Uniontown to host arts festival
Downtown Uniontown will host an arts festival the day before the 84 Lumber Classic kicks off at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort and Spa, and some city businesses are hoping that people attending the PGA event will spend some time in town. The Downtown Uniontown Business District Authority (DBDA) is closing Main Street from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday for its free “Arts in the City” festival, featuring more than 40 artists, craft makers and a variety of entertainment.
“Over 40 artists will display their art and we’ll have music through the day,” DBDA Chairman Mark Rafail said. “We’re looking forward to a large turnout.”
The artists will be set up in tents lined up between Gallatin Avenue and Morgantown Street.
Painters, sculptors, jewelry makers, blacksmiths, coppersmiths, silversmiths, weavers, photographers and stained glass artists will be among the exhibitors.
Brian Edward Leach, art curator at Nemacolin Woodlands, will display some of the Hardy family art collection.
Entertainers performing at Storey Square include DeAnna Dawn Denning, 18th century music by Shillingworth, Tom Pipak, pianist Jace Erjavek and the Harold Betters Trio. There will be face painting, spin art and other activities for children, and local restaurants will sell food and refreshments.
City restaurateurs hope to benefit from the 84 Lumber Classic, which starts with a pro-am on Monday.
Chef Joe Carei, owner of Caileigh’s restaurant on East Fayette Street, said he prepares samples of his dishes for staff at hotels, motels and bed and breakfasts so they can recommend his restaurant to their guests.
He does the same thing for staff and tourist destinations like Kentuk Knob and Fallingwater so they can steer visitors his way.
The PGA and tourist attractions are vital to his restaurant, which he relocated from Brownsville five years ago.
“We do a blanket coverage of all the B and Bs and hotels. We make food tastings for Nemacolin, Fallingwater and Kentuck Knob. They’re the front line people,” Carei said.
He said people who attend the golf tournament and look for restaurants will find his place, but from there it is up to him, his staff and food to get them to come back. “Sixty to 70 percent of our business in the summer is tourists – rafting, biking, Fallingwater, people from New York, New Jersey, Maryland and D.C. The ultimate thing we’re trying to sell them is to get them back here. The PGA event is a great event to do that,” Carei said. “Tourism is the county’s largest business. People aren’t flying to Europe. They’re coming to the Laurel Highlands. This is what they’re choosing now. The PGA event is just an exclamation point on that.”
Muriel Nuttall, executive director of the Fayette Chamber of Commerce, said her office mails thousands of packets with brochures about local restaurants and hotels every year to tourists who call seeking information for trips to the area. “We’ve sent out a lot of tourist packets over the last couple months,” Nuttall said. “A couple thousand every year anyway.”
She said people begin calling about the information in May, but the inquiries surge when major events like the PGA tour and Mount St. Macrina’s annual pilgrimage draw near.
“We mail it, email it, fax it. Whatever we can do to bring people in,” she said.
Many people who attend the tournament visit the chamber office on Main Street, so it stocks up on its supply of books about local history. With some new editions this year, Nuttall said there are 15 to 20 different books by local authors for sale in the office.
Steve Neubauer of Neubauer’s Flowers, the official florist for the tournament, tries to capitalize on the exposure his business receives at the tournament.
He said the arrangements and other items he uses to decorate the golf course and hospitality area may be purchased at the store, which he also stocks for Christmas in hopes of making some pre-season sales.
Even though he will be busy at the classic, the store is open during the event. Delivery and other regular services also remain available, he said.
Neubauer said word about Uniontown’s revitalization efforts has spread around the country, and he believes people who go to the golf tour will want to take a look at the city.
“I personally believe we’re going to have more people downtown this year than we did last year. Downtown Uniontown has received national attention,” he said.