Local News
Boro set for annual Christmas light tour
PORTAGE — The homes in the Portage area are being decked out in lights and holiday decorations as residents gear up for the annual Christmas Light Tour.
Sponsored by the Portage Area Historical Society, the tour is in its 14th year and has become so popular organizers are now taking reservations, longtime society member Ruth Richardson said Thursday.
“Last year they were lined up a block long. So this year, we’re asking for reservations so they don’t have to stand in line,” she said from her Farren Street home.
This year’s tour is set for 6 to 9 p.m. Dec. 15.
It is being held in conjunction with the Portage community’s newly inaugurated Winterfest celebration Dec. 14-16.
The public is taken by bus, paid for by a local businessman, on a half-hour tour of homes in the borough and Portage Township.
The bus will leave the Portage Station Museum on Lee Street every 45 minutes.
A route is developed prior to the tour and – while the goal is to showcase those homes and businesses with the largest displays – homes with smaller offerings also are included.
Past historical society president and current member Tom Gaudlip organized the lights tour in 1993 to get more people to come to the museum, which had opened a few years earlier.
Last year, tour numbers topped out at 460 people and even more are expected this year with the three-day Winterfest celebration.
“It’s really caught on. Sometimes we sing on the bus. We have music playing on the bus,” Gaudlip said.
Along with the tour, the Portage Area High School brass choir will be performing Christmas music at the museum and the Portage Area Community Band will be playing holiday favorites.
Free hot chocolate, cookies and pizza will be served at the museum and the public will be invited to view the model train display on the second floor.
Santa Claus will be on hand to greet the children and will give each a stocking filled with treats.
- Local News
-
-
Northeast braces for Earl's arrival
A tropical storm warning has been issued for New York’s Long Island coast as Hurricane Earl barrels toward the Eastern Seaboard.
-
NEW – Police dog bites girl, mom
Police say a western Pennsylvania K-9 was likely being protective when he bit a 6-year-old girl and her mother after his handler offered them a ride to school.
-
Bleier: Flight 93 fundraising dinner set for November
Former running back Rocky Bleier and other ex-Pittsburgh Steelers are organizing a fundraising dinner to benefit the Flight 93 National Memorial.
-
Handyman gets prison
A former part-time handyman/caregiver for an elderly West Hills woman was sentenced Wednesday to six to 15 years in state prison for misappropriating more than $600,000 from the woman, who thought of him as a son.
-
Barrel contains murder victim
An investigation into a series of thefts has led state police to discover a barrel containing the remains of a homicide victim in a body of water in Indiana County.
-
Judge overturns ruling on police benefits
Cambria County Judge Patrick Kiniry says an arbitrator went too far in cutting police officers’ retirement medical benefits in the financially distressed city of Johnstown.
-
Rape suspect seeks release on lower bond
A Portage man arrested over the weekend after a standoff with police wants his $250,000 bond reduced so he can get out of prison.
-
Valu King pushes bargains at 1st Pa. store in chain
There’s a standard deli, meat cooler and frozen-food section.
But, near the front of the new Valu King store in Johnstown’s Westwood Plaza, there also are fortress-like stacks of Niagara bottled water and DelGrosso pasta sauce. -
Ex-worker charged in CoGo’s robbery
A Twin Rocks woman has been charged with robbing a CoGo’s convenience store where she once worked.
-
Research institute seeks entries for essay contest
With Breast Cancer Awareness Month on the horizon, Windber Research Institute is holding an essay contest for kids 14 and younger.
- More Local News Headlines
-
Northeast braces for Earl's arrival
