BY RUTH RICE

RRICE@TRIBDEM.COM

Peking Acrobats will tumble into Johnstown for a show at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Pasquerilla Performing Arts Center, Pitt-Johnstown campus, Richland Township.

The Chinese acrobats are masters at wire walking, trick cycling, precision tumbling, somersaulting and gymnastics, juggling and balancing.

Tickets are $35 for adults, $33 discount and $10 for students.

Information: 269-7200 or (800) 846-2787.

Irish celebration

The fourth annual St. Patrick’s Day Celebration will be held at 8 p.m. Saturday at Ace’s, 316 Chestnut St. in the Cambria City section of Johnstown.

The local Celtic-Irish band, Tree, will take the stage at 8:30, and the bands Shades of June, YUM and Ribbon Grass will perform later.

Irish stew will be available, along with haluski, sausage, kielbasa and hot dogs.

Tickets are $10 and available at the door.

Information: 536-4176.

Uptown benefit

A red-tie gala to benefit the Keystone Chapter of the American Red Cross will be held at 6 p.m. Saturday at Pasquerilla Conference Center, 301 Napoleon St., downtown Johnstown.

The gala has an uptown theme, and music will be provided by The Uptown Band, playing a mix of jazz, funk, rock and pop.

Doors will open at 5:30, with dinner at 6:45.

A silent auction will be held throughout the evening.

Proceeds will benefit local disaster relief and service to the armed forces.

Tickets are $75 each.

Information: 255-1550 or gearyk@usa.redcross. org.

Great outdoors

The 12th annual Wildlife Day, “Nature, It’s in Our Hands,” will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the Community Arts Center of Cambria County, 1217 Menoher Blvd., Westmont.

This year’s live event will feature Benjamin Dean of Smithton, Westmoreland County, who will bring a variety of snakes, frogs, toads, salamanders and turtles and other Pennsylvania creatures for shows at 10:30 a.m. and noon.

Conservation groups will have informational displays set up, and children will be able to do several crafts.

Pizza, baked goods, coffee and soda will be available for purchase.

Admission is free.

Information: 255-6515.

Art of the future

“Artists of the 21st Century” will be on display through April 10 at Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art at Loretto and through April 17 at Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art at Ligonier.

The shows feature the works of more than 300 students from schools in Cambria, Somerset, Bedford, Westmoreland, Blair and Fayette counties.

Information: Loretto, 472-3920; Ligonier, (724) 238-6015.

Country duo

Country stars LeAnn Rimes and Josh Turner will perform at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Cambria County War Memorial Arena, 326 Napoleon St., downtown Johnstown.

Rimes is a two-time Grammy winner, and Turner has been inducted into the Grand Ole Opry.

All seats are $39.50.

Information: 536-5156, (800) 745-8499, (800) 745-3000 or www.ticketmaster.com.

Paddy’s party

Local musician Gordy Haluska will entertain at an early evening St. Patrick’s Day celebration at 5 Wednesday at the Ethnic Social Club on the fourth floor of the Heritage Discovery Center, 201 Sixth Ave. in the Cambria City section of Johnstown.

Haluska plays venues around Johnstown on his own and with the group Guitars Around.

His music includes songs from America, The Beatles, Dan Fogelberg, James Taylor and the Eagles.

Doors will open at 4:30, with special Irish beer, drinks and food available. There will be no cover charge.

Information: 539-1889.

Brass repast

“The Titan and Shining Brass” will be presented by Johnstown Symphony Orchestra at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Pasquerilla Performing Arts Center, Pitt-Johnstown campus, Richland Township.

The symphony’s brass section, including principal tubaist Zach Collins, will be featured, and Edward J. Sheehan Jr., president and chief executive officer of Concurrent Technologies Corp., will be guest conductor.

Tickets are $22 and $26 for adults, $15 for senior citizens and $10 for students.

Information: 269-7200 or (800) 846-2787.

Dramatic spotlight

Several high school plays will be onstage this week.

“The People vs. Mona” will be presented at 7:30 tonight and Saturday at Bishop Carroll High School, 728 Ben Franklin Highway, Ebensburg.

Tickets are $6 for adults and $4 for students.



“42nd Street” will be presented at 7 tonight and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at Guzzi Performing Arts Center, Bishop McCort High School, 25 Osborne St., Johnstown.

Tickets are $8 for adults and $5 for students.



“Dancers” will be presented at 7 tonight and Saturday at Portage Area High School, 84 Mountain Ave., Portage.

Tickets are $2.

Penguin paradise

“Penguins for Preschoolers” will be held from 10:30 a.m. to noon Saturday at the Johnstown Children’s Museum at Heritage Discovery Center, 201 Sixth Ave. in the Cambria City section of Johnstown.

This interactive workshop is geared toward children ages 2-4 and their parents and will be presented by Kelli Testa.

