Petting zoo, pony rides punctuate annual Fall in the Wall event in Aspinwall

Everyone had different reasons for filling Aspinwall’s Commercial Avenue in picture-perfect autumn weather Saturday, Oct. 12, during the borough’s annual Fall in the Wall celebration.

Fox Chapel resident Jodi Linder watched, with a twinkle in her eye, as granddaughter Alanna gazed at a balloon artist plying their trade.

Despite being a repeat attendee at the annual event, Annette Muller, a West Coast native now living in Cheswick, said she enjoyed the parking-lot petting zoo — and was looking to see what else organizers had up their sleeve.

Then there was Rory Wlahofsky.

While the 3-year-old Fox Chapel preschooler got a kick out of feeding beige and brown pellets of food to a goat at the petting zoo, his 2-year-old sister yearned for something different.

“The pony rides — that’s a favorite for Nora,” laughed their mother, Addie Wlahofsky, 33, as she watched Rory stretch a food-filled cup between the thin wires of the petting zoo gates.

Hundreds of people packed Aspinwall’s quaint business district where a DJ, area firefighters and political groups registering Pennsylvanians to vote supplemented the standard bearers of Pittsburgh-area fare.

Kids flocked in droves to the petting zoo and pony rides, giggled at the magician’s and balloon artist’s sleight-of-hand and waited, with visible anticipation, to have temporary tattoos air-brushed on their arms.

Some walked Commercial Avenue with hands filled with freshly popped popcorn or a draft beer. Others rushed to play pickleball or chomp on Kona Ice’s cool treats.

“I remember the emotions of an event — don’t ask me about details,” laughed Giuseppe Francioni, executive director of the Aspinwall Chamber of Commerce, which hosted the event with borough officials. “I think Saturday was definitely relaxed and fun.

“When you get nice weather, everybody and their mother comes out — and that was definitely the case in Aspinwall,” he added. “There was no hustle-bustle about it. It was ‘Let’s enjoy the moment.’ ”

The event also was quite busy. Officials didn’t release a crowd-size tally but said, anecdotally, “It was a banner year.”

Kids romped inside two bounce houses well into the evening, and the bubbly structures were the last to close.

Organizers estimated 200 people took part in a pumpkin-painting activity, and they quickly ran out of pumpkins.

Police closed parts of Eastern Avenue, as well as Commercial Avenue and Alley A, for the event. Admission and parking were free.

The annual event also was a great way for area families to connect with businesses and nonprofits in their community, many said.

Just ask Beck Gallagher.

In November, the 39-year-old Pittsburgher opened a business, Beli Nails, in the former Commercial Avenue hair salon above Aspinwall’s Towne Drugs store.

Saturday was the first time Gallagher had manned a table for Beli Nails at a community event. The crowds and their feedback, she said, made her proud she chose Aspinwall as a home base for her operation.

“We weren’t even looking for a space in Aspinwall,” said Gallagher, who sported hair colored with flashes of cyan and lemon-lime. “This location popped up and it was, ‘This is so perfect!’ And today, it’s busy. This is great.”

Gallagher added, though, that the malted milk-balls and peanut-butter cups she was handing out didn’t hurt foot traffic.

Katie Steines was out Saturday seeking volunteers and promoting events at Allegheny RiverTrail Park, a nearby 10-acre park that boasts greenspace, multiuse trails and loads of concerts and events.

“We’re just trying to let people know what we’ve got going on at the park in the late fall,” said Steines, the park’s marketing and development coordinator, as she got ready to raffle off park-branded swag at her table near Caliente Pizza & Draft House. “I just started at the park a month ago — and it’s been a warm welcome.”

The nonprofit that runs the park said it recently purchased six more acres of land to add to the waterfront attraction.

Fall in the Wall was nothing this year if not eclectic.

As Aspinwall police Chief David Nemec handed dog treats to pets and cupcakes to kids, the borough’s Democratic and Republican committees — set up at opposite ends of Commercial Avenue — stressed the importance of the Nov. 5 election.

Crowds also lined up near a tent for Aspinwall Neighbors, a community group selling forest-geen sweatshirts stamped with the word Aspinwall and 1892, the incorporation date for a borough now about 3,000 residents strong.

The proceeds from the sweatshirt sales will fund “community-building” activities, said Sarah Shaffer, a borough resident for 18 years and the nonprofit group’s president. Aspinwall Neighbors volunteers, among other work, deliver soup to seniors and shovel snowy walkways in winter.

Those weaving through the crowds didn’t have to look far to hear enthusiastic feedback.

“I think it’s really good for Aspinwall — it’s nice how they close the street, how they close the alley,” said longtime borough resident Ann Battistel, 69, as she sat outside the ice cream shop Treats Down the Street with her daughter, two grandchildren and a pair of dogs, both bulldog-beagle mixes.

“They make it real kid-friendly and dog-friendly,” she said.

An out-of-towner, though, was more breathless with excitement about Fall in the Wall.

“I have never seen a community so amazing and so safe,” said Lisa Stavropoulus, 57, a San Francisco native visiting her sister, who recently moved to Aspinwall.

“This Downtown, it’s beautiful,” she added. “We’re from California. And I don’t want to leave!”