METRO DIGEST || Help clean near banks of Mahoning River today

Help clean near banks of Mahoning River

YOUNGSTOWN

The Friends of the Mahoning River is conducting a cleanup behind the B&O Station on Mahoning Avenue downtown from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. today.

The group asks volunteers to bring weed-eaters, chain saws, wheelbarrows, shovels, rakes, orother tools to remove brush and trash. The work is in preparation for the organization’s Riverfest on Oct. 6.

W. Federal closing today for downtown boxing

YOUNGSTOWN

West Federal Street between Hazel and Phelps streets will be closed today from noon to 8 p.m. for a boxing event.

Program set today on Brier Hill heritage

LIBERTY

The Ethnic Heritage Society of Youngstown will kick off its 2012-13 season today with “Remembering St. Rocco’s — Brier Hill’s Other Italian Church,” presented by the Rev. Deacon John C. Harris.

The event, free and open to the public, is at 10 a.m. at Kravitz’s Deli, 3135 Belmont Ave. Complimentary refreshments will be provided.

Rev. Harris, a former parishioner who served as clerk of the church’s last vestry, will describe the complex developments that led a group of parishioners from St. Anthony’s Catholic Church in Brier Hil to form an independent parish in 1907.

He has sought to preserve the history of the church and also will share photographs and other artifacts connected to St. Rocco’s.