"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.

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.

The nighttime parade offered a few spectacles, some dogs with Christmas light collars, Roman soldiers carrying torches and plenty of little queens and princesses.

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.

Below are a few more scenes from Santa coming to Titusville.

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.

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."

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.

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.
​
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.

“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

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.​