International Village will return

By JEFF STITT

jstitt@yourmvi.com

McKeesport intends to hold International Village and other traditional summer events this year, Mayor Michael Cherepko announced at Wednesday’s council meeting.

“The goal of the City of McKeesport is to have the summer events take place,” Cherepko said. “I have no intentions of closing or not holding our summer concerts in the parks. I think we can do it safely through vaccinations, through masks, through social distancing.”

Although concerts were canceled in 2020 due to pandemic restrictions and precautions, the city typically partners with the McKeesport Lions Club to attract thousands of music lovers to the city. 

Together, the city and the club host summer concerts at the amphitheater at Renziehausen Park, which is at the corner of Jimmy Beaumont Boulevard (Tulip Drive) and Eden Park Boulevard. 

“Our goal is to have concerts in the park,” Cherepko said. “Our goal is to have International Village. Our goal is to have the Rib Fest over Labor Day weekend and pretty much everything else that goes on in our summer months.”

The city’s Rib Fest, which is coupled with a series of Labor Day weekend concerts, was canceled in 2020 as a result of pandemic restrictions, as was International Village, one of the largest ethnic food and dance festivals in Western Pennsylvania. It was the first time in the festival’s 60-year history that it was canceled.

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