Keith Hall lives in Wexford, and his family hails from the Derry area. But his heart belongs to Ligonier — at least during the latter town’s annual Fort Ligonier Days festival.

Hall staked out a prominent spot along Saturday’s festival parade route. He sported a green-and-purple kilt, representing his Scottish clan’s tartan pattern, while seated with his family on the outer sidewalk of Ligonier’s central Diamond intersection.

“We come out every year,” he said of the event that marks the anniversary of British forces’ successful defense of Fort Ligonier against an attack by French foes and their Native American allies on Oct. 12, 1758.

“We’ve been doing this for about 30 years,” he said. “We get the whole family in. This year, we rented a house for about 10 or 12 of our family members.”

Hall’s decision to wear clan-inspired attire is in keeping with the festival’s historical theme. But, before the parade started, some onlookers may have mistaken him for a participant in the westbound procession on Main Street.

“My family thinks I’m nuts, but I go ahead and do it anyhow,” he said of his kilt, matching vest and bow tie.

During the festival, period reenactors were scheduled to provide living history displays and stage a mock battle at the site of the reconstructed fort.

Hall is among many Fort Ligonier Days fans who were happy to return to the three-day festival, which continues on Sunday, after pandemic restrictions prompted a scaled-back virtual version last year.

Also included in that number were Shannon Galet of Penn Township, her husband, Bob, and their three sons, ranging in age from 8 months to 6.

“We come for the parade for the kids,” Shannon Galet said. “They love it.”

“I just tag along and pick up the things they drop,” said her aunt, Aimee Markilinski, also of Penn Township.

The family planned to hit a few of the festival’s many food stands, for kettle corn and corn dogs.

A light drizzle stopped just in time for the parade. It was the first parade as a spectator for 17-month-old Melody Pischke, who attended with her mom, Kori Pischke, and aunt, Casey Bevan, all of Unity.

“She’s very excited for the parade,” Pischke said of her daughter.

“Usually, every year, we’re here one day or another,” Bevan said. “It’s like a high school reunion for us. Lots of friends come back.”

The sisters graduated from Ligonier Valley High School in 2006 and 2003, respectively. Before checking out the craft booths they headed a little farther east, for a rainy hike on Laurel Mountain.

A new addition to this year’s festival was an area where visitors could taste and buy libations crafted by area distilleries and breweries.

Kristy Ellis of Windber was sold on a peanut butter vodka offered by Disobedient Spirits of Homer City.

“This is different, I like this,” she said of the new vendors offering beer and spirits.

The parade’s grand marshal was Golden retriever Daniel, a Ligonier area show dog who recently retired after taking home Best in Breed and Best Sporting Dog titles at the 2020 Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.

One of the parade’s more unusual units was a 28-foot-long Rocket Car, combining a vehicle frame with that of a swinging rocket ship amusement ride. A

traditional highlight of the parade was an appearance by the Ligonier Fire Department’s antique 1927 American LaFrance Cosmopolitan engine. “We sold it at one point, then we bought it back and restored it,” said Phil Fleming, the department’s safety officer. He noted it was the first such piece of firefighting apparatus in the Ligonier Valley.

Another familiar parade participant was the Scottdale-based Fort Allen Antique Farm Equipment Association. The group, which has about 200 members on its roster, joined the procession with some tractors, pulling a float where a blacksmith was at work.

Along West Main Street, the club displayed an 1888 shingle mill along with stone mills for grinding buckwheat flour, which it offered for sale, along with corn meal. The return to Ligonier followed two other recent area events — the Stahlstown Flax Scutching Festival and the Delmont Apple ‘n Arts Festival — where the Fort Allen machinery has become a regular feature.

“Our sole purpose is to preserve this old farm equipment and educate the public on how our grandfathers and their fathers before them fed the nation as it was growing,” said member Mac Steel of New Alexandria.

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