Times Observer photo by Josh Cotton As the years pass, fewer and fewer men who served in the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression are here to tell us about it. But an event is set for Friday at 10 a.m. at the Warren County Visitors Bureau in Starbrick aimed at honoring the legacy of those who served in the CCC.

It’s been nearly 80 years since the Civilian Conservation Corps — a New Deal program aimed at providing work for young men during the Great Depression — was disbanded.

But if you’ve been to just about any state park or driven through the Allegheny National Forest, you see the legacy of the three million individuals who served in the CCC — trees, roads, buildings, picnic areas, campgrounds, just to name a few.

That legacy will be honored in a joint event on Friday at 10 a.m. at the CCC Statue in the yard of Warren County Visitors Bureau office in Starbrick.

The Tionesta Valley Snowmobile Club and the Warren County Visitors Bureau are sponsoring the annual event.

“We are going to have a statue dedication reunion ceremony on Friday morning. This event will be open-air only, in front of the Visitors Center due to public health concerns,” Ed Atwood, president of the club said. “All participants are required to wear a mask and practice social distancing. We recommend you bring a folding chair to the event.”

In past years, a group of CCC veterans would attend the event but many of them have since passed away.

“We plan to honor the late Walter F. Atwood, CCC boy, who recently passed away,” Atwood said. “When the ceremony is over we will go out back of the Visitors Center to present the new project: a replica of the CCC camp ANF-1 (aka Camp 318) at Duhring (east of Marienville) as is stood in 1935.”

According to the Library of Congress, Duhring was officially the nation’s second CCC camp and the first in Pennsylvania. After the CCC years, the camp housed prisoners of war and conscientious objectors during World War II.

Atwood said that attendance is by RSVP to (814) 726-2774.

“Restrooms and water will be available,” he said. “There will be a maximum of eight (8) persons allowed in the Visitors Center at any one time.”