Downtown Jamestown street closings will start today for the Gus Macker 3-on-3 basketball tournament.

Jeffrey Lehman, city public works director, announced Wednesday that the following streets will be closed this weekend: Lafayette Street from West Second Street to West Third Street will be closed to through traffic starting at 8 a.m. today through Monday morning; West Third Street from Washington Street to Clinton Street will be closed to through traffic starting at 6 p.m. today through the weekend; and West Second Street from Washington Street to Jefferson Street will be closed to through traffic starting at 6 p.m. today through the weekend. Motorists must use alternate routes of travel and motorists should use extra caution while driving near these areas.

The Post-Journal, Dunkirk OBSERVER and Times Observer of Warren, Pa., are hosting the return of the Gus Macker 3-on-3 basketball tournament in downtown Jamestown, with Media One Group acting as media sponsor for the event.

“Our group of newspapers, The Post Journal, The Dunkirk Observer and the Warren Times Observer, are very proud to be able to bring the Gus Macker tournament back to Jamestown. We want to thank all of the sponsors, players and fans that will attend for what I am sure will be another great weekend here in Jamestown,” said Michael Bird, publisher of The Post-Journal.

“I especially want to thank the city of Jamestown for all of their help and for paving the street where the games will be played,” Bird said. “The tournament is for a great cause, Alex Foulk Fund, that will help support the effort to lend assistance to those fighting addictions. Of course, this would not be possible without all of the volunteers from Kim Carlson’s group of dedicated volunteers, Bush Elementary staff, Lincoln staff and Delta Gamma Chapter of Beta Sigma Phi, JHS Key Club and Honor Society, (Jamestown Community College) girls basketball, AAU players, our newspaper employees and many more. Player registration is Friday night from 4-7 p.m. at the Northwest Arena and Saturday morning from 7 a.m. to noon. All players must be registered before their first game and must provide I.D., including birth certificates for youth teams. Games begin promptly at 8:30 a.m. Saturday morning and continue through Sunday.”

Liability waivers will be available at the registration site at the Northwest Arena, located at 319 W. Third St.

The Gus Macker tournament was previously held in and around the downtown Jamestown area by The Resource Center for nearly two decades, starting in 1997. After a few years in which The Resource Center had dropped its Gus Macker affiliation and hosted an in-house basketball tournament known as “Street Jam,” the tournament itself was put on hiatus and no official basketball tournament was held last year.

Twenty percent of the net proceeds from the basketball tournament will be donated to the Alex Foulk Fund. The fund was created by Kim Carlson, who is also the founder of A Fresh Start — an advocacy, grassroots group of volunteers dedicated to providing encouragement and support through personal experiences for those suffering directly or indirectly with substance abuse disorders, including drug addiction and alcoholism. Other proceeds will also be donated to various volunteer organizations that will be helping out at the event.

The Gus Macker tournament is designed so that anyone can play: male or female, young and old, short and tall, and at all levels of experience. Teams are computer-matched into male and female divisions within one of the following categories: junior, adult or top. The age, height and experience of all players are considered. Registered officials will be on-hand at every court to referee each game.