Nationality Days planned this weekend in Ambridge

When the 47th annual Ambridge Nationality Days begins Friday along Merchant Street, event go-ers will notice plenty of changes.

For starters, the event spans just three downtown blocks this year with vendors placed along the west side of Merchant Street, Ambridge Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Jeremy Angus said. In years past, entertainment and vendors were stretched across four blocks.

The event's stage also has a new home - in front of the Ambridge chamber office at 562 Merchant St.

Make no mistake, though, Nationality Days remains the same event Beaver Valley visitors have come to know and expect, Angus said.

"We have merely taken the festival and condensed it in terms of its physical location for a better social and logistical environment," Angus said.

The festival will run Friday and Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sunday from 11:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.

In what is the focal point of the three-day festival, Nationality Days will continue to offer local and regional entertainment, vendors and ethnic foods served by many of the churches in Ambridge, including St. Mary's Byzantine Catholic Church and Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church.

The event's parade takes place Saturday at noon and will travel through the festival from 14th and Merchant streets to Fourth and Merchants.

Some 50,000 people are expected to attend the weekend event which Angus and others have planned for months.

Angus said he is "thrilled" for this year's festival. "With our amazing staff and great vendors, this will be sure to be another memorable event with a chance to showcase the great communities we live in," he said. "This weekend is our chance to shine."