Marietta-area residents look forward each summer to the annual Harmar Days Festival, and this year’s event is no exception. The three-day celebration and fundraiser allows attendees to not just enjoy the food, vendors and entertainment, but to support an important cause.

Harmar Days is the primary fundraising event for the Historic Harmar Bridge Company, which uses the money for bridge maintenance, rail car preservation, park improvements and grant applications.

The effort is paying off, as last year the organization received a $950,000 Transportation Alternatives Program grant from the Ohio Department of Transportation to begin work on the bridge’s swingspan section.

“This is just the beginning,” Ali Schultheis, communications director for the Historic Harmar Bridge Company, said when the grant was announced. “This grant is a huge step toward our goal of salvaging and rehabilitating the bridge. It means the state hears us – it hears the people of Marietta.”

With that in mind, remember that, as Geoff Schenkel with the city’s Community Development Office, put it, “We will need probably $50,000 to $100,000 for us to keep this kind of momentum going. So every raffle ticket, every Harmer Days T-shirt, every beer you buy in the beer garden, is what enables us to even be able to get on the field and compete for these dollars.”

Every little bit helps, and this year’s Harmar Days Festival provides a wonderful opportunity to be part of a decades-long tradition while making your voice heard and your money count.

Schultheis called the Historic Harmar Bridge Company’s efforts “a community project at every level.” This weekend provides an excellent chance to get out and about as part of that community.