Derry’s annual Railroad Days festival is on schedule next month, but some changes are in store because of pandemic concerns.

Organizers have eliminated two activities that traditionally lead up to the event — a “hobo picnic” with food and entertainment, usually held on the Thursday before the festival, and a bonfire, normally held on Friday night.

As in past years, independent food vendors will be on hand during the main festivities, set for 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sept. 19 and noon to 5 p.m. Sept. 20.

“We have all the food vendors squared away, but we’re still looking for craft and sales vendors,” said Pat Showalter, president of the organizing committee. “There’s still room for them. The vendors are going to be on South Chestnut Street and East Second Avenue, in the heart of the borough.”

This year’s Railroad Days parade is set to begin at 10 a.m. Sept. 19 on Second Street, at the Derry Volunteer Fire Department’s A.V. Germano Hall. The committee is seeking permission from PennDOT to temporarily shut down traffic on a section of Route 217, between North Chestnut Street and East Third Avenue, for the procession.

A regional club of Ford Model A restorers and the Shriners’ ‘Vette unit of mini cars, featured in past parades, are expected to return. According to Showalter, local twirlers and Scouts are slated to march.

This year, the event committee turned to Homer City-based Beacon Sound Systems to book musical entertainment, beginning immediately after the parade and continuing on the festival’s second day. Showalter noted that change took “a big load off” the committee’s eight members.

Headliners will be the Steel City Yacht Club, which specializes in a type of 1970s soft rock dubbed “yacht rock,” at 6 p.m. Sept. 19, and the Andy Davis Band, known for a mix of country and rock, at 3 p.m. Sept. 20.

The stage will be located near First Commonwealth Bank, with chairs and picnic tables for seating. “They’ll be a

little farther apart than before,” to allow for social distancing, according to Showalter.

Pandemic precautions will be in place.

Signage and announcements from the stage will reinforce social distancing, hand sanitizer will be available at vendor booths and portable toilets will be provided. The public will not have access to the municipal building, its restrooms or the local firefighting museum.

Occupancy will be limited to a few people at a time in a converted caboose that houses the festival gift shop, said Showalter, who is encouraging those who attend to wear face masks.

He said the committee intends to stick to its plans for this year’s 31st Derry Railroad Days, as long as the county doesn’t regress from the green phase of reopening from the pandemic to the more restrictive yellow phase.

Because of the pandemic’s unknowns, those plans have proceeded at “less than 100% full speed,” Showalter conceded.

But, he said, “The relatively small size of the affair seemed to make it a doable thing, made it feel a little safer.”

He said the festival typically draws no more than 250 people to downtown Derry at a given time.

More information about the festival and forms for potential vendors and sponsors can be found on the Derry Railroad Days Facebook page.

The festival celebrates the town’s origin as a major service hub along the Pennsylvania Railroad main line between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh.

According to George F. Kacenga’s brief history of the town, posted on the borough website, the community originally was called Derry Station — after the nearby village of New Derry, in Derry Township.

The railroad station was built in 1852 and soon became the primary center of rail operations between Pittsburgh and Altoona. The town shed the “Station” part of its name when it was incorporated as a borough, in 1881.

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