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Offbeat festival to Rock the Arts
YOUNGSTOWN — Saturday’s Youngstown Rocks the Arts Festival will begin as a family event, but will get a little edgier as the evening progresses.
Activities for children are scheduled from 3 to 5 p.m., said Joy Serednesky, vice president of Art Youngstown, which is teaming with the Royal Oaks Bar and Grill to sponsor the event. The city of Youngstown is also a sponsor. Youngstown State University football players will be on hand from 3 to 6 p.m. to join in the family events.
The festival will be in the grassy area in front of Chevrolet Centre, and on Front Street between Walnut and Champion streets. It will wrap around the Mahoning Valley Thunder arena football game, which begins at 7:05 p.m. Saturday, and will include a tailgate party featuring barbecued ribs from the Royal Oaks.
“We think of it as an after-party for the game,” said Serednesky. The Thunder will take on the Green Bay Blizzard. It’s a dollar-beer night at Chevy Centre, and the first 2,000 fans will receive a free Thunder team poster.
Mayor Jay Williams will kick off the festival at 3 p.m., and entertainment will begin shortly after his address on two stages, culminating with a performance by dance-funk-jazz band Geo C and Tha Storm at 10:15 p.m. Rock and hip-hop groups are also on the schedule, as well as a live theater performance by Oakland Center for the Arts. Performances will alternate between the stages.
Adding to the evening’s offbeat atmosphere will be strolling performers, including a fire-eater, as well as a puppet parade, psychics, tattoo and piercing artists, body art, a spiritualist, drum circle and dance. Food vendors and a beer tent will be on the premises.
Since Art Youngstown is behind the event, artists will also be well-represented, with at least 20 demonstrating and selling their work.
Art Youngstown is an organization that seeks to raise the profile of visual art in the Mahoning Valley. Formed a year ago, the festival is its first fund-raiser.