For almost 15 years, Ron Rometo has been spreading the word about the Penn-Trafford community simply by playing music.

Rometo in 2007 formed the Penn-Trafford Community Band, an organization that today is made up of more than 60 community members and three high school students. The band performs at various venues across Southwestern Pennsylvania, including in Westmoreland, Allegheny, Armstrong and Butler counties.

“It’s nice to have the Penn-Trafford community name going out to Kennywood and different places in Southwestern Pennsylvania and performing. These are places that would have never heard of us,” said Rometo, a 1963 Penn-Trafford graduate who played trombone in the high school band.

Rometo came up with the idea for the community band after assembling an alumni band in the fall of 2007 to perform during the Penn-Trafford Fall Festival.

After realizing the event brought together a group of “nice and talented” individuals, Rometo, along with a group of founding members, decided to create the community organization.

The band started out with 20 members but quickly grew as the organization played at festivals across the region.

Today, the community band plays 14 summer venues and up to six Christmas venues, Rometo said. In addition to the concert band, there is also a flute choir, saxophone ensemble and a jazz band, all of which are made up mainly of community band members, according to the organization’s website.

Each year, band members gear up for their season in March, when they meet once a week at Colton Hall in Claridge, Penn Township to rehearse music picked out by Rometo and Doug Skoretz, the band’s musical director and conductor. In all, the band learns 35 songs that include polkas, jazz music, classics and popular themes from television shows and movies.

“We play music that is familiar and liked by audiences of all ages,” Rometo said. “We play songs that people recognize.”

The variety of music, as well as the band’s willingness to travel to different venues, has allowed to organization to develop “quite a following,” Rometo said.

The organization has made a name for itself by performing at several popular Westmoreland County festivals including the Arts and Heritage Festival, the Ligonier Summer Concert Series, the Westmoreland Fair and during concerts at the Lamp Theater in Irwin. It also has played at PPG Place in Pittsburgh, Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens in Pittsburgh and at Renziehausen Park in McKeesport.

Looking forward, Rometo is hopeful the band will continue entertaining local community members while spreading the word about the Penn-Trafford community.

“Things have really been working out for this,” Rometo said. “We have a nice, solid group of band members. We take our music seriously, but we’re pretty laid back (and) friendly.”

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