WPSU-TV plans a return to ‘Our Town’

December 1, 2010

PUNXSUTAWNEY — WPSU-TV is looking to revisit Punxsutawney for its popular “Our Town” series, according to the Punxsutawney Area Chamber of Commerce.

The “Our Town” series by Penn State Public Broadcasting filmed a program about Punxsy several years ago, but Marlene Lellock, Chamber executive director, said that Chamber board member TJ Sliwinski, a Reynoldsville resident, learned that WPSU-TV was filming an “Our Town” about Reynoldsville this past summer.

When Sliwinski told Lellock and other board members about the filming, Sliwinski then spoke to the WPSU-TV crew in Reynoldsville, the wheels were set in motion, and the station is scheduled to revisit its original program some time in the new year.

Lellock said she has reached out to the Punxsy business community to possibly earmark some funding in their 2011 budgets to take part in the program.

According to WPSU-TV, the show portrays a “day in the life” of a community, its people, places and happenings, all through the eyes of its residents, who use cameras provided by the station to film the personalities and places that define their town.

The programs are also interspersed with documentary footage and commentary from community leaders, Lellock said.

“This is a very good thing for the community,” she said. “I don’t know how many copies we had of the original (show,) but we sold them out. It’s kind of like a sales video for the community.”

Other towns that “Our Town” has profiled in the station’s 29-county viewing area have included Brookville, Brockway, Clarion, Clearfield, DuBois, Ebensburg, Hollidaysburg, Indiana, Kane, Ridgway, St. Marys, State College, Warren and others.