This year, the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra will host the traditional July 4th concert and fireworks show. It was canceled in 2016 because they didn’t have the money.
New this year: people in the community are organizing an ethnic celebration leading up to the festivities.
Vision 2025 is partnering with Johnstown Area Heritage Association to organize a community picnic before the July 4th festivities. The picnic will showcase different ethnic groups from the area with performances, food and activities for kids.
The event will take place at Peoples Natural Gas Park from 4-8pm just before the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra concert and fireworks show starts at 8pm at Point Stadium.
This year, orchestra leaders said they got enough sponsors to cover the $25,000 cost and they plan to make the event one to remember.
The man who’s organizing the ethnic celebration said the picnic will be another way to bring people together to celebrate Johnstown’s history and the people who live there.
“Johnstown is still a very vibrant community. There are many people that are working within their groups to create opportunities and showcase our community. That’s what Vision 2025 is all about. That’s what we’re trying to do with this group is to show that our ethnic communities are very tight. We’re still part of the community and we want to show people that we’re still here, we’re still active and we want to get people involved in what we do,” said John Skelley, the Ethnic Celebrations team facilitator for Vision 2025.
Skelley hopes the community picnic becomes an annual part of the July 4th celebration in Johnstown.
They’re still looking for more ethnic groups and food vendors to participate.