SUMMER SWING

The Ligonier Summer Band concerts are back --- with a veteran lineup Jazz bands have played to appreciative crowds for more than 50 years on Ligonier’s Downtown diamond. This summer’s Sundays will be no exception as the Ligonier Valley Chamber of Commerce presents its 51^st season featuring classic swing and jazz groups such as the Allegheny Brass Band, the Westmoreland Symphony Brass Quintet and the Graham Grubb Big Band.

"We continue to get big crowds," says Rachel Roehrig, director of the Ligonier Valley Chamber of Commerce, which sponsors the concerts through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council of Arts’ Program for Westmoreland County’s Department of Parks and Roads.

Jazz and swing are still a big draw in Ligonier. The bring your own lawn chair concert series has drawn fans since before the Ligonier Valley Chamber of Commerce began sponsoring the Summer Band Concert Series in 1949.

The original music pavilion bandstand which has been replaced by the current band stand on the diamond was constructed in1894.  "Most of the bands have been coming here for more than 20 years," Roehrig says.

Pictured is some of the crowd gathered on the diamond in downtown Ligonier to listen to the ever popular Graham Grubb Big Band.  Scroll for more pictures.