Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era

Manheim Township cancels Community Day

Please see COMMUNITY DAY, page 2

For two decades, it was an early-fall event that organizers used to boost community spirit in Manheim Township.

But in recent years, the township's Community Day and some other township-sponsored events were "starting to stretch us too thin," often ran into weather problems and didn't seem to draw as large a crowd as in the past, the township commissioners' president said.

So Rick Casselbury and the other commissioners recently made the tough decision to eliminate Community Day and two events, a picnic and a golf outing, both held as a thank-you for members of township boards and commissions, in Manheim Township's 2013 budget.

The moves, combined with last year's elimination of the township's Spring Fling and the Fall Into Fitness 5K, will save the cash-conscious suburban township some $20,000, its officials estimated.

"We were starting to hold so many of these functions, it was getting to be so difficult for staff" to work at the events after already working a full week, Casselbury explained.

"We had to eliminate the things that just weren't very well-attended any more."

The elimination of Community Day, held in recent years at Overlook Community Campus along Fruitville Pike, saves the township about $8,500.

Cutting the summer thank-you picnic for board and commission members saved $2,000, while trimming the golf outing saved $1,750.

A December appreciation dinner for the members of the township panels will still be held in 2013, as in the past, Casselbury said.

The township commissioners decided not to fund the Spring Fling (saving about $4,000) and the 5K (about $3,500) for 2012 after they voted to re-open Manheim Township's budget last year.

The feeling was, Casselbury said, "Let's scale back and concentrate on the important things, those that are really well-attended."

Even with the elimination of Community Day, the township may make new plans for a separate fall event, officials said.

The WIOV-FM country-music FallFest, which has drawn as many as 50,000 people to Overlook, remains on the schedule for 2013, township officials emphasized.

doconnor@lnpnews.com