• June 12—Lou Stein
• June 19—Whiskey River Panhandlers
• July 10—Jazz In Your Face
• July 31—Lou Stein
• August 14—Rachel & John
• August 21—Jazz in Your Face

Anyone that has experienced these outdoor concerts will tell you that these performances are a great way to spend a summer evening. Concertgoers are welcome to sit on the park benches or to bring a blanket or lawn chairs. Admission is free.

Click here for a map to Central Park, downtown Johnstown, PA.

The 5th Annual Roxbury Bandshell Summer Concert Series kicks off this Sunday, May 30th with an afternoon full of events. The 54th PA Volunteer Infantry and Civilian re-enactors will be on-site to perform Civil War re-enactments, which will start at noon and occur throughout the day between music sets. Music schedule for Sunday is as follows:

•    1:00 pm Lou Stein
•    3:00 pm Hard Rok, Koko, and Joe
•    5:00 pm Ole ‘97

Concerts for this season will be held on Sundays, May 30, 2010 through September 12, 2010. Music for every taste has been scheduled—rock, polka, jazz, country and more! For a complete list of this year’s line-up, visit the “Calendar of Events” page of the Roxbury Bandshell Web site.

Admission is free, but donations are accepted. All proceeds benefit the Roxbury Bandshell Preservation Alliance and are used for renovations and upkeep of the bandshell. Concertgoers are asked to bring their own seating and are permitted to bring a picnic lunch. Food is also available for purchase from Holy Cross National Catholic Church.

The Roxbury Bandshell is located in Roxbury Park at 1430 Franklin Street in Johnstown (click here for a map).

It’s once again time for car and bike enthusiasts to bring out their rides. And an old fashioned car cruise-in is just the right setting for car lovers and entertainment seekers to come out and enjoy the sight of rows of classic cars in the warm weather. Add in live music and food, and you’ve got a fun evening for all ages. Windber Friday Night Cruise Ins will offer this opportunity to the community all summer.

Windber Friday Night Cruise Ins will be taking place in downtown Windber select Fridays this summer, starting May 14 and ending August 27. Local vendors will supply food and a live band will perform at the Miner’s Park gazebo each week from 6PM to 9PM.

This is the second year for the event, which brings family-friendly liveliness to Friday nights in Windber. “Windber Friday Night Cruise Ins give you a chance to show off your ride or just come hang out with friends, relax and remember the good old days,” says organizer James Spinos.

Visit the Windber Friday Night Cruise Ins Facebook page for more information.

You may associate vampires with Halloween alone (or perhaps a certain box office franchise), but this May, the fanged creatures of the night will be headed to Windber for the second annual Draculacon. The event’s lineup consists of authors, actors, music, films, and more, all brought into town with the goal of creating a day (and night) of dark delights.

“Draculacon is an investment in enchantment and romance… it’s a very undefined celebration,” explains host Blair Murphy.

Special guests of the event include actor Butch Patrick (Eddie Munster on the television show The Munsters), musician David J., and author Rosemary Ellen Guiley (author of Vampires, Werewolves, and Other Monsters). The stage will also feature the premier screening of SCARED! The Grand Midway Hotel, which follows a team of ghost hunters in their investigation of Windber’s own mysterious landmark. Additional events include a burlesque show and a costume contest.

Draculacon will take on May 8, 2010, from 1:00 PM to 10:30 PM at the Arcadia Theater in Windber. Tickets are available for purchase online through Draculacon.com. More information and a full list of guests can be found at the site as well.

From 6:00PM to 10:00PM this New Year’s Eve (December 31, 2009) revelers will be treated to free entertainment, festive surroundings, and food and refreshments from several downtown churches and the Cambria County Library.

Throughout the evening carriage rides will provide the public with a classic tour of our downtown streets. The evening will cap off with a fireworks display scheduled to begin at 9:45PM.

Venues and scheduled entertainment are:

First Presbyterian Church
309 Lincoln Street (click here for a map)

• 6:00PM to 7:30PM—Jazz in Your Face
• 8:00PM to 9:30PM—Whiskey River Panhandlers

Cambria County Library
248 Main Street (click here for a map)

• 6:00PM to 8:00PM—Classic Clowns
• 6:00PM to 7:30PM—Kulani (drumming, African dance)
• 6:30PM to 7:30PM—Storytelling
• 8:00PM to 8:45PM—Sherry Lynn ballroom dancing
• 8:00PM to 9:00PM—Magician John Robertson

St. Mark’s Episcopal Church
335 Locust Street (click here for a map)

• 6:00PM to 7:00PM—Vivace Piano Trio
• 6:00PM to 7:30PM—Southside Strays
• 7:00PM to 8:00PM—Rodoljub (Croatian Educational Singing Society)
• 7:30PM to 8:30PM—Bo Moore
• 8:30PM to 9:30PM—Jennifer Drummey
• 8:30PM to 9:30PM—Magician Bob Beatty

Franklin Street United Methodist Church
510 Locust Street (click here for a map)

• 6:00PM to 7:00PM—Puppet show
• 6:00PM to 8:00PM—Bill Venet and the Cash Review
• 7:00PM to 8:00PM—New Mercies
• 8:30PM to 9:30PM—Church praise band

We at Do Johnstown! wish all of you the very best in the coming year and look forward to celebrating with you at this wonderful Johnstown custom. Happy New Year!

