Laurels & lances: Music, malice and money
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Laurel: To making a good thing better. And bigger. The inaugural Greensburg Music Fest went well in 2018 with about 3,000 people showing up for concerts. It can’t get much better than that.
Except it did. The second festival last week saw attendance top 5,000 music lovers coming out to appreciate concerts on seven stages, plus the Westmoreland Museum of American Art, the 12th Octave music school and six restaurants and bars.
Anyone who was in the band in high school can tell you that it’s hard to compete with Friday night football, but the music fest grew despite local teams taking to the gridiron at the same time.
Here’s hoping for a fantastic encore next year when the event moves to the last Saturday in August.
Lance: To sticks and stones. Connellsville and Allderdice soccer teams are accused of hurling racial and homophobic epithets at each other, leading to an investigation by the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League.
This happened with Connellsville and Penn Hills last year. According to one Triblive.com Facebook comment, the real problem is adults “feigning outrage” over behavior that is nothing new.
Sorry, sir. We will have to disagree. If the accusations are accurate, the outrage is justified. Kids on the field for their school need support and encouragement, not attacks, and rival teams need to be held to standards of respect — for themselves, their schools and their opponents.
Laurel: To racking up a nice bank balance. The Pittsburgh Symphony seems to have gotten its expenses to play second fiddle to revenues. After years of red ink on the balance sheet, recent seasons have been in the black.
This week, the symphony announced a $1.1 million surplus in the operating budget. That’s a real high note.
There is still more work to do and more big bills out there waiting to be paid, including millions to the pension fund, but this is definitely a good intro. Let’s hope the harmony continues.