Anne's Arts & Activities Blog

In celebration of Earth Day (April 22), and in conjunction with The Great American Cleanup of Pennsylvania, Project Pride residents, and community volunteers will be cleaning up litter in the Elm Street Project Pride area. The event will run from 10 am until 1 pm on Saturday April 24th. This effort is to remove litter and trash from the Project Pride/Elm Street Neighborhood bordered by Bennett Street, Charlotte Avenue, School Street, and Barbour Street as well as Main Street. This is not a bulk homeowner or household waste cleanup, but a concentrated effort to remove litter and trash from the Elm Street Project Pride area and downtown. Grace Lutheran Community Life Center, 79 Mechanic Street, will serve as cleanup headquarters and provide an area for cleanup participants to take a break, grab a light snack and pick up gloves, vests and trash bags. “This event is a product of our Elm Street Safe, Clean, and Green Committee and the major goal is to encourage community building through p...

By ANNE HOLLIDAY WESB/WBRR News Director A problem that's getting to be unbearable was discussed during Tuesday's Bradford City Council meeting. Vista Circle resident Brad Mangel told council a bear cub was in his neighborhood at 1:30 in the afternoon. He said he knows other parts of the city are having problems, too, but his main concern is children in the neighborhood, and its proximity to Bradford Area High School. "School's going to start," he said. "You don't want bears in the neighborhood at that time." He added that he doesn't normally "like to pick on government agencies, but I don't depend too much on the game commission." Mayor Tom Riel mentioned the hoops people often have to go through to contact the game commission. "They make it a cumbersome task to get a hold of them," he said. And even the mayor isn't immune to the bear problem. He said that recently he was working on his computer at his house and turne...

Bradford City Police Officers Chris Lucco and Steve Green show some of their gear to people during National Night Out activities Tuesday. Emily Marshall entertained the crowd in Veterans Square, which included the delightful Hatcher family (minus Josh). These kids enjoy the giant slide at the Kids Carnival sponsored by the First United Methodist Church and the YMCA. Elm Street Manager Lisa Campogiani took time to pose with daughter Gabby and doggie before the pet parade. Ginny Hauser had her hands full with her (and husband Chris's) dogs so she got help from "aunt" Mary Anne Polucci-Sherman. Jay Monti and Blou were grand marshals for the parade. Heidi Mackowski and Tony Danias of the McKean County SPCA also participated, as did many other dogs. Linda Newman made sure her husband Dave got something to eat from Taste of Bradford in Veterans Square before he headed off to the pet parade.

Chief Michael Close, Lisa Campogiani and the Bradford National Night Out Committee members encourage residents to spend the evening of August 4, 2009 out and about with your fellow neighbors in recognition of the 26th annual National Night Out. Sponsored by the National Association of Town Watch (NATW), National Night Out (NNO) was conceived with the aim of empowering community residents, and as a unique tool against criminal and drug activity. Along with traditional displays of outdoor lights and front porch vigils celebrations of National Night Out also features activities such as block parties, cookouts, parades, flashlight walks, exhibits, contests, youth programs and visits from local police departments. Goals of National Night Out include creating a heightened awareness of crime and drug prevention efforts, as well strengthening neighborhood spirit. NNO 2008 involved 37 million people in 15,449 communities from all 50 states, U.S. territories, Canadian cities, and military base...

Toucan Jam (above) performs in the Veterans Square gazebo during Lunch in the Sqaure Wednesday. At left, Bradford Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Diane Sheeley chats with Terri and Bill Leven. Diane also chatted with me on LiveLine, which Scott Douglas and I (and intern Kevin Clark) did from Veterans Square. Becky Plummer from the Chamber, Main Street Manager Anita Dolan and Elm Street Manager Lisa Campogiani also stopped by to chat. All the cool people were there!

Johnstown, Pa. – The City of Bradford’s Elm Street program was presented with an Honorable Mention award in the category of Community Greening for its Project Pride Community Garden at Pennsylvania Downtown Center’s (PDC) annual statewide Townie Awards gala. The Townie Awards are a festive and venerable tradition designed to recognize the commonwealth’s core communities and individuals for creation and implementation of programming and events that exemplify the goals of PDC’s community revitalization mission. All of Pennsylvania Downtown Center’s 270 member organizations are eligible to win, making the Townies a competitive award process each year. “Bradford Elm Street’s Project Pride Community Garden should be applauded at many levels, but most especially for sparking involvement by the young people of Bradford in the community revitalization effort,” said Bill Fontana, PDC’s executive director. “With this project we were able to engage so many individuals and groups that had never b...

Nearly sixty volunteers came out to pick up litter and participate in the third annual Project Pride Clean up. Neighborhood residents, members of Bradford City police, fire and public works departments, the Parks Department and City Council all worked side by side cleaning up Bradford’s Project Pride Neighborhood and the Historic District. A citywide tire collection was also part of this year’s event. The tire crew was able to collect one thousand tires, saving residents $5,000.00. Enough tires were collected to fill an entire tractor trailer supplied by Buffalo Fuel Corp in conjunction with Lakin Tire and Firestone. This is the third year that tires have been disposed of free of charge and it proved to be the largest net to date. This service is provided by national sponsors of Keep America Beautiful in an ongoing effort to remove and recycle discarded tires in communities across the country. “Each year we find more and more tires as part of our effort. It is amazing to see the n...