It's time again to celebrate Greensburg's Summer in the City
Jun. 22—After an absence of several years, Greensburg's Summer in the City festival is set to return this week.
The four-day festival that draws people to downtown Greensburg and highlights local businesses and restaurants runs from Thursday through Sunday. The event is hosted by the Greensburg Businesses & Professional Association, the Greensburg Community Development Corporation and The Downtown Greensburg Project.
"We're looking forward to bringing back some excitement to the city and a chance for everyone to get out and back to normal," said Amy Beeghly, of Beeghly & Co. Jewelers and president of the Greensburg Businesses & Professional Association.
The event begins Thursday at 5:30 p.m. with the Greensburg Night Market, which runs until 9 p.m., where up to 45 vendors will set up along South Pennsylvania Avenue behind the Westmoreland County Courthouse. Local businesses will extend their hours until 8 p.m. and will offer sidewalk sales in conjunction with the market.
Greensburg-based performance group Stage Right will start Friday's events at 5 p.m. at the Pitt & Penn parking lot on South Pennsylvania Avenue, and will be followed by Darryl & Kim, a Pittsburgh-based vocal group, who will perform from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Starting at 5:30 p.m. an ice cream social will take place featuring items from Main Street Sweets, which opened along North Main Street on Memorial Day, and McFeely's Gourmet Chocolate. Local artist Faerie Grace will perform balloon twist entertainment, raffles, a 50/50 drawing and a dunking booth featuring several locals.
Events on Saturday include a pet parade, starting at Petagogy at 10:30 a.m. The parade will end at the Pitt & Penn parking lot, where there will be pools for the animals, a photo booth and a tie-dye station for pet bandanas.
Starting at 11 a.m., entertainment will include Faerie Grace, airbrush tattoos by Sweet Pea Entertainers, caricatures and The Great Gem Dig, sponsored by Beeghly & Co. Jewelers. Starting at noon, Stage Right will present a princess performance. The dunking booth will also return, as well as a street drawing contest sponsored by Green Beacon Gallery.
Saturday's event will end at 5 p.m.
From 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., a Sunday Funday Block Party sponsored by the Downtown Greensburg Project and Green Beacon will kick off featuring food and yard games. The party will take place at the WIB Albright Lot, 235 W. Pittsburgh St. Food trucks including Just Roll'd Up, Midwest Smoki'n BBQ and Elegant Catering will be at the event.
Bands and musical performances like Josh Jams and Bad Dog Revolution will also perform during the block party.
All activities throughout the four-day event are free.
"I think it's going to be really fun," said Jessica Hickey, founder of the Downtown Greensburg Project. "Last summer was really crazy ... so it's going to be nice to kind of reintroduce the community to businesses in the town and bring people out."
A full schedule can be found on the Greensburg Businesses & Professional Association's website, shopgreensburgpa.com; click on "Events."
Megan Tomasic is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Megan at 724-850-1203, mtomasic@triblive.com or via Twitter .
