Culture Crawl around downtown Johnstown set for Saturday

Kelly Urban, The Tribune-Democrat, Johnstown, Pa.
·4 min read

Oct. 5—JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — This event will have you crawling your way through culture.

The third annual Downtown Johnstown Culture Crawl will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday at various downtown locations.

Participating businesses and organizations will create opportunities to hear live music, see art creations, read collaborative poetry and attend readings in connection with Banned Books Week.

Mike Messina, owner of Chameleon Bookstore and an organizer of the event, said the culture crawl is designed to showcase the changes to downtown Johnstown.

"Every year we have new businesses and organizations popping up, and it adds to the culture of our community and we want to celebrate that," he said.

"We want people to have culture activities, and the diversity is amazing, so I think this is going to be better than ever and we're excited about it."

Participating locations include Art House6/The Artique Gallery, 126 Walnut St.; Artist-Blacksmith's Association of North America, 47 Walnut St.; Balance Restaurant, 411 Main St.; Bougiue Hair Care Essentials & More, 416 Main St., Suite 104; Cambria County Library, 248 Main St.; Chameleon Bookstore, 144 Gazebo Park; Classic Elements, 345 Main St.; Elevate, 517 Main St.; Visit Johnstown, 416 Main St.; Gallery on Gazebo, 140 Gazebo Park; GAR Post 30, 132 Gazebo Park; Johnstown Flood Museum, 304 Washington St.; Johnstown Train Station, 47 Walnut St.; Made in Johns-town, 507 Main St.; Made in Johnstown, 134 Gazebo Park; Peaced Together, 100 Clinton St.; Roots Kitchen + Juicery, 425 Main St.; State Theater of Johnstown, 136 Main St.; Stone Bridge Brewing Co., 104 Franklin St.; Studio32 Photography, 32 Walnut St; The Write Cup Coffee Shop, 134 Gazebo Park.

Some of the events offered during the crawl include:

—ArtHouse6 will have live music, studio tours and, in the gallery, will have the "Little Red Riding Hood Unbanned" exhibit featuring works by Florence Alfano McEwin.

—Artique Gallery will feature music from the rooftop by Tim Roberts, assorted treats and beverages and a special fall soy candle sale.

—Bougie Hair Care Essentials and More will have braiding demonstrations and information on C.J. Walker, the first Black woman to make and market Black hair care.

—The Cambria County Library at 7 p.m. will have librarian Justin Brown discussing the history of censorship of comics and his experience with the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund in honor of Banned Books Week. There will be a poster-making station, banned books selfie stations and a chance to read from them and a button-making station. The first 20 attendees will receive a banned books gift bag.

—Chameleon Bookstore will have its annual free speech poetry slam, and tarot readings by Amber Dawn will be available for a fee.

—Classic Elements will have jazz singer Ra'Anee Watson performing.

—Visit Johnstown will have award-winning musician Kenny Jubas playing from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

—Gallery on Gazebo will have regional musicians.

—Studio 32 will have the premiere of the photography exhibit "Born in the Digital Age: Perspectives and Perception through the Photographic Medium," including works by local and Pittsburgh-based photographers.

—The train station will have the music by George Byich, an opportunity to meet the Vision2025 Train Station Capture Team and learn about the past, present and future of the train station. The Artist-Blacksmith's Association of North America will have a display of iron art, including anvils, hand-crafted tool and its international rose garden.

—The Write Cup and Made in Johnstown, Gazebo Park, will be partnering with a community loom, where people can work together to make a rug with upcycled T-shirt material. The Write Cup will have a literary tattoo contest and be spinning vinyl.

—GAR Post 30, the Johns-town Flood Museum, Made in Johnstown and the State Theater of Johnstown will have displays and tours of their facilities.

Balance Restaurant, Roots Kitchen + Juicery, Craft Modern Kitchen, Wine Loft and Stonebridge Brewing Co. will offer specials, and Elevate and Peaced Together will have extended shopping hours.

"Folks value the opportunity to show what they're doing, and there's a lot more going on in this area than people give it credit for," Messina said. "Culture is the focus and it comes in every form of art, so we want to highlight what we have."

There is no fee to attend, and crawl maps will be available at each location.

For more information, visit www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61550791020531.