The first Riverside Park Festival in Greenville has been set for June 15 and 16, a week later than originally planned, Greenville Area Preservation Association spokeswoman Lorrie Smith said Wednesday.

The civic group, which formed two months ago, is orchestrating the festival and planning other community events for later in the year, including a circus in July.

Some of the proceeds generated by the events will go toward improving Riverside Park, from painting and planting to larger efforts of repairing pavilions and placing a large restroom facility near the Rec Center and hooking it to the borough's sanitary sewer system, Mrs. Smith said. When the group formed in January, Mrs. Smith said improving and attracting people to the park was its top priority.

The group's first planned event is the festival in the park.

It has been approved by Greenville Area Leisure Services Association. Mrs. Smith said the group gave GALSA a report detailing planned activities and entertainment, the types of vendors it hoped to attract and where it intended to place its profits, among other things.

Initially, some group members wanted to dedicate at least some of the anticipated profits of its events to the borough's $3.67 million bond issue, which has been misused for the past three years. The borough has used about $900,000 of the bond issue, reserved for a recreation and revitalization project, to help keep the town afloat.

Mrs. Smith, however, said the group was told before it submitted its report to GALSA that it could not pay into the bond issue directly. "We were told by certain borough officials that there were too many legalities involved and too much bureaucratic red tape to deal with," Mrs. Smith said. She would not elaborate.

The festival will feature performances by local musical acts and a host of booths and other goings-on throughout the park, Mrs. Smith said. Local restaurants could sell their best dishes at their own booths and area businesses, groups and organizations also could set up shop, she said.

Mrs. Smith said the group is also planning a circus. She said the group negotiated a $290 contract with Kelly and Miller Brothers Circus and scheduled a show for July 22 at Transfer Fairgrounds. "It's the only big enough for elephants," Mrs. Smith said of the circus, which also features elk, alpacas and camels.

The association, which recently added "Area" to its name to reflect a growing membership from surrounding townships, has 34 registered members and four recruits who have yet to pay dues, which is $10 a year, Mrs. Smith said.

"We are still shooting for 500 members by December," she said. "There's a lot of work to do, and it's going to take a community effort."