May 25, 2018 4 min read

Mon Valley Academy of the Arts is inviting the public to grab a lawn chair and head to Chess Park in Monongahela for Summer Sundays, a summer concert series.

After a successful inaugural season in 2017, MVAA, a non-profit organization that brings the arts and cultural programs and activities to the Mon Valley, didn’t hesitate to bring back the popular summer series.

“We have a great lineup this summer, and we’ll probably see more than 1,700 people visit Chess Park to catch the musical performances,” says Mark Smith, MVAA president and founding director. “That’s a great thing for the community.”

The Sunday concerts kick off June 17 with the Jakobs Ferry Stragglers, Kylie and the Toros, and Molly Jade. On July 15, Wally Gingers Orchestra, Pittsburgh Big Band Legends and Twin Coaches Jr. Jazz Trio take the stage. On Aug. 5, Joe Campus Band and Mon Valley Community Band will perform. Rounding out the series on Sept. 9 are Jessica Lee Jazz/Blues, John Vento Acoustic Trio and Spectrum Band.

Food trucks and table vendors will be on site. Food is available at noon, and bands will play from 1 to 4 p.m.

The music series is one of a number of musical and cultural events coordinated by MVAA since Smith, a Charleroi resident and professional musician who says he was alarmed at a decline in cultural activities and opportunities in the Mon Valley, launched the non-profit in November 2015.

“There’s a huge void in the cultural arts – music, dance, art, the whole gamut – in the Mon Valley, and our mission is to make the arts available to everyone in this area. There are school districts around here that have cut out fine arts,” Smith says. “There is a lot of enthusiasm for this. We’re getting great feedback from the community, and there’s not one person, entity or business who doesn’t want to help us bring the arts back to the Mon Valley.”

MVAA’s inaugural events included A Night at the Coaches, a concert at Belle Vernon High School performed in November 2016 by the Twin Coaches Orchestra, a 17-piece stage band that included members of the original Twin Coaches Orchestra, which performed at the Twin Coaches Supper Club in Rostraver Township in the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s. In its heyday, the Twin Coaches Orchestra accompanied many of the top entertainers, comedians and politicians who stopped at the supper club – Perry Como, Bobby Vinton, Tony Bennett, Ella Fitzgerald, The Supremes, The Temptations and Sammy Davis Jr.

In addition to the summer series, sponsored by EQT, MVAA has hosted the Charleroi Arts Contest, an art show for students in grades 6 through 12 featuring a jazz band and monetary awards, and judged by a panel from Westmoreland County Community College.

Smith has been fascinated with the Twin Coaches Supper Club for more than 20 years, ever since he received a battered drum set that was used there. He was fascinated with the history of the club and the musicians who performed there, and began collecting other memorabilia related to the Twin Coaches, which was named after two Pittsburgh and Lake Erie railroad coaches that were placed next to each other and served as a lounge and restaurant. The venue burned down in 1977.

MVAA’s mission includes preserving the history of the Twin Coaches music, putting artists to work and providing education and entertainment to the public.

One of the non-profit’s priorities is to find a permanent home.

Much of the memorabilia Smith has collected – including original charts used by musicians at the Twin Coaches and more than 650 autographed photographs – are piled into his house, and MVAA wants to display the items. The organization is in talks with Monongahela to move into an office at the city’s Chamber of Commerce building.

MVAA also plans to launch a musical instrument recovery program to rescue, repair and provide musical instruments to student musicians in the Mon Valley, and a private music instruction program to provide student musicians with individual instruction provided by professional music instructors.

In addition, MVAA is working to provide Kindermusik, an early childhood education music and movement program for children up to age 7.

“The music scene used to be thriving in the Mon Valley. Everybody – nationality clubs and other places – had a band playing,” Smith says. “You could make a living playing music and working in the arts at one time. It was a vibrant culture, a music Mecca. We want to bring back culture and arts to the Mon Valley.”