'Start Up' episode featuring New Kensington set for next month

A premiere has been set for the episode of a PBS series focusing on the revitalization of downtown New Kensington.

The episode of “Start Up” will be shown at 6 p.m. Friday, Nov. 11, at Voodoo Brewery, 956 Fifth Ave.

The show’s host, Gary Bredow, and his crew filmed the episode in June. Focusing on Olde Towne Overhaul, the episode is the seventh of the series’ 13-episode 10th season, Bredow said.

“We love this episode,” Bredow said.

The episode will post online to pbs.org on Nov. 11; air on WQED at 6:30 a.m. Nov. 12; and premiere on PBS World Channel at 1:30 p.m. Nov. 13, Bredow said. All television air dates are tentative.

In addition to Olde Towne Overhaul, the New Kensington episode will feature Sweet Alchemy Bake Shop and the ax-throwing business Las Hachas.

Las Hachas is seen in the trailer for the season, as is Mike Malcanas, president of Olde Towne Overhaul and owner of Voodoo Brewery in New Kensington.

In his voiceover in the trailer, Bredow said small-business owners are showing why they are the backbone of the American economy as the country continues to recover from extraordinary challenges.

He says they talked with a variety of diverse business owners to understand how they learned to adapt, innovate and reinvent themselves.

“When I told people I was starting a brewery, everybody looked at me like, you have to be insane,” Malcanas says in the trailer.

Other Pittsburgh-area businesses featured in other episodes are SurfSup, which offers guided stand-up whitewater paddleboarding tours and instruction; Churn Homemade Ice Cream and Coffee; and Module, which builds customizable, energy-efficient modular homes.

Olde Towne Overhaul was approached in May about being featured in the series, said Michelle Thom, operations manager of Olde Towne Overhaul and Voodoo Brewery in New Kensington.

“The only challenge was trying to incorporate some of the small businesses we are helping to ‘Start Up’ without the audience losing track of the main story, as usually the focus of each episode is only on one business,” she said. “Together, we came up with a game plan to include two other small businesses that would be a good fit for the episode.”

Thom said they have been promised it’s one of the season’s best episodes.

“The episode will look at the city as a whole and the participants who are actively involved in helping to revitalize the community through small business,” she said.