40th Anniversary of the Apollo Moon Landing

On July 20, 1969, United States astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, Jr. made history by being the first humans to land on the moon as part of the Apollo 11 mission. On that historic date, I was just a little over a year old (yes, I’m dating myself), living with my parents and my two older brothers in my hometown of Apollo, Pennsylvania. And no, I’m not making the name up.

My hometown of Apollo is located approximately 40 miles northeast of Pittsburgh – in what can easily be classified as the “hicks”. The population at that time was probably around 2,500 to 3,000 people (give or take). The only claims to fame for Apollo were the Drake’s Log Cabin (the oldest surviving structure from the early 1800’s, which is still standing), the fact Nellie Bly, the famous writer and adventurer had a home within the borough’s limits (i.e. the town boundary, which is also still standing) and that Apollo, PA is a palindrome (spelled the same way forward and backward).

That is until the Apollo Moon Landing missions. We then became the “hot” spot (so to speak) in the area – simply because the founding fathers of our town decided to rename the town after the Greek God Apollo when they discovered that the original name of Warren was already established by another town in Pennsylvania.

In order to take advantage of the name, the borough’s town council and the influential “folk” decided to create a celebration, which came to be known as the Apollo Moon Landing Celebration. Hey, I wasn’t kidding when I said we were in the “hicks”.

All joking aside, the name still stands and all these years later the celebration is still held every July. There used to be a parade, car shows, concerts and even a carnival. Most of the celebrations that I remember from my youth are no longer held, but the carnival is a main-stay and the biggest source of revenue for Apollo because “everyone” from the county and beyond roll into town for that one-week of celebration.

My hometown, like many others, have dwindled in size, have seen their fair share of heartaches and triumphs; have grown and changed, seeing lots of people come and go; but the one thing that always remains the same is the Apollo Moon Landing Celebration. You can walk around and around the entire carnival grounds, seeing the firefighters from Station 40 (including my very proud nephew Chad, who like his dad, my late brother Jim, is a life-long firefighter) standing proudly beside their tankers and fire trucks; high school kids competing at all kinds of games, young parents toting their children around and fending off the occasional mud puddle with the kid’s strollers and young and old alike having a fun evening out.

I miss those days with my folks and my brothers – hell even with the group of girls that I spent my entire childhood with. And anytime I see cotton candy or smell funnel cakes, I’m transported back to those days of dressing up in the latest fashions, traipsing around the carnival grounds, pitching nickels or dimes into glasses to see how many I could win (and let me tell you I won WAY too many glasses over the years – enough that my dad would dread the carnival because he’d have to make yet another shelf in our kitchen to hold them all) or throwing darts at balloons to win a mirror with Garfield on it.

You may also wonder why I would bring up this special celebration over a month after the historic mission that set it all into motion. Well, I sat in a panel at Comic Con that highlighted just a small portion of the Apollo Moon Landing when the “light bulb” went off over my head (euphemistically, of course) and this “story” started to form in my mind. I knew then that I just had to share my connection to that piece of our country’s history.

So, let me ask:  Does your hometown hold any kind of special celebration, carnival or annual parade (other than for the holidays)? We here at NGTV would love to hear any tales that you’d like to share.