The weather was great for day 2 of the 40th Beaver County Maple Syrup Festival. People came out by the hundreds to fill their bellies with some great pancakes. 1230 WBVP and 1460 WMBA did a live broadcast live from Brady’s Run Park. The line was long for the Personality Prize wheel and kept Frank Sparks and Matt Drzik busy throughout the day.
Beaver County Radio 1230 WBVP and 1460 WMBA broadcasted live all day Saturday April 1,2017 at the 2017 Beaver County Maple Syrup Festival. The cold weather was not a deterrent as thousand of people attended the Maple Syrup Festival and filled their bellies with all you can eat pancakes topped with syrup from the maple trees of Brady’s Run Park. The pancakes might be the main attraction but there were many activities , vendors, demonstrations and a variety of live entertainment for everyone.
Now in it’s 40th year the Beaver County Maple Syrup Festival grows bigger and better every year and is held annually the first weekend in April.
Quigley Classic
Visitor Girls- 92
Home Girls- 89
Visitor Boys-105
Home Boys- 86
Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center has hired a new senior administrator. The school’s board of trustees voted to hire Stephen Cantanzarite to serve in that position. Cantanzarite worked as Lincoln Park’s founding managing director and he assisted with the launch of the performing arts center. He is also founder and former CEO of Baden Academy Charter School. In his new role, Cantanzarite will work to strengthen stragtegic partnerships with local, regional and national arts and education programs.
Aliquippa Diversity Council president Catherine Colalella said yesterday “Spring is Finlly here”. Beaver County Radio News Correspondent Sandy Giordano reports that volunteers are needed to plant flowers at Kennedy Boulevard and Franklin Avenue, Jessie Bell Walker Park, The Plan 12 war memorial and a plot on Monaca Rd. where tha bus v stop is located. Donations of lowers, garden tools, and mulch are appreciated. For more information call Ms. Colalella 724-622-3891.
There will be a Beaver County Board of Commissioners’ meeting this morning, as the fallout from the firing of Chief County Solicitor Andrea Cantelmi continues. The commissioners met behind closed doors yesterday from 11 am until after 4 pm. No decisions were made during the private meeting, with official business at a standstill. Today’s meeting will go on without a solicitor or interim solicitor. It’ll be held at 10 am in the public meeting room of the courthouse.
County treasurer Connie Javens, who declined to do a recorded interview, says her office is about a month behind processing tax bills because she only has five people to do the work. Javens tells Beaver County Radio’s Greg Benedetti that taxpayers will not be charged a penalty because her office goes by the postmark on the envelope. Javens says her office has 96-thousand tax bills to process, 26-thousand dog licenses, hunting and fishing licenses, small games of chance and bingo licenses plus other work. Javens has nine people working in the office and not all are full-time. One administrator died and another is on maternity leave. Javens said she used to have part-timers just for the tax season, but that was eliminated from the budget.
Aliquippa City Council approved submission for a $200,000.00 Beaver Community Development Block Grant for 2017 at last night’s work session. Three buildings, the P.M. Moore Building on Station St., the Joseph Building located at the Wye, and Union Grill on Franklin Avenue are in need of demolition because they are structurally unsafe. Funds for the project will be allocated starting October 1, 2017. Mayor Dwan Walker and City administrator Sam Gill met with the county about the need for the funds for the demolition. The city also applied for a $150,000 grant for the Fifth Avenue storm drain project. Repair and maintenance will be done at the site. Mr. Gill said more funds are needed for the project down the road. Council meets on Wednesday in regular session at 7 p.m.
Today is a special day for the sixth grade students in the Aliquippa School District. Over the past several months, the students have been participating in the All-Stars program, and they are coming close to the end of the program. Dr. Pete Carbone, Superintendent of Schools in Aliquippa, tells Beaver County Radio newsman Pat Septak that today students will share their commitments with the class. He says that over the course of the program, the students have identified their ideal futures, thought deeply about how they can achieve those futures and made strong commitments to themselves. Students will be sharing those commitments during the 9:00, 10:05, 11:10 and 1:30 classes. A total of 80 students participated in the program.
(Beaver County, PA) It was fun, it was interesting and at times it was a little unique, but the open try outs for a new talk show host that commenced in mid February on Beaver County Radio have come to a conclusion. Frank Sparks has been promoted and will be the permanent host of “Teleforum”, the local weekday talk show that airs on WBVP and WMBA from 9 A.M. to noon. Sparks will also serve as the stations’ Program Director as part of his new position. In a rather unconventional approach to recruiting new talent, WBVP and WMBA promoted the fact that anyone who wanted to, could apply for the the job, which opened up a little over a month ago when previous host, Mike Romigh, left to accept a position with the Beaver County Humane Society. Dozens of people responded to the invitation and expressed interest, and six different people hosted “Teleforum” during the audition period.
Frank Sparks will continue to host the “Saturday Morning Sports Slam” (Saturdays 8 to 10 A.M. ), and “The Lead Lap” (Saturdays 10 to 10:30 A.M.) as well as produce other talk shows and programming segments. Frank’s announcing career started at Oak Hill Field in New Brighton where he served as the public address announcer for football games. He started working at WBVP and WMBA as a part time announcer and producer in 2013. As a lifelong resident of Beaver County, and a graduate of New Brighton Area High School, Frank will be a natural fit for the tradition of focusing on local issues and news that have become standard for WBVP and WMBA.
Interested organizations and news makers wishing to publicize their events or arrange interviews may contact Frank Sparks during normal business hours at 724-846-4100 or email fsparks@beavercountyradio.com.