ARDC Raffle Awarded, Awareness Spread

by Jonathan Weaver

The winner of a 22-inch pontoon boat raffled off by the Allegheny River Development Corporation this past weekend has been announced and the raffle’s objective has been met.

Allegheny River Development Corporation President Linda Hemmes announced the winner of the boat purchased at-cost at the Fox Chapel Marina was Dina Brennan of Gibsonia.

Brennan bought her ticket at the Fox Chapel Yacht Club. The winning ticket was selected by a juvenile girl at this past weekend’s Arts on the Allegheny summer concert.

“She wasn’t there unfortunately – it would have been fun to have her there – so we just got to hear her screaming over the phone,” Hemmes said. “We called her pretty-much right away.”

It’s not known when Brennan will pick up the boat – which is currently locked up securely.

The raffle raised more than $40,000 to go toward efforts to reopen Lock #7 along the Allegheny River in Kittanning and four others in the region.

Hemmes said the main purpose of the sale was to raise awareness – which she said it ‘certainly’ did.

“Overall, the lock operations during the two weekends were well-received. Everybody was very happy,” Hemmes said. “We were very pleased with the number of lockages that came down during the weekends – very happy.”

She was even more excited after hearing that officials at a lock along the Mississippi River were given authorization to negotiate for limited operation in their locale recently. ARDC officials will receive a copy of that agreement before local negotiation is undertaken with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

“I think that will save us a lot of time and energy,” Hemmes said. “It just has to be modified to fit our needs. I think that’s huge – really, really important to what we’re doing.

ARDC and Armstrong County has fulfilled all the requirements of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – Pittsburgh District in submitting a request for permission to negotiate with USACE for the “Contributed Funds” operation of the four closed locks. After the proposal was approved at USACE headquarters in Washington, D.C. in mid-March, it was sent to the Office of Management and Budget and then the Appropriations Committees of the House and Senate to allow for negotiation.

“I have no doubt the locks will be operational next spring,” Hemmes said. “We’re hopeful – the sun is shining!”

Alle-Kiski Strong Chamber Vice-President of Events Lynda Pozzuto was one of those boaters who were at the raffle drawing and to listen to classic rock-n-roll band “Southside Johnny and the Ashbury Jukes” headline the Arts on the Allegheny summer concert in the John P. Murtha Amphitheatre in Kittanning Riverfront Park.

“I think it was wonderful that the river was open – there was quite a group of us that came down through Lock #7 to enjoy the concert,” Pozzuto said. “It was nice to be able to do so.

“The amphitheatre was packed – there were quite a few boats there, a lot of the big boats were anchored,” Pozzuto said. “It was very, very nice.”

The non-profit corporation has the support of Senators Bob Casey and Pat Toomey, as well as Congressman Mike Kelly and leadership through the Upper Monongahela River Association.

 

2 Comments

• 

  By jorn jensen, August 27, 2014 @ 9:17 AM

  A big THANK YOU goes out to ARDC! Your efforts will help tourism in Armstrong County, and that can help the local economy.
• 

  By ajarduini, August 27, 2014 @ 9:34 AM

  I think someone needs a lesson in Photoshop….

Other Links to this Post

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI

Leave a comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.