Out & About

How do you host an art gallery reception in the time of pandemic gathering restrictions? With outdoor space and creative thinking, both of which are available at Greensburg Art Center. The Hempfield center opened its grounds and galleries on Aug. 15 to debut “Art Neighbors,” the second annual joint exhibition...

In a season of cancellations, Export’s annual Ethnic Food & Music Festival is sticking to its guns and will go on this weekend. The event is set for noon to 9 p.m. Saturday along Washington Avenue. Councilwoman Melanie Litz said the relatively small size of both the borough and festival...

The pandemic actually provided the Loyalhanna Watershed Association with an opportunity to expand its fifth annual Farm-to-Table Harvest Dinner. Previous dinners have been sit-down affairs in the barn on the association’s hillside property in Ligonier Township, with food prepared by one vendor from the Ligonier Country Market. Because of the...

Latrobe Art Center hosted its annual lamb dinner fundraiser on July 26 at Jamison Farm in Unity. Seeing guests arriving in masks reminded farm owner John Jamison of a bit of family folklore. With Prohibition on the horizon in 1918, Jamison’s grandfather, J.C. Jamison Jr., and a partner “decided to...

While a final decision has not been made yet, organizers for the annual Apple ’n Arts Festival are considering paring it back to an apple cider drive-thru this year due to the covid-19 pandemic and the ever-evolving health and safety guidelines associated with it. Festival officials on Tuesday night laid...

Calling it a “Destination Elopement Close to Home,” the National Aviary is opening up its newly renovated tropical rain forest room for small weddings featuring a waterfall, lush greenery and a few extra guests — the resident birds. “Couples with summer wedding plans interrupted by Coronavirus can still have an...

The Greensburg Garden Center’s butterfly garden is now open for the season, even though caretakers have yet to see many of the delicate lepidopterans flutter by. At a Thursday reception in the garden, members said they’ve seen one or two, but they’re working to make the premises more welcoming as...

In anticipation of reopening to the public, the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art at Ligonier Valley invited area artists to a plein air painting session Wednesday. Fortunately, lowering clouds and a few rain drops gave way to sun as artists set up easels on the wide back lawn, under shady...

The Northern Snakehead fish, an aggressive invasive species that displaces local fish, has moved deeper into Pennsylvania’s lower Susquehanna River outside of Lancaster. The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) issued a statement Friday urging anglers to report and kill any invasive Northern Snakehead caught in the lower Susquehanna River....

As event cancellations mounted, driven by coronavirus concerns, leaders of the Greensburg-Jeannette NAACP forged ahead with the organization’s Annual NAACP Prayer Breakfast. The event, held March 14 in the Ramada by Wyndham Greensburg Hotel and Conference Center, carried this heartening theme: “Prayer: Your Weapon of Warfare.” Conveying the message was...

The Pittsburgh Home & Garden Show has been canceled as a result of coronavirus concerns. Officials said the event, which started March 6 and was scheduled to run through Sunday at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, was halted in response to guidelines issued by the Allegheny County Health Department....

They say laughter is the best medicine. The Mayo Clinic confirms it, noting on its website that laughter benefits internal organs by upping oxygen intake, lessens tension and stress, relieves pain and boosts the immune system. That being the case, about 300 people left the Youngwood Fire Hall on March...

Prom is an occasion for high schoolers to make memories that last a lifetime. On March 6, the Westmoreland County Blind Association provided an opportunity for reliving those memories and making some new ones with its A Night to Remember … Adult Prom. Held at Rizzo’s Banquet Hall in Crabtree,...

Did you know that the male equivalent of the Roaring 20s flapper was called a sheik? Well, now you do. A century later, some 2020 sheiks and flappers drove their flivvers to Ferrante’s Lakeview in Hempfield on March 7 for a Roaring 20s Retro Dinner/Dance to benefit the Westmoreland County...

A group of distinguished high school students and their guests heard a message titled, “Believe, Succeed, Dream,” during the annual African American High School Achievement Awards Ceremony and Reception, held Feb. 25 in the impressive new Student Achievement Center on the Westmoreland County Community College Youngwood campus. Guest speaker Adriel...

The mouth-watering menu included hickory smoked pork with barbecue sauce, fried chicken wings, jambalaya, catfish, mac and cheese, collard greens and more, but the Feb. 27 Soul Food Dinner at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg was more than just good eats. The annual dinner was an opportunity for members...