Our visitors from Scottdale and the Pennsylvania Downtown Center (PDC)

OUR VISITORS FROM SCOTTDALE

A couple of weeks ago, the Monongahela Main Street Program hosted an entourage of four visitors from Scottdale, Westmoreland County. The four are involved in the leadership of the Scottdale Historical Society, and they decided to form a committee to discuss how to revitalize their downtown and preserve some of the historic buildings in the Scottdale business district.

The idea for the tour came from Tom Zierzelewski, the past president of the Society and co-author of “Around Scottdale and Everson,” Scottdale’s Arcadia Press history and photos book. Tom worked for a brief period in Monongahela about 45 years ago as the manager of Monongahela Furniture (where Chloe & Me Candles is now, including all the apartment space directly behind it – it was a 4-story operation with an elevator, and the Chloe & Me space was the display window). The group also included Aaron Hollis, who works in the administration at West Overton Museums. Aaron and I have known each other for about eight years from, having attended heritage seminars in Washington, Pa., a couple of years in a row, where Walter Seal and I represented the Monongahela Main Street Program. I had asked for Aaron’s help with the Historic Barn and Farm Foundation of Pennsylvania (of which I’m a board member) when that statewide group toured West Overton and the farms and barns of the Youghiogheny Valley and the Rt.31 corridor two years ago. Tom and Aaron had been part of a strategy meeting to discuss Scottdale’s downtown with Lindy House and her husband, Matt. Lindy is the recently elected new president of the Scottdale Historical Society and has just recently launched a campaign to run for mayor now that the old mayor is retiring. At the strategy meeting, Tom had said something like, “I was driving through Monongahela the other day- everything seems to be doing very well there. We should go and find out what’s going on over there.” Aaron said, “I know just the person to ask,” since he’s been in contact with me on and off over the years. And thus the idea for a tour of Monongahela was born.

The five of us met at Little City Coffee and discussed how Main Street Programs work. I also pointed out some of our many unique assets, such as about 35 other organizations that hold events in our Downtown, our Chamber, our Farmers’ Market, Chess Park, the Aquatorium, the United Methodist Bells, our beautiful cemetery, and so forth. I showed some online images of Angelo’s II with all the decorations up and the Aquatorium during the Six Gun Sally concert when someone was flyboarding there over the 49 yachts that had shown up on the river side of the stage (that’s an image I love to show because it shatters so many prejudicial assumptions about the Mon Valley as a whole). After discussing these things at length, we walked over to Noel’s Primitive Shop and Gifts to meet with the Monongahela Main Street Program president, Karen Langol. From there, we proceeded to Uncommonly Beautiful, where the visitors introduced themselves to MMSP board member Bonnie Brand. We also visited C.J.’s Furniture, LLC, another Monongahela Main Street Program member, then started back down West Main Street. However, I also pointed out some places we didn’t stop at, such as Santa’s Secret Shoppe, Chaney’s Natural, Monongahela Heritage Church at Historic St. Paul’s, Crall’s Flowers, Main Street Barber and Supply, and the Joseph Parkison mural there, plus The Drunken Hippie, and the offices of Dr. Randall Rodriguez where I explained about the project we did to restore the words “TIMES BUILDING.”

We looked in the window at Mon City Smoke Shop, Industrial Farmhouse Living, Mon City Restaurant Deli, and Chloe & Me Candles. And we stepped inside to warm up at the City Mission Thrift Store (boy, was it ever cold out that day just a couple of weeks ago!). We saw Sambol’s Bakery, the blue-wave-pattern walkway at the MVA (Mon Valley Alliance), Luxaria Hair Studio, and several other points of interest at the local places of business, and we dropped by Sweets by Mrs. C to talk to MMSP member Heidi Hoffman. We also went by Dusty Attic and Dusty’s Discounts, and we dropped in at Rabe’s Trading Post and had an excellent end-of-day conversation with owner Mark Rabe. From there, we looked in the window at Wool and Wick and Angel’s Secret Flowers and dropped in at DeVore Hardware, where we had a great conversation with Don DeVore about small businesses and old-time shops like this one. At that point, it was after 5 PM, and the group had to leave. I advised them to read up on Main Street Programs and to contact Bill Arrowood, our staff field representative at the Pennsylvania Downtown Center (i.e., I gave them homework!). I agreed to come to Scottdale and make a reciprocal visit after they’ve had time to work on the assignments. Best wishes, Lindy House in your mayoral campaign. And to Tom, Aaron, and Matt: I hope to see all of you again soon.

SPEAKING OF…

So, there’s Bill Arrowood, our field representative at the Pennsylvania Downtown Center (PDC), of which we’ve been a member for about eight years. Bill came on the PDC staff about two years ago. Up to that point, we had paid our dues annually and attended the three meetings they have each year for staff and board members, but we had not seen anyone visiting here except one time in 2015 before we had even joined, i.e., before we started paying the dues. But the National Main Street Center (for which the PDC is Pennsylvania’s “State Coordinating Agency”) now wants to make sure that the state group visits here at least annually.

As soon as Bill took the job, he made it his business to visit all these small communities and their historic Main Street-type downtowns that dot the map of Pennsylvania, the state with the most or second most local municipalities (which is saying something since there are about 2,500 of them and Bill lives in South Philadelphia). Bill has been here at least four times and has dined in four of our restaurants. About six weeks ago, he met me at Lenzi’s for a late lunch. I told him in advance that the food was really good and that the portions were unbelievably huge. We were really enjoying our meal and conversation, except that every time something was brought out from the kitchen to a neighboring diner’s table, it seemed to be even larger than the last time the waitress had gone by. Each time, the conversation would stop and Bill would look up and cry out in exclamation bringing warm smiles to the faces of those around us. I won’t quote his exclamations here, as some of them might have been a little too spicy for a family FB page, but I’m sure you get the picture. Thank you Bill for coming to visit our Downtown!