Jeannette concert, food truck nights expand to 8 summer dates

Some homegrown heroes will take the stage for the season opener of Concert and Food Truck Thursdays in downtown Jeannette.

Rock band Twisted Fate will play a free show 6 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday at the Elliott Group Amphitheater at Clay Avenue and South Fifth Street.

Food trucks and a beer garden will be nearby.

The band’s lead vocalist Chuck Stull, drummer Ted Boyd and bassist James Pompei are Jeannette natives. Guitarist Michael Shusteric hails from Harrison City, and guitarist Karl Lawson grew up in Penn Township.

Their music reflects influences from a hard rock/metal alphabet of bands from Alice in Chains to Van Halen. They call their fans the Twisted Faithful.

“They’re a huge band in the area, and they bring a lot of people to Jeannette,” said event organizer Missy Miller of Jeannette.

This is the fifth year for the summer food-and-music events, hosted by Jeanette Business Association, which will take place every other Thursday through Aug. 31, rain or shine. It’s also the biggest one yet, having expanded from six to eight weeks this year.

At least 10 food trucks will be on site each time.

“It’s a nice thing to do, especially in the summer,” Miller said. “It brings a lot of people to the city from everywhere — they come to eat, they come to hear the bands, they have a good time.”

Proceeds from a 50-50 raffle held at each event will be split between the winning ticket holder and a nonprofit organization. The first week’s take will go to Folds of Honor, which provides scholarships to the spouses and children of fallen or disabled military personnel and first responders.

Other yearly recipients include the food pantry at First Presbyterian Church in Jeannette and the local Salvation Army, Miller said.

The concert series was founded by the late Laura Smith of Jeannette, who died May 17. Smith served with the Jeannette business association, planning commission and recreation board and also helped to found the city’s Sparkle of Christmas Parade.

Smith’s vision was to help in the revitalization of Jeannette, said Miller, who took over organizing the Thursday events in 2021, assisted by Meigan Nicolai and Judy Soles.

The series has been a boon to local businesses, she added.

“The first year, I was short a food truck, so I went to L&I’s (restaurant in Penn Borough) and asked if they could do a food table,” she said. “Two weeks later, that prompted them to buy a food truck, and they’ve been at every event ever since.”

Anyone interested in volunteering can show up at the amphitheater at 3 p.m. on concert days, Miller said.

“It’s a lot of work. The more, the merrier,” she said.