11th annual pub tour benefits Friends of Dormont Pool
Dormont Pool has been hosting swimmers for almost a century, and a fundraising event to help keep it open now has been going on for more than a decade.
The 11th annual Dormont Pub Tour to benefit Friends of Dormont Pool is scheduled for 7 p.m. to midnight April 29 at, serendipitously, 11 local establishments.
The way it works is that participants who purchase the official 2017 Pub Tour T-shirt will qualify for special pricing and food as they make their way around the borough. Friends of Dormont Pool benefits only from shirt sales.
This year’s shirt design is by Edgewood resident Adam Szymkowiak, who learned about the event because his wife, Adrienne, works with Friends volunteer Val Prosser.
“A couple of weeks ago, I just finally finished the paperwork for forming my own graphic design company,” he said about his fledgling firm, Helmet Design.
“‘Helmet’ was my nickname in high school, since I had a head of hair that, when it grew up, resembled a helmet,” Szymkowiak explained. “I deejayed a bit, and people called me ‘DJ Helmet.’ So I just kind of rolled with that.”
Plus he has one particularly memorable experience spinning tunes.
“I actually met my wife through deejaying,” he recalled. “She used to bartend at 1947 Tavern in Shadyside, and my friend – he also was a bartender – asked if I wanted to deejay down there. And I said, sure. So things just kind of fell into place, and here we are.”
Dormont Pub Tourers will find his shirt design to be familiar.
“It’s kind of themed off the Pittsburgh Pirates jersey, pretty much,” Szymkowiak said. “Baseball season just started. It’s spring. People can identify with that type of imagery.”
The T-shirt is available for $16 at all participating pubs through April 28. Specialty sizes and cuts- $20 for 3XL and 4XL, and $22 for “girlie” shirts – must be ordered online at www.showclix.com/event/DormontPubTour2017.
Shirts can be picked up from 2 to 10 p.m. the day of the event at the Friends of Dormont Pool tent in the Hollywood Lanes parking lot, Wisconsin and West Liberty avenues. For more information, contact Val at 412-915-2604. Feel free to text.