SitemapThere’s a lot of cool new stuff happening in this Rust Belt city parked just over the Pennsylvania-Ohio state line. But the best reasons to head west from Pittsburgh are the old traditions that Youngstown has stubbornly hung on to and proudly celebrates.
First, the new: The Youngstown Foundation Amphitheatre opens downtown with a “first look” event on Friday. With room for 4,800 people plus bars for adults and eventually a splash zone and playground for kids, it’s set on the Mahoning River where a factory used to manufacture equipment that processed and finished steel. Youngstown no longer needed that.
Steel built this city starting in the early 1900s, and steel’s dramatic collapse in the late 1970s was the death of the place, almost. But Youngstown is tough — steelworker/boxer/gangster tough. Youngstown is coming back. To read the full story from Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, click here.