GET ON BOARD — “Get on the Bus with Us!” is the theme of an Aug. 26 banquet and celebration fundraiser from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Serbian Picnic Grounds in Weirton that is hoped to raise funds to provide a permanent home for P&W Bus No. 99, a facility where it can be protected, restored and showcased. On board for the effort are, clockwise, from left, Nick Latousakis of Wine and Beverage Merchants, and Rod and Elaine Summers, owners of Summer Enterprises, who are among some of the sponsors; Dennis Jones and Savannah Schroll Guz, former director and current director, respectively, of the Weirton Area Museum and Cultural Center, event co-chairs; and Deidra Edwards, right, of Hancock County Savings Bank, a sponsor. Other sponsors so far are Starvaggi Industries, First Choice America, Steel Town Auto Sales, Hauser’s Furniture and Nardone Chiropractic. -- Janice Kiaski
WEIRTON — P&W Bus No. 99 needs a permanent home — a place where it’s protected from the elements and able to be restored.
That goal is one area residents can be a part of, if they “Get on the Bus with Us,” a catchy-named campaign the Weirton Area Museum and Cultural Center is promoting with a fundraiser banquet and celebration set for Aug. 26 at the Serbian Picnic Grounds in Weirton. It runs from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
The event is informal with casual attire “perfect,” according to Savannah Schroll Guz, executive director of the museum and cultural center, who is co-chairing the fundraiser and restoration along with Dennis Jones, former director.
The menu by Giometti’s Catering offers light hors d’oeuvres, salad, maple pork loin, six-cheese Italian chicken, vegetarian lasagna, roasted potatoes, gourmet cupcakes and a full bar with each ticket entitling a guest to a complimentary drink.
Tickets are $50 and can be purchased at the museum at 3149 Main St., Weirton, or online at https://ift.tt/3kNeZhT. The deadline to purchase tickets is noon on Aug. 20.
An overview of goals for the building and its appearance will be given along with a brief discussion of how it will “positively change the look of the downtown area,” Schroll Guz said.
Ohio Valley Cloak and Dagger Co. will provide entertainment with a 45-minute program called “Vaudeville Tonight!” “It features music and fully-acted, slightly modified sketches relevant to the early 20th century — the era when the unincorporated company town of Weirton was just developing and P&W Bus founder Mike Stavaggi first stepped off a ship in New York Harbor with $5 in his pocket and a goal to move to Weirton where his Aunt Rosalie Ballato lived,” she said.
Another event attraction is a Chinese auction. “We will have a wonderful selection of themed gift baskets, including something for Fiestaware lovers,” she said. “Also available will be the very last ‘Welcome Home Bus No. 99’ Fiestaware Christmas ornament in the discontinued color tangerine — a true collector’s item,” she said. Original art and artisan jewelry will be part of the silent auction offerings.
Add to that prizes and for all who purchase tickets to the banquet, a drawing where 10 winners will have something special to look forward to — an opportunity to ride the restored bus in a future parade.
“We will be at the Serbian Picnic Grounds, and we want everyone to be comfortable,” Schroll Guz commented about the venue atmosphere. “To us, the most important thing is that everyone enjoys themselves. We consider this both a fundraiser as well as a celebration of bus No. 99’s return home.”
The goal is to raise at least $30,000, the building itself anticipated to cost about $26,000. Additional funds will be needed to create a concrete foundation in compliance with the city of Weirton’s building codes, according to Schroll Guz.
“We are looking to create a 30-foot-by-40-foot-by 12-foot metal building with one man door and two roll-up doors that will allow us to drive the bus in the front and out the back, which will offer vital maneuverability during parades and other events when No. 99 will be on the move,” she said. “The building will be a restoration center, where volunteers can work on her in a protected environment that is shielded from the elements. It also will serve as an annex to our larger museum complex and will be made available for tours as well as be the highlight of many future special events,” she continued, noting it will be a showcase to display P&W bus memorabilia.
“Ultimately, with this new building and its external appearance, which will incorporate the work of regional artists, we want to reshape people’s perceptions of our downtown area,” she said. “The museum complex is located in what recently has been dubbed the ‘Arts and Culture District,’ and we’re designing the No. 99 museum annex and restoration center with this movement in mind. While we at the museum preserve our city’s history, we also see ourselves as central to the cultural development that is crucial to Weirton’s forward motion, to the development that will make us a model for other post-industrial cities,” she said.
“This new building is central to that in a number of ways. Bus No. 99 is a symbol not only of Weirton, but of the American Dream. Mike Starvaggi, who arrived in America as a 17-year-old with $5 in his pocket and no ability to speak English, had an amazing ambition to work and achieve. And with that ambition, he created a legacy that still nurtures so many local organizations. His story alone and the bus that represents it offers an inspirational message that anything is possible with hard work and ambition. I can’t think of a better way to tell our city’s continuing story of dedication and resilience. With this museum annex and restoration center, we can expand the breadth and depth of our city’s unique story,” Schroll Guz said.
Jones explained that Starvaggi started Hilltop Bus Lines, which became P&W Bus Lines and that P&W Bus Lines became part of Starvaggi Industries.
A letter to recruit sponsorships explains that in late summer 2019, P&W Bus No. 99 returned to Weirton after years of standing exposed in a salvage yard near Akron.
“Dennis Jones rescued No. 99 from deteriorating completely and taking with her the memories of so many people. The bus was towed home to Weirton and parked in the lot across the street from the museum,” Schroll Guz wrote. “Generous volunteers, like John Skerbetz, fitted No 99 with new tires, and Brad Sims provided and installed two marine batteries.”
