Fountain Festival: Chambersburg's newest festival includes carnival rides

The latest event to join downtown Chambersburg's festival lineup will celebrate a historic landmark.

Memorial Fountain will be the centerpiece of Downtown Chambersburg Inc.'s inaugural Fountain Festival, which will take place in and around Memorial Square this Friday through Sunday.

“We at DCI are excited to celebrate spring and commemorate our fountain with our Chambersburg community," said President Sam Thrush, via a news release.

Fountain Festival will have activities other Chambersburg festivals don't: carnival rides and games, courtesy of Snyder's Attractions. The carnival will be open each day of the festival in the parking lot between Hood Street and the Chambersburg Rail Trail.

With more than 30 food trucks/vendors, the festival will have food and drinks for just about every appetite. Guests will be able to find food options around the square and on Main Street on Friday and Saturday, but the food trucks will move to Chambers Fort Park and the neighboring Rosedale parking lot off North Main Street on Sunday.

Saturday will be the biggest day of the festival.

More than 40 retail vendors will be lined up on Main Street, which will be closed to traffic from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

At the beer garden, those 21 and older can buy drinks from Rough Edges Brewing, Adams County Winery, Michaux Brewing Company and Screaming Bambino Wines.

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There will also be a mobile petting zoo, bounce houses and axe-throwing.

Musicians will perform live at Chambers Fort Park on Saturday and Sunday.

Festival activities will be open 5-9 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

What is Chambersburg's Memorial Fountain?

DCI's Fountain Festival follows a smaller event that was held last spring to celebrate the return of Memorial Fountain, which had been removed for repairs after a drunk driver crashed into it in December 2021.

Surveillance video showed an SUV traveling westbound at a high rate of speed striking the curb surrounding the fountain, going airborne and crashing into part of the fountain before landing in the basin. The fountain was severely damaged.

ART Research Enterprises, Lancaster, completed the repairs. The company previously refurbished the fountain in 2016.

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A memorial to Franklin County citizens killed in the Civil War, the fountain was originally installed in 1878. A statue of a Union soldier stands next to it, looking toward the South for invading Confederates — a tribute to the Burning of Chambersburg by Confederate troops in 1864.

For more details on Fountain Festival, go to downtownchambersburgpa.com/fountainfestival.

This article originally appeared on Chambersburg Public Opinion: Chambersburg's Fountain Festival includes carnival rides