As I’ve stated in a previous column, the Tomato Festival is always the quintessential end of the summer for Greater Pittston and I would agree with that. After the festival, school begins and everyone puts summer to bed.
Another noted event to end summer is Labor Day and the last outdoor BBQ holiday. I love Labor Day backyard cookouts. The weather is usually perfect and it’s a time to just sit back with family and reflect on the summer and enjoy family and food.
The other end-of-summer event for me is the U.S. Open tennis tournament in Queens, N.Y.
The two-week tournament splits the Labor Day weekend and it’s a tournament with two seasons. The first week is usually hot, humid, and sticky. The second week, like a flick of a switch, the weather turns into autumn.
For nearly 20 years, I had two tickets for the first five days of the tournament and I loved going to our nation’s tennis tournament which is a part of the four Grand Slams around the world.
The U.S. Open brings out the best tennis players in the world and it doesn’t take too long once you are on the grounds, you realize it’s celebrity central.
It’s been about 25 years since I gave up my season tickets and haven’t been back to the Open but a few times. Today, I get that chance again and I’m looking forward to running into some old friends I made while working at a women’s professional tennis tournament in Charleston, S.C.
Of course, there will be great tennis to watch which will make the over two-hour drive to and from the Tennis Center.
For as sad as I am of the summer fading away, it was great to get back on the field to shoot some football. Let me tell you, I was a bit rusty and it’s always a challenge going from season to season.
Fall sports are a combination of outdoor sports and indoors with volleyball. I really do enjoy shooting sports; never a dull moment.
Another dull moment is high school class reunions. It’s that time of the year when a lot of reunions take place and Labor Day weekend is no exception.
Pittston Area Class of 1969 gathered to mark their 55th anniversary and let me tell you, this group of people love to get together and spend not only one day together, but they always plan a three-day weekend.
They seem to like to rent out the Fellow Order of Police (FOP) Lodge off of Rt. 502 in Moosic. The grounds are great, peaceful, and the facility is in great shape.
Carmen Falcone, Gail Malloy and the team of organizers really put on a first-class reunion and on the day of the main event, there is plenty of food, spirits, live entertainment and even an ice cream truck.
Everyone decorates the pavilion in Pittston Area colors of red, white, and blue. There are games, awards, and plenty of laughter. You can tell these folks really love each other and are not ashamed of holding onto days gone by as if they were just yesterday.
1969, for me, has to be one of the most interesting years in history.
The Beatles gave their last public performance, the Boeing 747 made its first commercial flight, President Eisenhower died, U.S. astronauts landed on the moon, President Nixon, the first U.S. president visited China, over 400,000 converged at Woodstock for one of the largest music festivals in history, and who can ever forget Tiny Tim marrying Miss Vicky on the Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson? Can you believe it is estimated 50 million viewers watched the ceremony?
Let’s not forget 1969 was labeled as the Summer of Love. Remember? Make Love, not War.
This week, I had the pleasure of meeting the newest business owners in Pittston, Chad and Kristen Gelso, along with partners Kevin and Natalie Kearney and Jamie Granko.
The Kearneys and Granko own The Banks and met up with the future Chad and Kristen Gelso when the Gelsos were planning their wedding at The Banks.
I guess it was kismet because the five hit it off so well, the idea of opening a restaurant in Pittston is now a reality.
The Refinery opened its doors at ground level of the Waterfront Warehouse building on Kennedy Blvd., next to The Banks.
When you drive by on Kennedy, The Refinery is not hard to find. The former loading dock area of the old Pittston Apparel is now the outdoor seating area for the restaurant.
It’s really a cool place that you’d find in a larger city but with local hospitality. All employees are local bringing great experience to get The Refinery off and running without a hitch.
The interior of the restaurant is very soothing and easy on the eyes.
The Gelsos, married just a few weeks ago met in Philadelphia, of all places, when the two worked at different locations.
They fell in love and both knew they would want to create fabulous place to dine in the Pittston Area.
Good luck to all, you will do great.
Quote of the Week
“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.” — Marie Curie
Thought of the Week
“Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore, dream, discover.” — Mark Twain
Bumper Sticker
“Life, if lived well, is long enough.” — Lucius Annaeus Seneca
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