United Neighborhood Centers of NEPA's Pine Brook Family Arts Festival draws crowd in Scranton

Jim Lockwood, The Times-Tribune, Scranton, Pa.
·3 min read

Apr. 29—SCRANTON — Margarite Hernandez attended the John Adams Elementary School, one block away from where she grew up on Capouse Avenue.

On Saturday, she brought three of her four young daughters to the school playground for the second annual Pine Brook Family Arts Festival hosted by United Neighborhood Centers of Northeastern PA. The girls came away with balloon animals and smiles on their painted faces and their mother got to bring home some small plants.

"It's really nice to see something happening here in this area," Hernandez said. "A lot of people see it as bad, in the Pine Brook area, but it's starting to come back."

UNC leads a long-term revitalization plan underway in Pine Brook, a neighborhood known for industry, businesses, tight housing and diversity.

Saturday's festival doubled the number of activities from the inaugural session last year and drew a large crowd on a chilly, overcast afternoon. Rain held off and over 100 people walked through the wrought-iron gate of the schoolyard in the first hour of the event, which ran from noon to 4 p.m., said Holly Yorkonis, UNC's community revitalization coordinator.

The school at 927 Capouse Ave. at Ash Street has long been a Pine Brook anchor.

"This school is a centerpiece of the neighborhood and we partner together all the time," Yorkonis said. "If they have an event where parents are coming, UNC is there. They've just been a wonderful partner throughout the revitalization plan in the neighborhood."

Hernandez had moved to Florida for a time before moving back to Scranton. She now lives on North Washington Avenue and has fond memories of attending Adams Elementary.

Her two middle daughters attend the school, and the family enjoys attending various events there.

"The kids love it here. They absolutely love it," Hernandez said.

Festival activities also included rock painting, flower planting and a theater workshop, to name a few. College students from Marywood University and the University of Scranton hosted numerous activities.

Occupational therapy students from the University of Scranton provided neurological-based sensory and educational crafts and games.

One activity called "Guess What's in the Box?" had small common objects — a key, dice, clothespin, dime, nut from a bolt, marble and paper clip — buried in a small container of rice. With eyes closed, children rooted around in the rice to find the objects and try to identify them just by feel. Such "sensory stereognosis" tests neurological functions, said University of Scranton sophomore Emma Benson, 19, of Newtown.

Outreach Center for Community Services hosted squirt gun painting, in which youths aimed squirt guns filled with a paint-and-water mixture onto small white canvases to create their own unique paintings. The simple, quick-draw painting method was a big hit.

"Fifty-fifty — half paint, half water — and let them squirt it at the canvas," said Travis Prince of Outreach, who is an acclaimed local artist. "It's just that easy, water and paint. It's interactive, abstract art."

Other participating organizations included My Center for Independent Living, Penn State Extension 4H & Master Gardeners, the Green House Project, the Hexagon Project, Lackawanna library system, Be SMART and Scranton Fringe. Sponsors included Lackawanna County Re-Invest, Lackawanna County Arts and Culture Department, Scranton Area Foundation, the University of Scranton and Marywood University.

emailto:Contact the writer: jlockwood@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9100 x5185; @jlockwoodTT on Twitter.