Teresi: Jamestown is Ready for National Comedy Center Opening

The National Comedy Center in Jamestown, NY

JAMESTOWN – The National Comedy Center will open to the public on Wednesday, Aug. 1 and officials there say they are ready to go.

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Also ready to go is the city of Jamestown, which is expecting an influx of an estimated 30,000 people throughout the 5 days of the Lucille Ball Comedy Festival, which coincides with the NCC grand opening.

Jamestown mayor Sam Teresi said public safety officials are ready for the influx of visitors.

“The Police Department does a great job of traffic control. We had a meeting last week with folks from the Downtown Business Community – the Jamestown Renaissance Corporation (JRC). We also discussed our plans with those the manage the city parking system, All Pro Parking, the Police Department Administration, and the Corporation Counsel,” Teresi said, adding, “If we can have 15,000 people descending on downtown Jamestown for a parade on Friday night, all at one time, for the annual holiday parade, we can handle [the NCC opening and related activities].”

With the closure of the Main St. Bridge for the remainder of this summer, downtown traffic is seeing some congestion at times other corridors of the city, including Washington St. heading south onto the Washington St. Bridge.

Teresi said traffic flow on Washington St. was also recently disrupted because the traffic control device that helps coordinate timing of traffic lights was down for the past several weeks. However, that has since been fixed and traffic should be flowing more smoothly, just in time for the opening of the NCC.

The mayor also reminds all motorists – both local residents and visitors – that they can take advantage of the ample free, on-street parking throughout downtown after 5 p.m. on weekdays and throughout the day and evening on weekends.

Also to help with an influx of out-of-town visitors, the JRC has worked on putting up way-finding signs to help pedestrians and motorists  navigate through the downtown to get to any number of destinations connected with the Comedy Festival.