Montour Trail-Letter

Volume 12, Issue 6

November/December, 2001

Labor Day weekend has special meaning for many Trail-ites. Allegheny County Rib Cook-off draws big crowds and happy volunteers over that four-day holiday and the Montour Trail faithful are in the thick of it. Each year for six or seven years running we staff the beer taps as our contribution to MYREC's (Mon-Yough Recreational Council) fundraising blast at South Park fairgrounds. MYREC, in turn, donates a stipend to the Trail ($4,500 this year), so both organizations benefit.

Pouring beer may seem like an odd way to spend a holiday, but 188 of us do it with gusto and many of us are repeaters for years running. Rib and chicken vendors, dessert and soft drink stands, T-shirt and novelty hawkers vie for the crowd's attention, to say nothing of ample beer spouts. All the while, the likes of The Temptations, Johnny Angel and the Halos, Sputzy and the Soul Providers, to name just a few, make themselves heard from ten-foot high speakers. You have to be there to see it and feel it!

The whole event has created a much-copied "industry" in this and other areas, but this event remains true to its founding concept. MYREC is a non-profit effort to provide free summertime entertainment in McKeesport, Boston PA, and adjacent communities for seniors, children, and the general citizenry alike. This event is MYREC's principal source of income. Without MYREC, who else would bring Tommy Dorsey, Mellon Jazz stars like Joe Negri, Maureen Budway and Roger Humphreys, local stalwarts like Rick Purcell Band and oldies "Magic Moments"? Kids get free popcorn at the free Wednesday movies and a petting zoo.

We, as trail volunteers, get to know each other and work together, sometimes in a free-pouring frenzy. Here's a puff of beer foam to them and their "Day Captains": John Wasco, John Hooton, Dennis Pfeiffer, and rookie Frank Ludwin.

See you next year!