Brownsville to host concerts at wharf
BROWNSVILLE – The first of five summer concerts at the Brownsville Wharf Riverside Park will be held this Sunday, along with a reading and crafts program for children. The reading and crafts will begin at 1:30 p.m. for children 10 years old and younger as a continuation of the Brownsville Rotary Club’s Reading Around Town literacy program. Maria Fetock will lead the program.
“We hope to instill a love of reading in our children that will stay with them through their lives,” Fetock said.
Concert organizer John Detisch said the reading and crafts program will be oriented around the music.
“It’s tailored to the 10 and under group. To sit there and listen without something to do is sometimes difficult,” Detisch said. “We’re hoping to instill a love of reading and a love of music.”
The two-hour concert by the Music Unlimited Jazz Ensemble from Bentleyville will begin at 2 p.m. The band, composed mostly of junior and senior high school students supported by a few adult musicians, was started in 1997 by Ken Santoro, a longtime musician and educator.
“I’ve heard them a number of times. They play big band music and Brazilian jazz. They do a nice mix. They have quite a repertoire,” Detisch said.
The Brownsville Area Revitalization Corporation and the Pennsylvania Partnership in the Arts are sponsoring the concert.
Future concerts at the park include Alabaster on July 31 at 2 p.m. and the Mon Valley Community Band on Aug. 6 at 1:30 p.m., in conjunction with Brownsville Community Days. On Aug. 21 all musicians in the area are invited to come to the wharf with their instruments to play as part of the Southwest Community Band.
“It’s kind of a revival of the Tri-County Band,” Detisch said.
The season of outdoor concerts will close on Sunday, Sept. 11, with the Two Many Tubas band at 2 p.m.