Dormont Carnival Won't Be Staged After All

The Dormont carnival will not be put on this year after all because the borough was not able to secure a small games of chance license.

“We weren’t able to get the proper certification through Allegheny County,” Councilman Drew Lehman, chairman of the recreation committee, said at Monday’s council meeting.

had voted to resurrect the carnival, which hadn't been held in more than two decades, in December. But officials later found out that they wouldn't be able to offer small games of chance - fundraisers such as raffles - that would go toward the carnival's costs.

“This is the first time we’re doing this … so it’s a live-and-learn (experience) through the rec board and they’re going to make sure they have all of their ducks in a row for next year,” Lehman said.

“A lot of people have been asking for it and a lot of (people) have been talking about doing it, but this the first time someone’s actually made a move to do it,” he said. “So the rec board is to be applauded for its efforts.”

Lehman said he was disappointed, but more so for recreation board.

“Those folks were really psyched up about it. They were really excited,” he said.

Council also voted 4-3 against providing free pool passes to resident senior citizens. Resident seniors pay $50 a season.

Councilman John Maggio said doing so would be goodwill to senior citizens, some of whom he said had told him they’d give to the Friends of Dormont Pool. The group is a non-profit that raises money for the pool.

Councilman Eugene Barilla favored the idea and said area municipalities offer free or reduced passes to seniors. The pool, he said, was losing members to nearby Green Tree.

And, Maggio said, those seniors were taking their paying grandchildren with them.

But councilwoman Heather Schmidt said she’s heard from seniors who don’t mind paying.

Council members Kim Lusardi, Laurie Malka, Joan Hodson and Schmidt opposed the measure. Lehman, Maggio and Barilla voted for it.