SHARON, Pa. (WKBN) – The city of Sharon has q87a lot of exciting plans for the year. There are some great events returning and some new ones to look forward to.

Some favorites returning are events like Small Business Saturday and the Father’s Day car show. Also the fireworks Fourth of July weekend, which is one of its kind in the Shenango Valley.

This upcoming weekend there will be a artisan market downtown for Valentine’s Day. Also, the city is hosting a Sharon St. Patrick’s Day Parade on March 16th.

Sharon’s downtown development director says to make sure they can have these events, it took collaboration with other neighboring cities.

“If Hermitage is doing a big event, we’re not going to do anything on that day. The partnership is really important because we know when people come to the Shenango Valley they don’t necessarily see a boundary between Hermitage or Sharpsville or Farrell or Sharon,” said Sherris Moreira, the director of downtown development.

But the partnership and support is not only with the neighboring towns. It is also between the downtown businesses.

The city says it is important business owners understand they play a larger role in the city than just having a storefront.

“We’re also being very careful in how we pick different businesses to come in because we want them to support the current ecosystem. For example, croakers will never sell food. So, what they’re going to be doing is getting all the local menus – you know they’ll have food trucks on the weekends – but they’ll be getting menus from other restaurants there so that people can order in food. So, it’s literally going to add business to all our restaurants. That’s what we’re trying to do, ‘how can we partner together,'” said Moreira.

Moreira said she is super excited for the several new places to join. To help with the collaboration, the city hosts the business owners together for quarterly meetings.

Moreira says it’s a chance for owners to cross-pollinate and also for them to share ideas and concerns to the city.

Overall, 2023 is looking up for the city of Sharon and the rest of the Shenango Valley. The next event hosted downtown will be this weekend for the Valentine’s artisan market.