Category: default || By jt3y

International Village, Western Pennsylvania's first and best ethnic food and music festival, opens at 3 this afternoon at Renziehausen Park in Our Fair City and runs through Thursday. Carol Waterloo Frazier wrote in last night's Daily News that nationalities and ethnic groups represented this year include African-American, Chinese, English, German, Hawaiian, Croatian, French, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Mexican, Serbian, Slovenia, Lebanese, Polish, Slovak and Vietnamese.

The arts and crafts booths return to the Jakomas Pavilion (last year I won two passes to McKeesport Little Theater) and other exhibitors include McKeesport Tigers Boosters, McKeesport Area High School Alumni Association, the Allegheny County Sheriff's Department, McKeesport police and fire departments and McKeesport Ambulance and Rescue Service. There are also rides and games for smaller children.

Admission has gone up to $2, but what else can you do for $2 these days? Go out and support your neighbors (some of whom start working months in advance to prepare for the Village), listen to some music, eat something bad and go home happy.

The Village wraps up with fireworks and polka dancing Thursday night, and if I eat my usual mix of Hungarian, Greek, Italian and Mexican foods at the Village, I'll be wrapped up with fireworks of my own on Friday morning.

In honor of the Village's opening day, enjoy this special feature from Tube City Online's half-vast archives. It's a look at International Village in 1972 from the pages of the Ford Times, the (sadly defunct) travel magazine for Ford owners.

The inside page of this issue (August 1972) has the above advertisement for the Ford Pinto, which the Village has now outlasted by 25 years.

Ironically, however, both Ford Pintos and people who eat too much at International Village sometimes end up with their rear ends burning.