Friday, June 14 is the kickoff to “DuBois Days.” It’s a three-day event meant to fill the gap left behind by “Community Days,” an event that had come under scrutiny because of ties to former city manager Herm Suplizio. He’s facing federal charges for allegedly stealing more than $600,000 in city funds, including from the “Community Days” event.
Food and craft tents fill the DuBois City Park, where community members gathered for the opening of the first “DuBois Days” event.
The DuBois Volunteer Fire Department usually hosts “Community Days,” but canceled it this year, citing a lack of resources.
Aviana Gillaugh, who lives in DuBois, said she’s gone to the event and parade every year.
“I was kind of honestly devastated whenever I figured out it wasn't going to happen. But when they called my dad and asked him to help out and run it and take over and stuff, I was really happy about it," Gillaugh said.
Gillaugh, a 17-year-old, is the founder of TurnAbout Boxing. It’s a non-profit boxing club which is handling the finances for the event.
Tonya Gillaugh is her mother and the organization’s president.
“We understand there's a lot of distrust in the city. Part of the point of this event was for us to be able to show the community that people can be trusted, and we want to rebuild that trust in the community," Gillaugh said.
The Gillaughs said most of the funding for the event came from community sponsors, with support from Visit Clearfield County. Any leftover funding will go back to the city for another community project.
"We have no fear of giving back. We know that [the city is] going to do what they say with it, and we trust that," Gillaugh said.
Gillaugh said she appreciates the effort from city council members to promote financial spending transparency on the city's website. She said the DuBois Days organizers also want to show transparency.
"When we're all done with our reconciliation, we have an accounting firm handling everything. We have somebody keeping our books, somebody's taken all the receipts for DuBois days. We're very transparent about the same thing which is why we see eye to eye with them right now," Gillaugh said.
DuBois Days runs through Sunday in the DuBois City Park.
