CHILDREN enjoy inflatables during last year’s Community Day. This year’s event is Saturday.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — The annual Community Day is set for Saturday at the St. Clairsville Recreation Center and all are welcome to participate and celebrate the start of summer.

St. Clairsville Recreation Director Lindsey Piccolini said activities will begin at 9 a.m. that day, starting with a volleyball tournament. The center is located at 102 Fair St.

“It will be a sand and a grass tournament, so it will be a combination tournament,” she said, adding that the majority of events will kick off later in the day.

“Once 4 p.m. hits, all the vendors and activities will open,” Piccolini said. “We have five food trucks that will be here.”

She said the activities will also feature a pickleball tournament throughout the day. Piccolini added that the event will feature many new attractions.

“We will have knockerball, which is the big, plastic inflatable balls, so for a small fee the kids will be able to go jump in the balls and play down on the football field. That is new,” she said. “We have the inflatables, so there’ll be four inflatables there for the kids. That will be free of charge. The St. Clairsville Roller Derby girls are going to help us man the inflatable section. They’ll be there with the kids, helping them in and out.”

Local Boy Scouts will oversee the dunk tank and supply the volunteers to get doused.

“We told them to try to get some local celebrities,” Piccolini noted.

Another attraction will be the Trike Races. And Piccolini said there will be no shortage of space.

“This year we’re actually shutting down the main parking lot, because we have over 50 vendors so we have to use the upper lot and Central Park to put them in,” she said. “So in the upper lot we’ll have a whole race course for the kids and the trikes, and we’ll have 20 to 30 members.”

In addition, she said the city police and a fire truck will be there, as well as an Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper.

She said the expected number of vendors has roughly doubled since last year.

“We had a really great showing of interest this year with vendors. We took as many as we could fit in the area,” she said, adding that the public participation has also increased. “We had well over 1,000 people last year by the time the fireworks came around. We’re expecting even more this year. We are urging people to get here early if they need to park, because parking obviously is always limited.”

Other attractions include free face painting and special guest the Ohio Valley Batman.

“I think the kids will like that. We’ll put him down in Central Park,” Piccolini said.

Later in the evening, the Jukebox Band from Pittsburgh will perform.

“The concert will be about 6:30 p.m. to about 9:30 p.m., then the fireworks will follow after that,” she said, adding that this year the fireworks will be put on by Pyrotecnico.

The day’s entertainment will also feature singing from the Russell Sisters.

“Zoey and Kamryn Russell will be singing a song or two earlier in the day,” she said. “Linda Jordan, a city councilwoman, will be singing the national anthem.

“We’re really hoping that (the community) will come down, truly enjoy it, spend some time, get to know some of the vendors. A lot of the vendors are very local people. Small businesses are really excited to come. I hope they enjoy what we have to offer, because we have everything from food to crafts, candles, pottery, painting, things for the kids. We really have something for everyone,” she said.

She said entry to Community Day festivities is free, but donations are welcome and can be given to the donation takers at the site or to the J.B. Martin Recreation Center, which will benefit future Community Days celebrations. Parking will be available on the Rec Center lot and on the school grounds. Any patron with the need for handicap parking should contact the center for a reserved handicap spot, as those spaces are limited.

Concessions will be available from Ideal Provisions, The Wood Fired Pizza Co., Bev-Ro Concessions, The St. Clairsville Band Parents and Schuetz Concessions.