The Borough of Ellwood City and the Ellwood City Revitalization hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for the Ellwood City Community Plaza and Farmers’ Market on Monday, January 9, 2012 at 10 AM at the construction site on Lawrence and Beaver Avenues in Ellwood City.

Among those in attendance were, from left with shovels, Ellwood City Council President Anthony “Lefty” DeCarbo, U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire (D-4, McCandless), state Rep. Jaret Gibbons (D-10, Franklin Township), Ellwood City Revitalization President Lenore Bazzichi, Ellwood City Mayor Anthony Court, state Sen. Elder Vogel (R-47, New Sewickley Township), Mary Ann Eisenrich of Gov. Tom Corbett’s Southwest Pennsylvania office, and Chris Rosselot, of U.S. Sen. Robert Casey’s staff. Also in attendance were Lawrence County Commissioners Dan Vogler, Robert Del Signore and Steve Craig; Ellwood City councilmen George Celli, John Todorich and Glenn Jones; and officials from Sharon-based Combine Construction, the project’s general contractor.

The Community Plaza will serve as a venue for a 40 foot diameter preforming stage and community gathering place that includes a unique water feature.  The plaza will help connect an under-utilized public parking lot with the main business district.  The parking area will be reconfigured and re-graded to accommodate a very successful weekly Farmers’ Market and provide seating for over 1000 people when large events are held at the preforming stage.  Combine Construction of Sharon has been awarded the contract with a bid of about $1.75 million and is expected to complete the project by December of 2012.

The private/public project is the first phase of a comprehensive revitalization project for the entire downtown district in Ellwood City.  The project’s concept and design was formulated by the public’s input from February 5, 2008 meeting.  The participants at the meeting were asked to share their opinions regarding the type of improvements and enhancements that they would like to see implemented in their downtown.

A common theme of the meeting was the community’s desire for a green space gather place that would provide family entertainment and activities for the area residents.  Locating a farmers’ market in the downtown business district and improving pedestrian safety.  Overall the community wanted to create a high quality environment for the businesses and residents while preserving and promoting our small town character.

The project’s funding sources for design, engineering and construction are  a mix of private, local, county, state and federal sources. To learn more about Ellwood City Main Street Project Revitalization, Inc. please visit our website at www.ellwoodcityrevitalization.org.

Invited Guests:

Governor Tom Corbett, Congressman Jason Altmire, Senator Robert P. Casey, Senator Patrick J. Toomey, State Senator Elder Vogel, State Senator Bob Robbins, State Representative Jaret Gibbons, DCED – Secretary Alan Walker,

DCNR – Secretary Richard Allen, Lawrence County Commissioners, Beaver County Commissioners, Ellwood City Borough Council, Ellwood City Mayor, Ellwood City Chamber of Commerce, Ellwood City Revitalization and EG&G