Riding my bike around Presque Isle this weekend reminded me what a diverse place Erie is. I’m sure Erie always had the typical “old immigrant” communities of Italians, German, Polish, Russian, Irish etc. like most industrial Northeastern cities. And from our employment here, we see an influx of from a lot places–from Bosnia, and Mexico, from China and South Africa and India and elsewhere.

Saturday night, in fact, we were lucky to have a beautiful wedding of 2 of our employees, Khash Azizolahi and Shelley Barnes. Khash is of Iranian descent, though his family lives in Sweden, and Shelley is a local girl (avid readers of Berlin’s Wall will remember Shelley and Khash–Shelley’s the one who went to the Erie racetrack and picked all the winners after wondering aloud if all the horses for all the races were the same ones, just wearing different colors : ). Khash is the guy I fooled into thinking that I actually went to the Chelsea/Man U. game in Moscow last month when I was there : ). Khash and Shelley were both stud soccer players at Gannon, and a lot of their ex-teammates–many from other parts of the world were there to celebrate.

The wedding was wonderful, and a great example of the melting pot that is America and Erie–everything from country and rock to techno and traditional Iranian music. They are a wonderful and beautiful couple, and had a memorable wedding. Best of luck, guys!

But riding around the Peninsula, you can clearly see all kinds of people from all over the world picnicking and enjoying the beautiful summer weather in Erie–the place they have chosen to make their home.

I love that!

JB