as possible. 
“Many of the same smiling faces known by the community will still be working to bring the local news to residents,” Williams said, adding that a new office is being sought in Titusville to work in. 
Current employees Rebecca Hazen, managing editor; Libby Jones, advertising manager; and Beverly Clark, reporter remain on staff.
As a free newspaper, the Titusville News-Journal will be an ad-driven publication and the support of the community is always greatly appreciated, Williams said. 
Businesses will have the benefit of a state-of-the-art digital platform in addition to the print product that works to boost advertising exposure and is designed to meet each individual business’ needs.
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    Eight & 27 focuses on stories centered around Titusville, PA. With the sad end of The Titusville Herald, we're hoping to pick up the slack.

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