Rosedale Beach Club prepares for 9th annual Rosedale Fall Festival

Dani Scott was raised at the Rosedale Beach Club in Penn Hills.

“My parents moved to Rosedale 54 years ago. … I swear my mom picked the house because of the pool,” said Scott, 51.

After being on the board for 15 years, she now serves as the Rosedale board president and is in charge of planning the annual Rosedale Fall Festival.

The Rosedale Fall Festival has been a community tradition in Penn Hills since 2016 after the pool board took it over from Verona Borough.

Free to attend, the event features “family-friendly” priced food, games, rides, a “Kidz Zone,” raffle baskets, product vendors and live music. This year also will feature bingo.

Vendors and sponsors come from Oakmont, Verona and Penn Hills. The festival’s menu includes hamburgers, funnel cakes, french fries, nachos, walking tacos and more.

Scott said the organizers try to keep the prices low — none of the food is more than $7.

“The festival is great for not only Rosedale but also the community,” Scott said.

Serving the residents of Oakmont, Verona and Penn Hills, the Rosedale Beach Club relies on the festival as its main source of funding aside from the pool’s memberships.

“The only money we make from the pool is three months out of the year off of our memberships,” Scott said.

She said with the pool turning 100 in 2026, the structure needs a little “TLC.” The pool previously received a grant to repair its lining but relies on the funds from the festival to keep membership prices the same and maintain filters, painting, pumps, electrical boxes and other repair projects.

“We still have to pay the bills all year round. We have to keep some of the electric on through winter. We still have to pay our taxes,” Scott said. “There’s things we have to pay throughout the year.”

Scott said the festival usually brings in anywhere between $17,000 and $21,000 and attracts about 500 to 700 visitors across three days. The pool’s members pitch in to volunteer to help cook and serve the food, set up tents, get donations and whatever else may be needed.

“It’s not one person running the festival. It’s a community running the festival,” Scott said.

The pool’s property also features a basketball court, tennis courts, a sandbox and a volleyball court.

“There’s 100 days that you can come down there, enjoy your family, be stress free, and we try to make it as fun as we possibly can,” Scott said. “The festival is an added bonus for the entire community.”

The festival will kick off at 6 p.m. Sept. 11 with the Penn Hills High School Marching Band performing a few songs. The event will run from 6 to 10 p.m. each night through Sept. 13.