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How Stuff Happens When Local Groups Get an Idea and Work Together.

                                    The History of the Autumn Leaf Festival

The late Don Stroup, Lee Hufnagel and John "Poe" Haskell formed the Chamber of Commerce in 1953. Soon after, the discussion focused on how they could bring attention to our beautiful community. One of the gentlemen had been up north to a "Potato Festival" and suggested that Clarion could maybe do a similar type of festival. The three gentlemen thought  "Autumn Leaves" would be a great theme, thus the Autumn Leaf Festival was born.

Their first projects were to create a town swimming pool and to join with the Clarion Teachers College (now Clarion University) and have the first Autumn Leaf Festival Parade.  It was a small parade that year with some bands and a few floats and cars.  The College President, Dr. Paul Chandler, and the first Chamber President, Don Stroup, rode together in the first parade.

Soon, a couple of businessmen, George Wolf Jr. and Russ Hepler got involved and were very important to the beginning of the Autumn Leaf Festival especially the parade.  More and more individuals have stepped up along the way and the “Tournament of Leaves Parade” is one of the premier events of the week.  Within the first few years of the festival’s birth, the gentlemen were able to quickly grow the festival.  Over the next couple of decades, additional events were added to the festival and what started as a 2-day event was now growing to 5 days, then 7 days and now 9 days long.

Today, the festival has become a 9-day Internationally Award winning event striving to provide meaningful programming and entertainment for children and adults of all ages. 

With every year, committees and volunteers work tirelessly to ensure that the legacy of the festival carries on for many years.  The festival has truly grown from its humble beginnings.  One of the great outcomes of the festival is that it is tied into Clarion University’s Homecoming.  Most colleges and universities have a weekend of activity.  In Clarion it is 9 days of food, entertainment, events and a football game.

Our goal every year is to provide an event that is worth taking time out to come, visit and stay a while.  We provide over 50 different events throughout the 9days.  We want people to come to Clarion, see and participate in as many events as possible while taking in what Clarion has to offer year round.   Each year the festival attracts between 200,000 to 400,000 visitors.  Some of those visitors are from as far away as Florida, Texas and all along the east coast.  We also have a craft vendor from Belgium who makes her way every year back to Clarion to set-up and participate in the Farmers & Crafts Show.

The Clarion Chamber is a membership based organization, we are here for our members and we are here for our community.   What started out 67 years ago is still going strong and our goal is to continue for another 67 years to provide an opportunity for visitors to come,  enjoy and stay.  Better yet, we would love for them to re-locate here and start a new business in our community and be a part of this Internationally Award winning festival!

By Tracy Becker, Executive Director Clarion Chamber of Business and Industry