Celesta Powell works in human service, which helps explain why she keeps so busy.
“I work until the human is served,” she says. “And the human is never served.”
You’ll see the fruits of her latest effort to serve humankind on the streets and in the sky above State College on July 4. As the new executive director of the Central PA 4th Fest, Powell is leading the charge in reigniting the day-long community celebration that so many loved before COVID-19 forced organizers to produce scaled-back events over the past three years.
The afternoon parade from downtown State College to the area around the Bryce Jordan Center on Penn State’s campus returns this year (1 p.m.), as does the morning Firecracker 4K race (9 a.m.). While the carnival of pre-COVID years will not be back, there will be free entertainment in the parking lots around the BJC (including the popular BMX biker demonstration) as well as food trucks, booths featuring various community organizations and many more activities. Powell says she’s even working on bringing back the huge Fourth of July birthday cake.
Celebration-goers have the option to buy tickets to enjoy more entertainment, food and a “killer view” of the fireworks inside Medlar Field at Lubrano Park, or to purchase VIP lawn seating outside the ballpark, Powell says. There are a variety of group ticket packages available, but individual costs range from $15 to $35.
For those who want to tailgate, paid parking will be available for advance purchase in the Jordan East ($25/car) and Stadium West ($15/car, $50/RV) lots, as well as in the fields near the Ag Arena ($10/car) on the big day itself.
“Whatever floats your boat is what we’re trying for,” she says.
The cost of tickets “directly benefits putting fireworks in the air,” Powell says, “making sure we can do this again next year.”
The star of the show, as always, will be those fireworks. The aerial display launched by the Starfire Corporation at about 9:15 p.m. will be the largest in Pennsylvania this year, Powell says, topping even Philadelphia and Pittsburgh; the rockets will be set off to music simulcast on Seven Mountains Media.
Throwing an Independence Day party for thousands of people is challenging enough. But it’s not the only way Powell serves her community. Her Spring Mills business, Powell’s Presence, focuses on the management of nonprofits and/or their events. Powell, who has four daughters, is managing director of the Central PA Tasting Trail (a group of fourteen Centre County craft beverage producers), and she manages the Pennsylvania Forestry Association (her husband is a Penn State Extension educator in forests and wildlife). She’s also assisted the United Way of Centre County with its Day of Caring and Taste of the Town events.
“I really enjoy nonprofits, working with them,” she says. “I have to believe in what they do.”
Powell has a degree in human development and family studies from Penn State and paid for her schooling by working in hospitality. She’s continued those interests professionally.
She worked for the Youth Service Bureau and the Arc of Centre County and later served as a general manager of Happy Valley Restaurants for six years before changing course after COVID.
While Powell is now in her first year in charge of the Independence Day party, she’s thankful to have help from experienced hands including board President Kurt Weibel, Charles Gable, Scott Walker, Michael Madeira, Dennis Myers, Paul Silvis, Lisa Rittenhouse, Lee Anne Jeffries, Rachael Stroup and Molly Shoemaker.
“The university as a partner was great in opening this back up for us,” Powell adds.
Returning to a day-long event is a challenge that organizers welcome.
“I think the plan has always been that way, but with COVID, when you have one of the biggest outdoor events and you have so much happening everywhere” it became difficult to pull together with restrictions, fewer volunteers and the uncertainty of the times, Powell says.
“The positive about last year was seeing how nicely (the baseball stadium) could be utilized. You can sit in a real seat with a back, you can have a nice bathroom, some live music, some more fun during that timeframe. And then it is one heck of a killer view of the boomers.”
Ultimately, the celebration “will only be as big as the community helps to make it,” Powell says. “It requires the community dollar, it requires the community presence.”
Here is more from our conversation:
You wear a lot of hats. How did you end up getting involved in 4th Fest on top of everything else you do?
Powell: I had seen a posting that they were going to hire a part-time executive director of the 4th Fest. It’s really organizing the troops, getting them where they need to go, getting the plans out for the people, everything that I’ve already been doing [with other organizations]. And my joke was, “Well, you only work one day a year.” That’s always my joke, but I know better.
My husband was like, “Are you serious?” But I looked at it and I submitted [an application]. I talked to [board members] and we all spent about two-and-a-half months through the summer [in 2022] making sure if this would be a good fit, or wouldn’t it? And I felt like it was. There’s enough mayhem and enough things that you have to put together. And I believe in the Fourth of July. So, I was like, OK, I’ll try it.
You seem to like change.
Powell: I like change. I am probably one of the few people that can run pretty comfortably with change. I don’t like surprises; I like to manage for those. But I like change. And I think there is a big difference. I am OK with controlled chaos.
One of the challenges in the wake of COVID has been fewer people volunteering?
Powell: A lot of the folks that have done this for years have retired. The Fourth of July is really revealing a lot of the shifts that COVID has required us to make, [including] that personal shift where you’re giving your time.
4th Fest has been around since 1927 in some format. There have been so many amazing people in the community that have put their hat on and taken over part of Fourth of July to make that a big event in our community. Some of them have had really brilliant ideas that we’ve held on to forever, and some ideas have kind of gone to the wayside as time has changed. And now, I think COVID shifted us again, in the same way that the 4th Fest has shifted through time. All these amazing people come out to do this. You want to really take care of your volunteers. You don’t want to ask them to do so much that it’s an incredible burden[some] work day. It should be an amazing, amazing time.
[Powell adds that while recruitment is progressing, more volunteers are needed; opportunities range from helping organize marchers in the parade to handing out water in the 4K to assisting in the entertainment area to being a goodwill ambassador at the stadium, and lots in between. To sign up, visit centralpa4thfest.org/get-involved.]
When you wake up on July 5, what would define a successful 4th Fest to you?
Powell: I think a successful 4th Fest will be probably that night, watching all the cars leave, watching everybody leave happy. There’s always this moment when you watch the fireworks, you can see it in people’s faces. That’s a success to me, that people know this party was about all of us, and it was a good thing. And that it’s a good place to be around everybody, and that we are the best party that we can have. That, to me, is a win, that vibe.
It’s not about all the other stuff. It’s not about your politics and it’s not about your religion and it’s not about any preference in your world; it’s about we’re one group of people. And when people can leave with that solid vibe in them, that’s a win to me. I don’t think someone’s gonna articulate that when they leave, but you can see they’re nicer to each other.
So that’s my win, if we can all leave remembering that for at least twenty-four hours after the event. This is the day that celebrates us being able to do all those things. T&G
Mark Brackenbury is a former editor of Town&Gown.