A story published in the Herald-Star and The Weirton Daily Times about its return was subsequently picked up by the Associated Press and printed in newspapers across the United States. “It’s a story that resonated with people beyond the geographical boundaries of Weirton. And No. 99’s story continues.”
The bus is under a protective silver tarp, which creates a Catch-22 situation, Schroll Guz agreed. The first tarp blew off and was irretrievable. “One time around Thanksgiving I came back and she was completely uncovered, footage showed it blowing away in a strong wind.
A stronger tarp on now has developed a rip in the back, exposing one end. “The tarp is problematic somewhat because it traps moisture. It keeps the bus protected, but the moisture that collects underneath and the condensation is kind of detrimental to the metal and anything else that’s in there. Moisture is the enemy of many things,” Schroll Guz said.
“Every time we tarp it, we’re hemorrhaging money, and it takes three or four of us to put it on,” she said.
“The reason we want to do the building first is we want a safe place for volunteers to work and to get her out of the weather,” Schroll Guz said.
“And we want a home established for it –we had the title transferred to the museum so it is in the museum’s name — and to have it on museum property,” Jones added, estimating that the building could be done in a year, the bus restoration “in a couple.”
Sponsorship levels vary and include:
– Driver, $2,500. Sponsors will have their logo permanently displayed in the bus building as well as on the No. 99 web page, will enjoy two banquet tables with eight guests at each table, and table service.
– Bus Door, $1,500. Sponsors will have their logo permanently displayed in the bus building as well as on the No. 99 web page, will enjoy one banquet table with a total of eight guests, and table service.
– Windows, $750. Sponsors will have their logo permanently displayed in the bus building as well as on the No. 99 web page and will receive four banquet tickets.
– Wheels, headlights and bumper, $350. Sponsors will have their logo permanently displayed in the bus building as well as on the No. 99 web page and will receive two banquet tickets.
– Marquee Advertising, $150. Sponsors will receive a marquee-style ad inside the bus and on the No. 99 web page for one year (sold annually), along with one banquet ticket.
For information about the fundraiser or how to “Get on the Bus With Us,” call (304) 224-1909.
“We continue to welcome and encourage sponsorships, as we rely on our community’s support,” Schroll Guz said. “Every organization that contributes to the annex construction will be forever represented within the building and will be helping us to add another valuable destination to our city. I can’t tell you the number of times I have directed visitors from other states and even other countries to other local businesses, particularly restaurants, stores, hotels and local attractions. We are all interconnected here, and the efforts that advance us at the museum will absolutely advance others within our community because the museum will always pass along positivity to our fellow businesses,” she said.
Two of several sponsors on board commented on why they’re involved.
Rod Summers and his wife, Elaine, owners of Summer Enterprises, are one sponsor on board with the effort. Summers explained why it’s important to support it.
“The bus was a part of my life because it ran past my house on Weircrest every day at the same time, seven minutes after the hour, so I planned my time or our activities to when that bus would come,” he said. “I’ve ridden the bus in my youth to the Millsop Community Center, to the Marland Heights swimming pool. I rode it to Steubenville I think it was to Treasure Island at the time for shopping so because I didn’t drive, obviously, the bus provided transportation not just for me but for many others in the community, so that’s why I kind of take it personal to try to get this thing revived and be a part of Weirton,” Summers said.
Another sponsor, Nick Latousakis of Wine and Beverage Merchants, expressed a similar sentiment.
“I grew up on Orchard Street downtown, and, back then, a lot of the immigrant families didn’t have cars so that was our mode of transportation, so I rode the buses everywhere, up onto Weirton Heights, up to Weircrest, over to Steubenville, and it just brings back a lot of memories and then you see the bus that came back,” Latousakis said. “Dennis and I were having a lot of conversations about it when he found the bus in northern Ohio and was working on bringing it back to Weirton and what was involved and all.”
Other sponsors so far are Hancock County Savings Bank, Starvaggi Industries, First Choice America, Steel Town Auto Sales, Hauser’s Furniture and Nardone Chiropractic
“These things take time, and it’s not going to be a rush thing,” Jones said of the bus building. “We’re going to have a nice conceptual artist rendition made by Savannah, she’s going to draw up for us and that’s what you start with and you build from there. You come up with the design plans and once you come up that main package you want to order and have put in, you come up with exterior looks which is what Savannah is going to draw for us so the public knows what we’re doing,” he added.
“I definitely want to see it through,” Jones said of the restoration undertaking. “It’s going to get done, but it’s just going to take time. Good things take time.”
He offered his insight on why it’s important to do so.
“This was a big part of Weirton history from the 1930s clear up to 1976 when they stopped running,” Jones said in response to why the building and restoration are important to do. “If you look at all the old archive pictures here of street scenes of Weirton in the museum, just about in every street scene you see a P&W bus coming down the street. That’s how people got around. That’s how I got around. When I was in high school I used to work down at Isaly’s,” Jones said. “I’d get a ride down to Islay’s and take a P&W bus home every evening.
“Everybody has a story like that with a P&W bus. And there are other stories, too, which later on we’re working on a documentary. We’re going to collect people’s stories and put them in this documentary,” he said.
Schroll Guz said about five interviews have been done with more in the works. “We’ll be doing more interviews. They kind of stopped with COVID, so we will be starting that up again,” she said.
“We’ve been talking to ex-bus drivers. They saw a lot on these buses, and they like to tell the stories as they recollect them,” Jones said.
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