Children will explore the world of a penguin as they make crafts, read a story, play games and move and dance.

The cost is $5, or free to JAHA members.

Information: 539-1889.

Knitters’ niche

Sit & Knit will be held from 1 to 3 p.m. today at Knit 1 @ BlackSmith Exchange, 608 Grove Ave. in the Moxham section of Johnstown.

Knitters can share tips, techniques and stories at this event that is free and open to the public.

Information: 361-2049.

Writers’ workshop

“Night for Closet Poets & Writers” will be held at 7 tonight at Bottle Works Ethnic Arts Center, 411 Third Ave. in the Cambria City section of Johnstown.

Original poetry will be read by Robin Wirfel, a junior at Forest Hills High School, Sidman. She, along with her mother, Sandra, has launched a drive to collect poetry from fellow students as her senior project.

Following the readings, Kate Sewalk will lead a writing workshop.

The 45-minute workshop will culminate with participants producing a 3D representation of their finished work.

Sewalk is the proprietor of Tunnel Press, which was founded in 1974, to offer book arts programs in letterpress, relief printing and bookbinding.

The event is free to the public, but seating and participation in the writing workshop are limited.

Reservations: 536-5399.

Splish splash

A Splash Party to benefit the Patton Pool will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday at the pool at Cambria Heights High School, 426 Glendale Lake Road, Patton.

Refreshments will be sold, and everyone is asked to bring their own pool toys.

Proceeds will assist the Patton Park Commission in paying off the new liner, which has already been installed.

After the liner is paid off, the park commission hopes to raise funds to renovate the bathhouse.

The cost to attend the Splash Party is $4.

Donations may be sent to the borough office at Patton Municipal Building, 493 Third Ave., Patton.

Bare necessities

Auditions for Cresson Lake Playhouse’s production of Disney’s “The Jungle Book” will be held from 3 to 4:30 p.m. Thursday at Penn Cambria High School, 401 Linden St., Cresson, and from noon to 2 p.m. March 20 at the theater’s Ebensburg rehearsal hall at 526 W. Ogle St.

A cold reading will be provided from the script for actors, and dancers will be asked to dance.

Volunteers also are needed to work backstage on production crews.

“The Jungle Book” will be performed May 8-15 at the playhouse’s barn theater.

Information: 472-4333.

Outdoor art

“Nature, It’s in Our Hands,” a colored-pencil exhibit by Bedford County artist Donna Whitford-Housel, will be on display through March 26 at the Community Arts Center of Cambria County, 1217 Menoher Blvd., Westmont.

Her goal in her work is to reflect a love of the great outdoors and to honor those who taught her the importance of caring for nature.

The exhibit contains 50 pieces.

Information: 255-6515.

Art is elementary

The Somerset County Elementary School Show will be on display from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today and noon to 4 p.m. Saturday at Laurel Arts, 214 S. Harrison Ave., Somerset.

The exhibit will feature works in various art mediums from elementary students in kindergarten through grade 6 throughout Somerset County.

Information: 443-2433 or www.laurelarts.org.

Transitional art

“Kenneth Cotlar: Transcendental Transitions” will be on display through May 15 at Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art at Altoona, 1210 11th Ave., Altoona.

The exhibition features more than 60 of the Ebensburg artist’s abstract compositions, which have been created on a variety of surfaces, such as masonite, Plexiglas, aluminum or heavy raw duck canvas, using acrylic, oil and latex.

The artist comes to his unique style through transcendental meditation, a process of relaxing and clearing the mind of preconceived images.

Cotlar has worked as a graphic designer for many years and has been painting full time for nearly a decade.

His paintings have been exhibited in numerous juried shows and are held in private collections throughout the United States.

Cotlar will speak during a Lunch a l’Art program at noon April 7.

The cost of the program is $13 for nonmembers or $12 for members, and reservations are required.

Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays and 1 to 5 p.m. Saturdays.

Information: 946-4464.

Merging of ideas

“Colleen Browning: Realist – Illusionist” will be on display through March 19 at Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art at Johnstown, Pasquerilla Performing Arts Center, Richland Township.

Reality and illusion merge in the internationally acclaimed artist’s work, which includes realism, portraiture, abstract, a self-portrait, landscape and cityscape.

Browning’s medium is primarily oil painting.

The show features 30 of almost 100 of Browning’s works stored at the museum’s permanent collection in Loretto.

Museum hours are 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and one hour before arts center performances.

Information: 269-7234.

Artistic variety

“Twentieth Century Prints: Gifts of Allwyn and Ellen Levine” will be on display through June 5 at Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art at Loretto on the campus of St. Francis University.

The exhibit includes works by artists such as Jim Dine, Larry Rivers, Philip Pearlstein, Red Grooms, Alex Katz, Nancy Graves and Will Barnet.

Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays and 1 to 5 p.m. Saturdays.

Information: 472-3920.