Connellsville tour sites highlight art, history and gardens

The Connellsville Area Garden Club will share the city’s highlights with visitors during its Connellsville Art, History and Garden Tour.

Suitable for driving or cycling, the go-at-your-own-pace tour is set for 9 a.m.-2 p.m. June 29.

The tour will feature five public art spaces, such as Coke to Spokes, the Youghiogheny Glass Arch and several murals. Of particular note, says tour co-chairwoman Linda Galiardi, is a mural by local artist Sheree Cockrell on the exterior of the Molinaro Law Offices.

Historical sites include the reconstructed Crawford’s Cabin, the humble home of early settler (and friend of George Washington) Col. William Crawford, which dates to 1766. Also featured is the grotto at St. Rita Church, built from Youghiogheny River stone by parishioners beginning in 1932.

Connellsville Area Historical Society will present the gardens at its headquarters, the historic Gibson House that dates to 1818.

Tour-goers also will see six backyard gardens — including fairy, woodland and Monarch butterfly/pollinator gardens — along with spaces in Cameron Park and Veterans Plaza that are tended by the garden club.

Galiardi says the tour brochure also suggests six “drive-by” areas of interest, including a set of city steps painted by a local teacher and her students.

The $25 tour ticket includes a buffet lunch at Keedy’s Pizzeria in Connellsville. Lunch seatings are scheduled for 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.

For tickets, call Galiardi at 724-628-1124.