On the warm evening of September 19, 2022, the annual Briggs Street Bash swung into full action from 6-9pm, with people buzzing around the streets of downtown Erie playing fun games and eating good food. 

The Briggs Street Bash is an annual fall tradition at Erie High School, going on for the past seven years, where the fall sports invite the community to celebrate the new school year and raise money for their programs. The event is made up of Erie’s athletes, coaches, community, and businesses. 

Erie Varsity Cheer, Briggs Street Performance

Courtney Stanesa, Erie’s Athletic Director Secretary, along with her coworker, Athletic Director Justin Carpenter, played a big role in planning the event and putting it into action. “The point of it is we want to bring together community as far as bringing together the younger kids in Erie with our high school age kids to just create community” explains Stanesa. 

Girls basketball Coach, Tyler Cerveny says that “Justin and Courtney did a lot of the work… They do a great job.” 

A lot of planning has to go into setting up this 3 hour event of fun and activities. First, Erie High School has to get permission from the town of Erie to shut down the road for the evening. The year prior to the event is spent getting a permit in order to put the event into action on September 19. Along with this is getting the athletes, coaches, and community to participate and ultimately spread the word around. 

Erie’s community must make sure to be respectful and follow the rules of the town, as they are doing a favor in supplying the road for the evening. But, that is not to say that the town of Erie does not benefit in its own way. 

During the Briggs Street Bash, many of the Erie businesses including Azteca, Echo Brewery, Sweets, Birdhouse, and some of the boutiques are open for business and get opportunities that they wouldn’t otherwise have on a typical Monday night. 

Some of the businesses even provide help to the sports running the events. For example, Azteca provided food for the girls basketball team to run their own buffet. “…the way it brings the community together, both the school and the businesses, I think it’s really cool for our community” explains Cerveny. 

The ultimate goal of the Briggs Street Bash is to raise money for the athletic programs. The sports are able to do this by running a booth where they are open to donations from the community. Stanesa explained that “cross country and track always does a pie-in-the-face, so whatever people pay to play that game, they get that money right back to their program.” 

Some of the other events run by the athletes of Erie High School include face painting by volleyball, snow cones from boys tennis, balloons from the dance team, a basketball game set up by basketball, glitter face painting by cheer, and many more. 

Erie Volleyball in front of their face painting station

The Briggs Street Bash was a major success this year, providing the athletic programs with money to improve their seasons, and ultimately bringing together the community for a fun night. The Briggs Street Bash isn’t going anywhere so make sure to stop by next fall to see it for yourself.