“Our town is dying.”

  “There’s nothing to do in our town.”

“The people in our town just don’t care.”

Don’t say these things to Sharele and Rodney Hatfield.

As newlyweds, they moved to

Johnstown four years ago.

As TV stars, they can be seen this evening on WPSU’s broadcast of the show “Our Town: Johnstown 2010.”

The program is a series of short stories told by local residents about what makes Johnstown special.

About 20 local volunteers took their own cameras over a two-week period and descended upon the city, each with his or her own idea of what makes life here so good.

Sharele just wants people to know how welcome the community made her feel. She talks about the church family that embraced two strangers, the health club she and Rodney joined and how their personal trainer has become a friend.

She videotaped several of her favorite restaurants and mentions Rey Azteca in particular as a place that made them feel like family.

Her husband is so impressed by the schools here that he wanted people to know more about them. If you didn’t know better, you would think Rodney is in charge of alumni fundraising. The pride with which he speaks of the unique educational offerings could only come from a graduate, except he isn’t one. 

This sort of genuine affection for life in “our town” can be heard in every story.

Rose Price beams with pride as she talks about the 75th anniversary of the Johnstown Garden Club and its many efforts to keep our town beautiful.

Larry Olek can’t hide his joy when talking about the Resurrection Roman Catholic Parish and how the Rev. Alan Thomas is navigating the blending of ethnic cultures within the newly consolidated church family in Cambria City.

Rosalie Danchanko and her son Matt show great excitement for our future as they document new high-tech entrepreneurial efforts within the community, including their own.

Barb Zaborowski is almost giddy as she details the extraordinary rise of Pennsylvania Highlands Community College from a school without walls to a multicampus permanent presence in roughly 15 years.

The same 15-year period has seen Thunder in the Valley grow to become one of the top motorcycle rallies in the country. That story, along with an inspiring montage of our many and multifaceted outdoor recreational blessings, is delivered beautifully by Lisa Rager.

Those are but a few of the inspiring surprises that await the viewer.

As it turns out, the idea for this series is also about 15 years old, and it, too, is a regional success story.

Greg Petersen of WPSU, the public television affiliate out of State College, came up with the idea as a way, as

he puts it, to “make public TV truly public.”

Since 1996, he and his band of merry men and women have been visiting many of the towns that make up their viewing area – essentially all of central Pennsylvania – and asking locals to tell their own stories.

So successful was Greg’s idea that it is now duplicated by PBS affiliates across the nation that want to engage their audiences the way he has.

Since the series’ inception, Greg has facilitated more than 50 local communities telling their stories.

You may recall that “Our Town” has visited Johnstown before. In fact, I first met Greg 11 years ago, when he came here looking for volunteer filmmakers the first time. He kindly reminded me the other day that a considerably younger-looking me with less gray hair had told the story of Stackhouse Park the first time around. His memory, as it turns out, is pretty good.

He also told me that the program only ever tried to revisit a community once before and the results were disappointing. However, they thought they might try one more time with Johnstown.

Greg said that the trick is finding the right people with the right energy, and he has found plenty of both here. 

I want to encourage everyone reading this column to tune in to WPSU tonight to see how your neighbors feel about life in Johnstown. If you would like, come watch it with me at the City View.

Wherever you watch it, I guarantee you’ll beam with pride in “Our Town.”



Andy Lasky and his wife, Katie, own and operate City View Bar & Grill – “Atop Johnstown's Famous Inclined Plane.” Andy’s articles can be found at www.cityviewbarandgrill

.com.