Billy Price Band to open Monessen concert series

The first show will take place June 29 at City Park.

It’s official: the Billy Price Band will rock out in Monessen City Park Amphitheater this summer.

At Thursday’s meeting, Monessen council voted to approve the signing of a contract for the Billy Price Band to headline the first concert of the summer June 29 from 2 to 4 p.m.

The city will pay the band $3,000 after the completion of the concert.

So far, the city has collected $1,500 from community members to help cover the cost of the four-concert series that will take place throughout the summer.

The city has also applied for an $8,000 grant through the PNC Charitable Trust and a $7,000 Westmoreland County Local Arts Grant, which would cover the total cost of the concert series if they’re approved.

The city will continue to solicit donations from businesses in the community to fund the concert series.

Councilman Tony Orzechowski expressed concerns about holding concerts at the amphitheater, including asking how the city will handle crowd control.

Councilwoman Karen Cosner said she got some advice on holding events at City Park from Mon Valley Paws Director Randy Marino, whose organization has an annual fundraiser and vendor show at the park.

“Randy probably has more experience than almost anybody in having big events at City Park, and he gave me a lot of tips on what we needed to do,” Cosner said. “I felt good after I met with him because he’s done this.”

MVP’s Paw in the Parks and Vendor Show draws thousands of visitors to the park each year. The Billy Price Band concert could attract a crowd of similar size.

“It will be a major event; there will be people coming from all over Western Pennsylvania to see this,” Mozer said.

Mozer admitted the city still has to iron out some of the logistics of the concert series, but he’s confident that it won’t be an issue.

“I know it can be done,” he said. “It’s just not going to be a problem.” Engineering consultant offers to write 2 grant applications

Remington & Vernick Engineers, appointed as a consultant to the city in July, offered to complete two grant applications for Monessen at no cost.

Mozer suggested using one of the grant applications to address the boat launch and rusting barges at Herman Mihalich River Launch Park.

The boat launch has been deemed unusable by local boaters after the river levels dropped following the start of Monongahela River Locks and Dam 3’s removal last summer. The park sits partly on deteriorating barges that are in danger of collapsing.

Mozer said he’s seen some estimates as high as $1 million to repair the barges, but he believes there must be a cheaper alternative “There’s gotta be an engineer that’s got a brilliant idea and way to save that,” he said.

Mozer also recommended using the second grant application to pave a major thoroughfare in the city.

The city has yet to accept RVE’s offer.