Always pretty in pink: Leechburg’s 1st fundraiser for Pink Day draws full house

First there was Pink Day 11 years ago in Leechburg to raise money for breast cancer research and have some fun.

Now there’s Pink Day plus two smaller fundraisers brimming with live music and more fun that continues to faithfully draw hundreds to thousands of people annually. Even the pandemic couldn’t fully suppress all three of the Pink Day events.

A standing-room-only crowd of 350 people danced the night away at the Marconi Club in Leechburg on Saturday for the first of two fundraising events leading up to Pink Day on Sept. 17. Part of Market Street will be closed that day for Pink Day festivities, which typically draw about 5,000 people.

Pink tablecloths and pink lace adorned the Marconi’s Mirrored Room on Saturday evening. The club rocked with three live bands, food, Chinese auction baskets and good vibes. The bands included Pat and Dave, Steel Mill Rising, and Lenny Collini 4Pak.

Sherry Price of Leechburg, events chairperson and secretary/treasurer of Leechburg’s Pink Day nonprofit organization, flitted about wearing last year’s Pink Day sweatshirt.

The 50-50 ticket line was nonstop with activity.

That didn’t bother Ginger Shaffer of Allegheny Township, a cancer survivor and volunteer who nimbly tore the tickets from a big round while chatting up patrons.

“I love that Sherry does events like this,” she said.

Another volunteer and cancer survivor, Candi Stewart of Leechburg, keeps coming back to help and enjoy the festivities.

“It’s the music and the cause,” Stewart said of the draw of Saturday’s fundraiser.

The Pink events continue to attract more patrons and donations, Price said.

Last year, Pink Day events and fundraising efforts brought in $38,600, she said.

In the past decade, the fundraising events tallied $171,000, all of which has been donated to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, based in New York. It bills itself as the largest private source of funding for metastatic breast cancer research in the world.

“I feel proud of what our event has turned into,” said Price, who last year was successfully treated for breast cancer.

Being a recent cancer survivor has made the event seem grander personally, she said.

“Survivors who have come to the events tell me there is a special warmness to Pink Day,” she said. “They feel like something special has been done for them.”