When the Christmas season is ushered into Johnstown, PA, it is met with the dance and pageantry that can only come from the Johnstown Concert Ballet. This Friday and Saturday (December 4th and 5th, 2009) the city’s own ballet company will stage the annual production of the holiday favorite, Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker” at the Pasquerilla Performing Arts Center (click here for a map).

The performance includes a troupe of well over 100 performers, as well as a small army of volunteers—most of which are found right in the Johnstown area. As the premier production on the Johnstown Concert Ballet’s calendar, this event features the most dedicated dancers in our region. “The production company is comprised of our most talented students”, says Carla Prucnal, Artistic Director. “The average length of training for these dancers is 10-15 years, and many of these dancers go on to professional performance careers.”

While the Johnstown Ballet Company has a full calendar throughout the year, this annual performance is the anchor for the ballet company. Says Ms. Prucnal, “we feel that “The Nutcracker” is the proper kind of production for the holidays. There are so many beautiful scenes, and you’re giving the right lessons to children—that there is good and evil and that good can triumph over evil.”

Following this weekend’s performances, Johnstowners have ample opportunity to experience the ballet company. They will be performing with the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra on December 12, 2009 and also the following weekend for an Advent piece at St. John of Gualbert, Johnstown, PA (click here for a map).

In addition to full productions, the public can expect other appearances the Johnstown Ballet Company that include performances at the Bottleworks, the Flood Museum, the Log Cabin Arts Center and the Dale Arts Center. In fact, Ms. Prucnal reports that work on the spring production has already started, “but the title is a secret until after the nutcracker ballet.”

Performances of “The Nutcracker” are Friday, December 4th, 2009 at 7:30PM and Saturday, December 5th, 2009 at 2:00PM and 7:30PM. Tickets are $9.00 for seniors and children and $12.00 for adults. For additional details, contact the Pasquerilla Performing Arts Center box office by calling (814) 269-7200 or (800) 846-2787.

All three performances are typically sold out, so it is recommended that you reserve your seats now and make this holiday tradition a part of your family’s own.

The gallery, located at 155 Village Street in Johnstown’s Moxham neighborhood (click here for a map), is a core part of the city’s cultural scene. The facility houses changing collections of artwork by artists with a common thread—all works displayed are by Johnstown-area artists. “There are other places in town where people can see artwork from across the world,” says Mr. DiStefano. “I wanted to create a place for Johnstown artists to show their work; to give them an audience and to show that we really value what they do.”

An ambition of Satori Gallery is to be more than simply an art gallery—but to be an art awareness venue. To this end the site is regularly the location for performance pieces, readings and theatric productions, including regularly staging acts from “Theater Matters” and “(un)Apologetic Productions”, two Johnstown-based theatre companies.

The coming year will see a full slate of activity at the gallery, with themed art shows, productions and a repeat of this past summer’s street festival. Notable events begin taking place in December. This includes a collective art show where artists create an original work around the theme of “Satori” (“satori” is a Buddhist term meaning “moment of enlightenment”). December will also see four stagings of “Santaland Diaries”, an adaptation of the essay by humorist David Sedaris. For additional details, see our “Calendar of Events”.

Satori Gallery is open to the public each week Tuesday through Thursday from 4:00PM-8:00PM. During these hours the gallery also serves as a music studio, where Mr. DiStefano teaches music lessons.

Official online presences for Satori Gallery include:

• MySpace
• Facebook

Local artists interested in showing their works at Satori Gallery should contact Mr. DiStefano by calling (814) 659-1180 or emailing satorigallery (-at-) gmail.com.

The Johnstown Symphony Orchestra’s annual concert series consists of seven concerts between the months of October and May, with additional performances each year including an annual fundraising Opera Festival, a Mother’s Day concert, a Young Peoples Concert aimed towards the area’s 5th Grade students, and several choral concerts. For this year’s complete schedule, visit the concert schedule page on the JSO Web site.

“If you were to go across the country to communities the size of Johnstown, finding a symphony orchestra this caliber would be rare,” says Patricia Hofscher, Executive Director of the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra. “There is a magic that takes ahold in this orchestra on concert night. They are just outstanding.”

Founded in 1929, the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra has been delighting music lovers for generations with performances of the works of Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Bach, Mozart and so many more masters from the classical genre. “Unique to our orchestra is the fact that it grew out of a lot of smaller theatre orchestras from the Johnstown area,” Pat says. “In fact, the Johnstown Ironworks brought workers to the area specifically because they were musicians. These families have since played in the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra generation after generation.”

