Overly's engages all ages with holiday lights, food, family fun at Westmoreland Fairgrounds

Leechburg residents Tyler Leech and Alexis Price took their first trip to see Overly’s Country Christmas on Friday evening, and it was a memorable outing.

After Leech arranged a wagon ride for the couple at the Mt. Pleasant Township attraction, he proposed to Price — and her answer was “yes.”

The holiday glow of the seasonal spot at the Westmoreland Fairgrounds convinced Leech it was the ideal place to take his relationship with Price to the next level.

“We could see the beautiful lights and just have a good time, and I could propose to her,” Leech said.

In order to surprise Price, he said: “I was very vague. She’s very smart and normally has me figured out.

“It was just that we were going to see the Christmas lights,” Price said of his pitch to get her to the fairgrounds. After the couple’s big moment, she said, “We’re going to walk around a bit and maybe get something to eat.”

There were many others doing just that at the nonprofit attraction’s Christmas Village, which complements a drive-thru holiday lights display. Some were visiting for the first time, but many were renewing a family tradition.

Nicole Bowes of Unity — now a mother of three, ages 2-4 — has been coming to Overly’s since she was a child. On Friday, she paused with several members of her Latrobe-area family at the village’s play area, where her children enjoyed crawling through a tunnel.

“All the generations come together,” she said.

Her brother, Hunter Snyder of Erie, returned home for the holidays in time to join his family at Overly’s.

“There’s nothing like it, with all the lights and all the kids having fun,” he said.

“This is what we do every year when he comes back for the holidays,” said their mother, Michelle Knight. “We look forward to it. It’s a family atmosphere, and there’s so much to see.”

The children were able to visit with Santa and Mrs. Claus in the workshop, but a strolling character was a favorite with the adults.

“Now that the Grinch is walking around, it takes it to a whole other level,” Knight said.

Maura Newport, another longtime attendee, came this year with her parents and two aunts, all from Penn Hills.

“It’s really nostalgia,” she said, as the group took a break to enjoy fries and funnel cakes. “They’ve been bringing me here since I was a baby.”

“It’s pretty, especially when it’s cold,” said her mother, Tammy Newport. “When it’s cold, it makes you feel like Christmas — just as long as it’s not wet, and it doesn’t have to be below freezing.”

Visitors can warm up around a bonfire at the Christmas Village before they visit a nearby Nativity scene. There also are several places to get warm indoors — including a model train display at Hartman Station, a gift shop and a candy shop.

Overly’s had its beginning in 1956, when the late Harry Overly decorated his Armbrust-area home with holiday lights. Passing motorists began making donations, which his family contributed to support children’s medical services at area hospitals.

Located at the fairgrounds since 1994, the expanded lights display and Christmas Village continues to support area charities. Overly’s offers free admission to low-income and at-risk families in several surrounding counties. It also collects unwrapped toys, nonperishable food and dry pet food for distribution through partner organizations.

One similar attraction that fell by the wayside was once a holiday highlight at Allegheny County’s Hartwood Acres Park. That lights display flickered out after 2011, when sponsors no longer could be found to help with rising costs.

Overly’s strengths have included support from a number of sponsoring businesses as well as the roughly 500 volunteers who provide the necessary manpower before and during the season.

Volunteers Sherry Mizikar, of nearby Norvelt, and her daughter, Elizabeth Mizikar, now of Washington, have been helping to work the register at the candy shop for the past 11 years. They began their association with Overly’s when Elizabeth Mizikar was looking for a community service project as a student at Mt. Pleasant Senior High School.

“My mother-in-law and father-in-law volunteered here for years, and they suggested we come here,” said Sherry Mizikar. “I love it, and I look forward to it every year. I enjoy when the little ones come in. They’ve either been to Santa or they’re going to see Santa.

“My in-laws have both passed away. Coming here is a way to honor them and their legacy.”

P.J. Sphon, president of Overly’s, and his wife, Sarah, the executive director, also are continuing a legacy — stepping up after the death in 2020 of Stephanie Tomasic, the organization’s previous chief administrator.

The couple met as volunteers at the attraction.

“I was volunteering here as a child and worked here through my high school years,” said P.J. Sphon. “We worked under Stephanie until she passed away. Then we wanted to keep this tradition rolling.”

Randy John of Greensburg, and his wife, Vivian, craft some of the items for sale at the gift shop and have been volunteering at Overly’s for 30 years.

“I just enjoy doing it, and the people we meet,” he said. “I love watching the little kids when their eyes light up.

“Some of them are shy, but some of them will say ‘Merry Christmas’ to us. That’s what it’s all about.”