Staff photo / Bob Coupland
Dylan Licata, 13, of Vienna, and a student at Mathews High School, gets splashed with water at the Bucket Dunk booth Saturday at the Vienna Home Day at the center.
VIENNA — It was in 1911 when the first Vienna Home Day took place and that summer tradition continues today, bringing the community together for a day of fun and camaraderie.
The annual Home Day was Saturday at the township green with different organizations, churches and businesses setting up tables to welcome families.
Pam Klinger, event organizer, said after not taking place for many years, Home Day was restarted in 2011, which marked the 100th anniversary of the first event.
“Everyone said we needed to bring back Home Day. I saw that it started in 1911 at the Shook Farm so 2011 was a great time to start it up again. We wanted to let the nonprofits and other groups come together for the day,” Klinger said.
She said the day allows people to see one another, socialize and spend time together. A parade kicked off the event that featured different school sports teams, Scout troops, veterans and youth groups.
Terry Woodyard with the Herd Foundation, a nonprofit that supports the Mathews Local School District, said the group had a display at the event to raise awareness about the effort to build a new playground for Baker Elementary School.
She said work was done at the school to expand the building, so the playground had to be relocated on the property.
Woodyard said there are also plans for a brick walkway by the playground.
She said the foundation is also planning for the first-ever Alumni Hall of Fame on Aug. 31 at Tiffany’s Banquet Center in Brookfield.
“Home Day lets us get to see people and get the word out on what events are taking place,” she said.
COMMUNITY GROUPS
Mathews High School students hosted a Bucket Dunk booth with different students getting wet. The Society of St. Vincent de Paul made root beer floats as a fundraiser. The Knights of Columbus Local 13260 had a table set up with their proceeds going to Fairhaven or the Boyd’s Home in Kinsman.
Andy Kalinich, grand knight of the K of C, said they plan community events at Halloween and Christmas to help raise funds for different organizations.
Mark Haddle with the Vienna Fire Department brought one of the firetrucks to the event and also discussed the wireless emergency notification system from Trumbull County 911 for which people can sign up.
“The tornado sirens are an outdated technology that do not always function properly. There is now a free notification system for residents to sign up countywide for any emergency notifications that the county puts out. The tornado sirens still go off and this is an adjunct to it in case of a power outage and something else happens,” Haddle said.