This year’s performances will be under the direction of Maestro Istvan Jaray, who has been the symphony’s conductor since coming to Johnstown as a guest conductor in 1984.

Regular season concerts begin at 7:30PM are held at the Pasquerilla Performing Arts Center at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown (click here for a map). Tickets are available from the JSO Web site and by calling 814.535.6738.

Pat would like everyone in the Johnstown region to understand that the symphony is nothing to be afraid of. “These concerts are not stuffy. Just sit back and listen to the music and it will send a message without words.”

Learn more by visiting the official Web site of the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra.

Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, the Ethnic Festival continues to delight residents of and visitors to the Johnstown-area by providing traditional ethnic food prepared by local churches and free concerts by a wide-range of bands. “There will be copious amounts of food,” says Paul Kushner, Festival Committee Chairman for Holy Cross Lutheran Church, one of the participating churches.

Scheduled to run this year from Friday, September 4th through Sunday, September 6th and affectionately referred to as “Ethnicfest”, the heritage festival is the outcome of the hard work of local churches, their parishioners and other local volunteers and local organizations. The event limits Chestnut Street exclusively to pedestrian traffic and encourages attendees to further their knowledge of the historical significance of this part of the city by hosting tours of the area churches on Saturday and Sunday, from 1:00-7:00PM. “We’ll have ambassadors on hand to guide tours of the structure and sanctuary, and we have prepared an accompanying pamphlet with historical information,” says Mr. Kushner.

Churches participating in this year’s festival are the newly-formed Resurrection Parish, Holy Cross Lutheran Church, St. Mary’s Byzantine Catholic Church and Visitation Church. Each will prepare a mountain of ethnic food for the enjoyment of festival-goers. “Our parish has prepared 9,000 stuffed cabbage, 2 tons of haluski, and over 30,000 perogies,” says Monsignor Raymond Balta, Pastor of St. Mary’s Byzantine Catholic Church.

The weekend will be long on entertainment, with more than 40 live performances (both music and dance) scheduled at participating churches, Ace’s Lounge and the Bottleworks. Other highlights of the weekend include a polka mass, East European dancers, and a special ceremony to honor the public safety personnel that served during the September 11th attacks on America. For a full schedule of events, visit the Calendar area Cambria City Ethnic Festival Web site.

For this one weekend every year, all of Cambria City transforms into a family reunion, reports Monsignor Balta. “It’s really become a homecoming event. People look forward to coming to Cambria City on Labor Day weekend and getting the ethnic food like their mothers and grandmothers made. It gives them a chance to reminisce with friends and family.”

To learn more, visit the Cambria City Ethnic Festival Web site or view the official page on Facebook.

The Cambria City Ethnic Festival is held along Chestnut Street in Johnstown, PA’s Cambria City neighborhood (click here for a map).

Photograph courtesy of Shawn Schmalz

709 Railroad Street is both the name and location of one of Johnstown, PA’s most unique entertainment venues. Located on the edge of downtown Johnstown, the establishment is part music club, part art gallery, part community gathering area.

The mainstay of the facility is live music performances, featuring original music from artists in the Punk, Indie, Hardcore and, occasionally, Metal genres. Averaging a show each week, the location draws acts from near and far.

Typically, shows feature as many as five or six bands performing in a single evening. All shows are all-ages and generally end around 10:00PM, providing teens and young adults with a terrific entertainment opportunity.

709 Railroad Street is part of an East Coast touring route that caters to bands of similar style (punk, hardcore, etc.). Being a part of this network of approximately 50 stops between New England and Florida brings a wide-selection of bands for area residents to enjoy.

Founded and managed by a collective of area artists and musicians, 709 Railroad Street provides an ideal opportunity for young creatives to showcase their art. A key part of the facility is, in fact, its art gallery, which features a new art opening quarterly. “Johnstown is a great place to live inexpensively and have time to focus on your art,” says Promoter/Musician Mikey D’Angelo. “Plus, there is a great creative network here to support you.”

According to Mr. D’Angelo, since opening in August 2007 the venue has hosted the premier of 125 artistic offerings, including art collections, books, CD releases, art performances and film screenings.

The common area of 709 Railroad Street speaks to the community ideal of the collective. Furnished for comfortable socializing, the atmosphere is relaxed and friendly and includes a community library that features classic literature, do-it-yourself books, and volumes on art and design.

709 Railroad Street events are always listed in the Do Johnstown! calendar and select photos are available at the Do Johnstown! Flickr photostream.

Bands wishing to perform at the venue can contact promoters by emailing bands_709 (-at-) yahoo.com.

Artists interested in scheduling a showing of their wares should contact Jacob Koestler, Art Curator, by emailing art_709 (-at-) yahoo.com.

Official online presences for 709 Railroad Street include:

• MySpace
• Facebook
• My Idea of Fun
• Vocal Youth

709 Railroad Street is located at (surprise, surprise!) 709 Rail Street, Johnstown, PA (click here for a map).