A college student from Oil City has been on a special mission. His mission is to spread cheer by playing his guitar and harmonica on street corners throughout Northwestern Pennsylvania.

The mission is called 'Operation Good Vibes’ and it has been ongoing for 104 days and counting.

It was mid-March when Mitch Littler first began to hook up his guitar, microphone, and speaker at street corners in communities of Northwestern Pennsylvania and Northeastern Ohio.  The area was slowly recovering from the pandemic. 

"I was really just feeling like I needed to get out and do more music,” says Littler.  “There wasn't a lot happening. Now things are starting to open up a little bit, but there wasn't much happening and I really needed to play music for myself. I figured if a couple of people would dig it, that would be great."

There's been a lot more than a couple of people digging his music. He's played on street corners every day since mid-March except Mother's Day and Easter.  He's traveled to Clarion and Corry, Warren and Waterford, Greenville, Titusville, and most places in between.  This week, he has been performing on Dobbins Landing in Erie.

"I get to play music for people which is an awesome experience.  Something I hadn't been doing a lot.  Some people might think I'm crazy being out here, but I'm doing it actually not to go crazy,” says Littler

Mitch is on break from school.  He's a philosophy major at the University of Pittsburgh.  His philosophy about sharing his music is simple.  Just do it.

"You can think about it all you want and it's good to think about things and reflect and know where you see yourself, but you have to get to it,” he said.

It's been 104 days.  Summer will end.  Classes will resume.  Does that mean Mitch's street corner tour will be coming to a close?  Don't count on it.

"When wintertime comes, I don't know,” he said. “It gets a little rough but I've done it in the snow and the rain before.  As long as my fingers can keep moving, I can get about an hour in or something as long as it's not too cold."