PITTSTON – The calendar says it’s winter but Pittston City officials are gearing up for a full summer schedule of activities that will attract young and old to the downtown area.
Mary Kroptavich, City of Pittston’s Downtown coordinator, this week revealed a list of city events, including the Art Walk, Farmers Market, Movies at the Slope and, of course, the famous Pittston Tomato Festival in August.
Art e Fekts Gallery, the focal point of all things art in Pittston, is looking forward to 2020 after taking a winter hiatus in January. The gallery reopened the first week in February with a fresh coat of paint and new art on display.
“We decided to do a hiatus. When we opened last year, we rushed to open,” said Kroptavich, who also serves as the gallery’s director. “Having a year under our belt, we felt it would be a good time to re-evaluate the (artists’) contracts, get new inventory and clean up and paint the walls.”
Kroptavich noted, for 2020, the gallery will display works from 27 consignment artists and associate artists throughout the year, including four new artists.
Art e Fekts will have the first art show of the year from 6 to 9 p.m. March 12, featuring pastels by Joe Kluck.
“We plan on doing one showing a month beginning next month with Joe Kluck,” Kroptavich said. “We also hope to bring in artists that are not members of the gallery to do pop shows.”
The gallery’s website has been updated at www.artefektsgallery.com where viewers will find a list of display artists and upcoming events. For more information on the gallery, email director@artefektsgallery.com.
Downtown Pittston Partnership and Art e Fekts will host a spring gala May 9 at The Banks, formerly known as Cooper’s Restaurant.
“We are hoping to having 250 people with entertainment, food catered by Grico’s, a silent auction. Invitations will be sent out, as well, as it will be open to the public,” Kroptavich added. “It’s from 6 to 10 p.m. and proceeds will go towards art in the city, the Art e Fekts Gallery, as well as creating an art scholarship.”
The Slope Amphitheater will be utilized in full swing this year with 20 free movies being held all summer and into the fall.
The Slope is a 300-seat amphitheater located behind the Pittston Memorial Library with plenty of parking at the library as well as in the front of the library and down the driveway to the second tier of the Tomato Festival.
There will be 10 Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movies shown through the summer beginning Friday, May 8, with “Flying Down to Rio” (1933). Movies will start according to sunset times.
Some of the 10 other features include “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood,” “Little Women,” “Toy Story 4,” “Knives Out,” “The Addams Family,” “Abominable” and “Blinded by the Light.”
Once again, Pittston Popcorn will be on hand on movie nights, selling popcorn and beverages.
Last year’s experiment of extending the Art Walk by one month at the beginning of the schedule and one month at the end wasn’t successful, according to Kroptavich. April’s indoor event at the YMCA didn’t pan out as expected and the October Art Walk was dark too early in the evening and the weather was a bit chilly.
“The Art Walk will be held on the second Friday of each month with the first one on May 8,” Kroptavich said. “We will have one in June, July and September with the August Art Walk being held in conjunction with the Tomato Festival.”
Plans for entertainment during the Art Walks have not been finalized, according to Kroptavich.
The Farmers Market will be held ever Tuesday at the lower Tomato Fest lot, beginning July 7 and ending Nov. 24.
This year, look for the same farmers as in the past with new farmers participating.
“We’re looking at expanding the Farmers Market so we’re taking a good look at contracts,” Kroptavich said. “We’re also looking at expanding entertainment and possibly vendors; people can come and get their produce and do a little shopping while being entertained at the same time.”
The Petals to Progress program under the Downtown Pittston Partnership is looking for citizens to help plant flowers and pull weeds around the Art Loop Trail and Main Street to make it look presentable.
The late Jimmy Norris volunteered his time and money in planting flowers and watering them weekly along Main Street several years ago and downtown has missed his touch.
“The (Pittston City) facilities department now takes care of daffodils and they help with planting flowers around the Columbus statue,” Kroptavich said. “So this new committee will take care of flowers at parks and city hall, etc.”
Kroptavich is excited about the summer’s activities, thanking the mayor and the city council for having the foresight in bringing plenty of activities to Main Street.
“These things wouldn’t be happening if it wasn’t for the mayor and council seeing a need to have someone on Main Street full time,” Kroptavich said.
Since being named Main Street coordinator, Kroptavich has attended seminars and classes to help her become an official Main Street manager.
Once Kroptavich has her Main Street manager certification, Pittston will then be a nationally designed Main Street, along with hundreds of other towns and cities in the country.
“Being a designated Main Street will give us access to lot of information for the Main Street manager. It also puts us in a higher tier when the city or the Redevelopment Authority applies for any grants or funding; it opens the door to a lot of opportunities,” she added.
For as much as Kroptavich would love to see more retail downtown, she feels Pittston will never be the retail center it was leading up to the 1970s.
“The retail stores we have downtown are all doing well,” she admitted. “We have a lot of things happening in downtown Pittston like the YMCA, Leverage and the Salt Barre and we’re looking forward to a juice bar and micro brewery opening downtown.”
Kroptavich asks the pubic to reach out to her at mkroptavich@thecityofpittston.org. with ideas for downtown activities.
“I’m very excited to get committees up and to see where we can take Main Street, Pittston,” she concluded.
