MARS — In an effort to take control of the ever-growing number of community events taking place in the borough, as well as the ever-growing number of people attending them, Mars has set up a three-person committee to put together an all-encompassing events policy for the borough.

“Each year, it seems like more and more people want to have an event in this town,” borough council member Christine Clutter said during a meeting Monday, March 3. “So we’re trying to make sure we put a policy together.”

Clutter is on the committee.

Fellow council member Brad Price, who is also on the committee, said the number of events in the borough has ballooned in recent years. This year, the number will increase by at least one, with the biennial Mars New Year held June 6 and 7.

“We started out 15 years ago with three events. Now we're up to 15,” Price said. “It just kind of came together very ad hoc. What we currently have is procedures for an event, but we haven't really established a policy.”

However, Price says there are a number of potential questions the committee may have to answer over the coming weeks.

“Now we have to decide things like, do we want to only have borough-sponsored events? Do we allow nonprofits to have an event? How many events does the borough want to sponsor?” Price said. “And then the question is, what’s the taxpayer’s responsibility? Because they pay for the police. They pay for the public works. They pay for the administrative staff.”

Once a policy is drafted, it will be brought before the board of supervisors to be voted on.

There was some confusion during the meeting as to whether the existence of the policy committee would lead to immediate changes, but council member Robert Bost said, for now, event approval in Mars would go on as before until a new policy is approved.

“It's just how we’ve done things all along. We've not put it to paper and made an active policy out of it,” said Bost.

During the meeting, John Podolak expressed his concern over how the new policy would affect him and other Mars businesses. Podolak was there to receive official approval for his annual Rumble Car Show. The show spent its first three years on the streets of Mars, made a brief appearance in Saxonburg in 2023, then returned to Mars in 2024.

“I've accommodated everything every year for you guys. I make nothing off this show,” Podolak said. “If it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen. If I’ve got to go through this every year, I don’t have to do it.”

However, Price says Podolak and his events are not being singled out, and the borough has considered a measure such as this for years.

“We’ve been having conversations way prior to this,” Price said. “The policy is not for his event, but for all events. This just happens to be one of the events.”