Good Weather, Crowds Expected for Village

After 64 years, McKeesport’s annual festival rolls with the times

By Jason Togyer
The Tube City Almanac
August 07, 2024
Posted in: McKeesport and Region News

The Rankin Junior Tamburitzans performed during the 2021 International Village. The ethnic troupe will return to the main stage at Renziehausen Park next week. (Vickie Babyak file photo for Tube City Almanac)

Fashions come and go, trends rise and fall, but McKeesport’s International Village rolls on after 64 years.

The annual summer ethnic food and music festival returns to Stephen Barry Field in Renziehausen Park on Aug. 13, 14 and 15. Gates open at 3 p.m. nightly.

Ethnic traditions represented at this year’s International Village include Austrian, Croatian, Egyptian, French, Filipino, German, Ghanian, Greek, Hawaiian, Hungarian, Italian, Lebanese, Mexican, Polish, Swedish, Taiwanese and Vietnamese.

Fireworks are scheduled for Tuesday evening.

“International Village is one of those unique traditions that attracts visitors to McKeesport from throughout Western Pennsylvania,” McKeesport Mayor Michael Cherepko said. “In fact, we know that many people who have moved away from McKeesport or Pittsburgh plan their family reunions or vacations around the week of International Village every August.”

Admission remains $2, but visitors will notice that they are being directed to one of two entrances this year — a main gate on University Drive, and a handicapped accessible gate near the Sean “Slug” Sluganski Dek Hockey Court along Arboretum Drive.

Two additional gates will be open to vendors, performers and emergency personnel only. City officials said the change was made to reduce the workload on volunteers.

Officials are encouraging visitors to take advantage of free parking at McKeesport Area High School. Police officers will be on hand to help pedestrians cross the street.

Several nearby churches and Penn State Greater Allegheny also are expected to make paid parking available during the event.

(Tube City Almanac illustration)

City Councilman Keith Soles, who chairs the International Village committee, said that during years with good weather, as many as 15,000 to 20,000 people have descended on Renzie during the three-day event.

“My favorite thing about International Village is seeing the people who come back here,” Soles said. “People who have graduated from McKeesport Area High School set up their reunions for the week of International Village. This brings them back to McKeesport.”

He said the event also is a chance for the city to showcase Renzie Park, which now spans more than 258 acres and has been extensively improved with funding from the county’s Regional Asset District fund.

“We love being able to show off the park,” Soles said. “We want to continue to bring people to the city, and to continue to support International Village.”

“Next Tuesday, when 3 o’clock rolls around, and we have the sights and the sounds and the smells, everything will come back to me,” says Mike “Mikey Dee” Dorich (Vickie Babyak file photo for Tube City Almanac)

Bandleader Mike “Mikey Dee” Dorich, who books the entertainment, said the weeks leading up to International Village are stressful for volunteers and city employees. The amount of work, he said, can make him question whether it’s worth it.

“But next Tuesday, when 3 o’clock rolls around, and we have the sights and the sounds and the smells, everything will come back to me,” Dorich said. “I’m a very nostalgic person.”

Dorich’s band will perform on Wednesday from 5 to 9 p.m. in the Jakomas Blue-Top Pavilion, where a dance floor will be open. Other performers in the blue-top will include Radost on Tuesday and Richie Zebrowski’s Freestyle on Thursday.

Main-stage entertainment begins each night at 6 p.m. Scheduled to appear Tuesday are Dance Company for the Performing Arts, T.J. International Club, Grecian Odessey Dancers, Otets Paiissi Bulgarian Dancers and a Lebanese bellydancer.

On Wednesday, scheduled acts include Alpen Muzikanten, the ABC by JoAnn Dancers, the Rankin Jr. Tamburitzans, the Junior Tamburitzans of Duquesne and an Egyptian dancer, while Thursday’s entertainment will feature the Gypsy Stringz, the Neighborhood Kolo Dancers, the FAAP Philippines Dancers and the Lajkoniki Polish Dancers.

Students from ABC Dance by JoAnn studio in West Mifflin perform a Hawaiian dance during the 2021 event.  (Vickie Babyak file photo for Tube City Almanac)

Booking entertainment is becoming more difficult, said Dorich, who has been involved with International Village for 25 years.

Many ethnic groups that were longtime staples of International Village — such as the William Penn Magyar Dancers — stopped performing publicly after the COVID pandemic, he said.

Others disbanded due to lack of interest or lack of volunteers, Dorich said.

“We no longer have the Carpatho-Rusyn group that we used to have every year,” he said. A group of Italian performers that regularly appeared also is no longer in existence, Dorich said.

“It’s getting more difficult to get cultural entertainment,” he said. “It was a difficult job 25 years ago, and we had lots more groups back then.”

Cultural changes have been felt among the food vendors as well. A number of ethnic food booths once staffed by local churches are now operated by local small business owners, Soles said.

Soles said Dan Carr, who serves as event director and coordinator, has worked hard to recruit ethnic food vendors to make sure that many groups that were historically part of International Village continue to be represented each year.

“He does a great job,” Soles said. “We’re doing our best to carry on the traditions.”

Dorich noted that it takes a substantial committment of time to prepare food for International Village and staff a booth for three consecutive days.

“No one has ever been pushed out of the village,” he said. “We want the churches there. But a lot of those ethnic churches are not around any more and of those that are around, their congregations are not what they used to be.”

The evolution of International Village is a reflection that times change, Dorich said.

“Nothing stays the same as it did when we were kids,” he said. “When we’re younger, we don’t appreciate some things until we get older, and then we look back and realized things have changed.”

What hasn’t changed, Soles said, is the village’s mission of reuniting local residents and connecting them to their heritage.

“To me, it’s about good food, good entertainment, and getting to see friends that I haven’t seen in years,” he said.

Other committee members include personnel director Bobby Billsborrow, field office manager Kim Carr, sanitation manager Colin Clarke, collections manager Marie Domingo, stage manager Patrick Fisher, pop and water vending manager Margaret Garrahy, field collection manager Ron Gongaware, secretary Annette James, Alison Piccolino, coordinator of A Village For Kids, logistics manager Tom Rosso, gate volunteer coordinator Sharon Soles, and customer relations manager Tony Ura.

Cherepko credited the committee with keeping International Village alive while many of Western Pennsylvania’s other ethnic festivals have faded away.

“The International Village committee works very hard and does such a great job working with the vendors,” he said. “They have a good strategy in place that we know will continue to keep the ‘Village’ alive and well.”

More information is available online at www.mckeesportbands.com or www.internationalvillage.info.

Jason Togyer is volunteer executive director of Tube City Community Media Inc. and editor of Tube City Almanac.

Originally published August 07, 2024.

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