Plum's Festival of Honor returning to support Rustic Ridge community

A festival created after a tragedy that shook the Plum community more than a decade ago is returning in the wake of another.

After a six-year absence, the Plum Borough Education Association, the school district’s teachers union, is bringing back its Festival of Honor to support Rustic Ridge families affected by the August house explosion.

It will be held from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 22, at Plum High School.

“We’re happy to bring it back to help those families that need it,” said J.R. Pilyih, the association’s vice president and a first grade teacher at O’Block Elementary School.

The festival was first held in 2011 to support the Griffith family. Kimberly Griffith, 45, and her two daughters, Brenna, 12, and Mikaela, 8, died in August that year in a flash flood on Washington Boulevard in Pittsburgh.

That incident resulted in the city working with PennDOT to install a flood safety gate system, which blocks traffic from entering Washington Boulevard during hard rain, and other safety measures.

Other beneficiaries were found in subsequent years, and the festival raised nearly $100,000 over seven years for various individuals and organizations, Pilyih said.

Pilyih said the association stopped staging the event because of changes in his own life and to not compete with the borough’s own fall festival, which this year was held on Sept. 30. With Fall Fest and other events benefiting Rustic Ridge now over, he said the association was working in the background on organizing its event.

“We decided to do this because the teachers and the school district are part of this community,” he said. “We want to use this as a way to help healing and help everyone understand we’re all in this together and we’re here for each other. We want to make sure this is a community event to bring people together to help heal and be one Plum.”

The festival will include a costume parade, children’s activities, food vendors, basket raffles and music. The costume parade will start at noon with music from 1 to 5 p.m.

A $20 donation per child includes unlimited play of more than 15 games, a large prize, candy at each game, an airbrush tattoo from Game Faces, a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch, crafts and other activities.

The music, featuring Plum alumni, is a new addition to the festival “to make it more of a community celebration,” Pilyih said.

Scheduled to perform are Acoustic Boombox, with alums Jeff Marks and Michael Kuhn; Meeting of Important People, led by Josh Verbanets, who this year was among five recognized by the Plum Distinguished Alumni Committee; and Say Ahh, led by Plum alum Kevin Elder.

“None of them are charging anything to do it,” Pilyih said. “They’re all doing it for the cause.”

The association has been seeking individuals and businesses to donate money, food, supplies, gift cards and/or items that can be used in basket raffles. Pilyih said donations are welcome up to the day of the event. Donations can be given to any association member, by contacting Pilyih at 412-337-5299 or by mail to the PBEA Festival of Honor at P.O. Box 14434, Pittsburgh, PA 15239.

Pilyih said he would like to see the festival continue. In past years, when not tied to a specific beneficiary, he said money raised went to backpacks and scholarships.

“The teachers enjoy being part of the community,” he said. “Quite honestly, it’s not necessarily created to raise a lot of money even though it can and we find a way to raise some money with it. It’s a fun way to bring the community together.”