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About 150 free tickets remain for Traficant tribute
YOUNGSTOWN
About 150 free tickets remain for a Nov. 30 event to celebrate the life of ex-U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr., who died Sept. 27.
About 2,150 tickets were distributed, said Katie Merrill, box office manager for the DeYor Performing Arts Center, the location of the Traficant memorial.
The remaining tickets will be distributed at the box office, open weekdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., until either all are given away or until the Nov. 30 event, which starts at 2 p.m., she said.
The doors open at 12:30 p.m. for the event at DeYor’s Edward W. Powers Auditorium.
There was talk of increasing capacity if the demand for the 2,300 tickets was great.
But Merrill said Friday that won’t happen and the box office will stop the giveaways after the 2,300 tickets are gone.
About 1,500 were given away Monday, the first day they were available. There was a good crowd on Tuesday, but it’s slowed since then, Merrill said.
Tickets are required to attend the Nov. 30 event.
The doors at Powers will open at 12:30 p.m. that day. Guests arriving before the 2 p.m. program will be able to view Traficant memorabilia and sign tribute pages for his family.
Guest speakers are expected, but none has been announced.
The program will feature a video tribute to the former 17-year congressman, who also served as Mahoning County sheriff from 1981 to 1984 before being elected to the U.S. House.
He was expelled from Congress in 2002 after being convicted of 10 felonies by a federal jury.