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Lighting Up State Street Bridge in “Beautiful Downtown Sharon”

On the evening of July 18 “Beautiful Downtown Sharon” will become even more beautiful as a group of community volunteers get ready to officially “flip the switch” and flood State Street Bridge with new color-changing LED lights.

“This lighting project was five years in the making from dream to reality,” says Laura Ackley, chairperson for the project and member of the Sharon Beautification Commission. “I first presented the idea to the Beautification Commission in August of 2013, and we are all thrilled to see this project finally come together.”

Funds to light State Street Bridge were raised by private donations during a series of events held at Buhl Mansion Guesthouse & Spa over the past three summers. A grant was also secured from Visit Mercer County PA, whose mission is to market tourism in Mercer County, and also to help create new tourism attractions.

“This is truly a community project and a gift to our city, its residents, and our visitors. Even the power to operate the lights 362 nights a year is donated by Gilbert’s Risk Solutions and Winner Companies,” Ackley said. During the city’s three WaterFire events, the bridge will be dark to enhance the beauty of the fires on the Shenango River.

The ribbon cutting for the bridge lights will be at 9:30 p.m. near Donna’s Diner. Anyone wishing to see the inaugural bridge lighting could stand anywhere along the Shenango River banks from Silver Street to Connelly Boulevard. There will be a brief display of just a few of the possible 16 million color combinations available with the purchased lighting equipment.

The Sharon Beautification Commission would like to thank Visit Mercer County PA, Shenango Valley Chamber of Commerce, Chris Levitt Electric, Gilbert’s Risk Solutions, Donna’s Diner, Repco II, HHSDR Architects/Engineers, PennDot bridge department, Guy Cunningham and all the private donors who made this happen!

The group plans on doing a beautification project on the Silver Street bridge later in the year.

For information, contact the Shenango Valley Chamber of Commerce office at (724) 981-5880 or visit Facebook Event: “State Street Bridge Lighting” for more information.

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Visit MercerCountyPA
VisitMercerCountyPA is the Tourism Promotion Agency (TPA) for Mercer County, Pennsylvania. We are passionate about promoting Mercer County, PA as a destination for tourists.
Visit MercerCountyPA

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