Laurels & lances: Summer plans

Laurel: To a happy birthday. America celebrated its 247th year Tuesday, but there is a real milestone being marked closer to home: 2023 is Westmoreland County’s 250th birthday.

It’s a celebration with a special name: Semiquincentennial. There’s a tongue-twister for you.

The event is prompting celebrations all over the county, like acknowledgments at the courthouse and reenactments at Historic Hanna’s Town and Historic Cook Farm in Rostraver.

At the Tribune-Review, we are taking a closer look at the communities that make up the county with our Westmoreland 250 series — lists of 10 unique things about these nooks and crannies. So far, we have put a spotlight on Murrysville, Jeannette and Ligonier. Keep your eyes open for more fun facts about places in Westmoreland County you might have overlooked.

Lance: To canceled plans. Pittsburgh was set to have the concert summer of all summers. Big names were piled up to spend the season in the city’s biggest venues. Taylor Swift set the bar high with a two-day, record-breaking appearance at Acrisure Stadium in June, but the hits were planned to just keep coming.

Well, there have been hiccups.

It started with Madonna, whose Celebration tour was meant to come to PPG Paints Arena on Aug. 7. That tour has been postponed after Madonna, 64, contracted a “serious bacterial infection,” ending up in intensive care.

OK, fine, there’s still Beyonce on Aug. 3, right? The Renaissance World Tour is one of the most anticipated out there, with multi-night stays in cities such as Atlanta and Washington, D.C. Forbes predicted both Swift’s and Beyonce’s tours could come in around $2 billion — with Beyonce outdistancing Swift by as much as $500 million, give or take a few hundred million.

But, Wednesday, it was announced Queen Bey will not be coming to the Steel City. Shows in Pittsburgh, Kansas City and Seattle all faced the same reported “production logistics and scheduling issues.” However, those issues must have been more profound at Acrisure Stadium, as Seattle’s event was just bumped a day, and Kansas City will welcome the tour 13 days later. In Pittsburgh, however, it was just canceled.

Other big events are on the horizon. On Saturday, Ed Sheeran will be at Acrisure. On Aug. 5, Pink will bring her Summer Carnival tour to PNC Park, followed by Guns N’ Roses on Aug. 18.

But it’s still disappointing to have two such prominent concert stops fall apart — and there will be a real impact to the local economy.