Time traveling

A group of more 50 people walked between the raindrops Saturday during an historical tour of downtown Sharon during the city’s WaterFire celebration.

“You have to find the thread. People have to find out where they fit in,” said Carol Novosel, a board member of the newly-incorporated Sharon Historical Society, formerly the Heritage Society.

Novosel said history was a big subject during the WaterFire planning. Saturday’s festivity was the first of three planned for this year.

The downtown walking tour and exhibits at local businesses highlighted Sharon’s past as it relates to wind, water, earth and fire, or the “Elements,” Saturday’s WaterFire theme.

Exhibits set up by volunteers at Billy’s Black and Gold on Sharpsville Avenue and Tickled on State Street included artifacts from donors and Herald clippings. They examined Sharon’s coal mining days, the flood of 1952, and the Wheatland tornado: sujects that followed the “Elements” theme.

“We collect things, and people are generous,” Novosel said. “This is our chance to be creative.”

For the exhibits Novosel and other volunteers researched key people in Sharon’s history, such as inventor George Westinghouse, who was responsible for inventing the air brake at age 22, and the first washer and dryer.

“George Westinghouse is my new hero,” Novosel said. “It’s all about people. History’s all about people in the end,” she said.

Brian Kepple, chairman of the Sharon Beautification Committee, led the tour, whcih focused on buildings on Vine and Shenango Avenues.

“We pick out neighborhoods and highlight things,” Kepple said. “It’s a good time.”

Novosel said there are so many ideas the society has for activities to incorporate history into WaterFire and to add to the walking history tour. This was the sixth tour in three years.

She welcomed history buffs to join the quest for area artifacts for making displays at local businesses at future WaterFire events by contacting the society through the WaterFire website.

The society will produce displays for the Aug. 23 WaterFire Sharon “Motion” at the Community Library of the Shenango Valley and James E. Winner Center for Cultural Arts.