Published: July 26, 2008 11:14 pm      

Homecoming celebration draws crowds to Ebensburg

EBENSBURG — The 200-pound pig roasted all night, and by early Saturday afternoon it was gone.

That was just fine with the Rev. Jim Farrer, whose Ebensburg Presbyterian Church hosted a pig roast as part of the borough’s homecoming festivities.

“There were lots of people, and this was a big success,” Farrer said as he and congregation members folded the tent and cleaned up after the barbecue conducted by B and C Barbecue of the Johnstown area.

“We’ll be ready to do it again in October, when PotatoFest comes around,” Farrer said.

By early Saturday morning the streets of downtown Ebensburg were jammed, with cars parked on both sides and people lined up at vendors.

“This is the biggest homecoming I’ve ever seen,” said Christine Strugala, the borough’s community development director.

“It looked like PotatoFest,” she said.

The Ebensburg Homecoming started in 2000 as part of the borough’s bicentennial celebration, and since then it has become a yearly tradition.

“People were lined up at the farmers market, and a lot of people from other towns caught onto the idea of the market,” Strugala said.

“We had people from all over the area – some from out of town, and lots of locals, too.”

Farrer agreed that the farmers market vendors gained a lot of recognition.

And the idea of a community yard sale was gaining momentum, he said, as the number of individual families participating started to grow.

“That’s really good for the town,” Farrer said.

Other weekend events included a 5K run, book sale, fishing derby, children’s games and live music and fireworks at Lake Rowena.