Millerstown Recreation

Millerstown Recreation. Perry County Bicentennial. , From its beginning, Millerstown residents have enjoyed leisure activities with a community focus, including sports, music, theater, and outdoor recreation. Hunting and fishing provided family food as well as many tall tales. The Juniata River drew swimmers, divers, boaters and skaters., In 1923, the Glen Adams Park at the west end of town featured a large slide into the river, swimming areas, park swings, pavilions, eating stands, and picnic grounds. The abandoned canal bed between the town and the river, lined with graceful willow trees and known as "The Willows" became a popular picnic spot. Annual fireman's carnivals with amusement park type rides and games brought locals together., As early as 1881, Millerstown had a community band. During the 1920s and 1930s, showman C.O. Spangler and family toured Pennsylvania towns offering a Medicine Show complete the miracle elixirs. In the 1930s, minstrel shows, then socially acceptable, provided entertainment and the Greenwood Players offered theater. Upon his retirement from Greenwood School District in 1977, Barner Swartz, music teacher and band director, formed the Greenwood Community Band which still played in 2019., By the 1920s, youth could participate in Boy Scouts and Girl Scout troops and 4-H clubs. Team sports drew both youth and adults, and Greenwood High School teams enjoyed both regionally and statewide., In 1956, ground was broken for the first swimming pool in Perry County, just outside the Borough. In 2019, it is owned by the Millerstown Recreation Committee. In 2001, resident Valera C. Long left a generous gift to our community organizations, all earmarked for the development and maintenance of a park in Millerstown. Working together, these organizations created a beautiful 40-acre facility along the Juniata River providing children's playgrounds, walking, biking and environmental trails, playing fields for youth sports, picnic pavilions, an amphitheater, and areas for community events., In 2019, the Community Park offers the only public land accessible to the Juniata River in all of Perry County.