Annual Rotary Club event means family, food, and fun in summer heat
By Kyle Carrozza, Staff Writer, The Times
The Rotary Club organizes Celebrate Coatesville every year, bringing together businesses from around the area.
COATESVILLE – Bands, beer, and bicycles came together as a part of the city’s annual Celebrate Coatesville day held in Gateway Park on Sunday.
Families gathered in the summer heat to eat and listen to music, many making use of the fountains across Lincoln Highway to escape the summer heat.
Organized by the Rotary Club of Coatesville, local businesses set up stands for the occasion. The Rotary Club sold burgers and hot dogs while Irie’s Jamaican Food added some Caribbean flavor, serving jerk chicken and shish kabobs. Vendors offered a host of goods, from art jewelry to art supplies. Downingtown’s Victory Brewing even set up a beer garden for the adults, where they could enjoy a quality brew while watching the bike races that went on throughout the day.
The Chesco Gran Prix brought professional cyclists from around the world to Coatesville.
The races brought together cyclists of all levels, opening the day with kids as young as four years old, up to the final event, where professionals from as far as Germany and Australia competed in the Chesco Gran Prix.
The 42-mile professional race took riders from all over the world through Coatesville, but at the end of the day, Mount Penn native Ryan DeWald claimed first place. DeWald finished his final lap just as winds began blowing over railings and a light mist formed in the air.
Within a few minutes, lightning was striking and a downpour forced vendors to pack up as residents walked to their cars and homes soaked.
But the passing storm did not stop what many believe to be the best part of the proceedings–the evening fireworks. Always a highly anticipated event, families watched from porches, sat on blankets in parks, and even pulled over to watch from along Route 82.
