JOHNSTOWN - Live music, wristbands and community spirit will return to Partners' Pub for the 10th annual Johnstown Block Party on Friday night at the South William Street bar's parking lot.
Partner's Pub and Johnstown Eagles will host the community event, which Alan Dwyer of the Karg Brothers said is for people ages 7 to 70.
"In 10 years, they've never had a problem," said Dwyer, whose band has played along with J.D. Aldrich and his band at all nine previous events. "They try to keep it family-oriented. We're family-friendly with the music we play. We haven't had they same problem other block parties have."
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Aldrich, a Johnstown native, is a professional musician who teaches songwriting at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.
Dwyer said some people don't realize how much money the event has raised over the years for local causes such as the Johnstown Area Community Center and the Fulton-Montgomery Scholarship Fund. Dwyer said last year alone, $7,000 was raised for the JACC.
He also said every year the proceeds from a 50/50 drawing are donated to a good cause, with this year's funds going to Humor Heals the Heart: The Anna King Project. The 12-year-old King is a former Mayfield resident who now lives in Texas and is waiting for a heart transplant after she was diagnosed with a life-threatening cardiac condition.
Starting in 2003, the Johnstown block party was "the brainchild of Jack Callery and Mike Mongan," Dwyer said, and over the years others have become involved, including Dick Luck, who runs a barber shop on South William Street. Every year, the organizers aim to donate the money to "anyone with a kind of hardship - somebody struggling in the community," Dwyer said.
The gates will open at 5 p.m. Friday, with music and dancing from 6 to 11 p.m. Advance tickets can be purchased at Partner's Pub, the Johnstown Eagles and the Hair Affair for $10 for adults 21 and older, $5 for youths 13 to 20 years old. Admission will be free for those 12 and younger. Tickets will cost $15 on the night of the event.