Youngstown’s pre-Independence Day bar dash set for July 3

YOUNGSTOWN — The pre-Independence Day bar dash has two goals: to attract people to the city’s downtown and to have those who come downtown visit different bars and restaurants, the event’s organizer said.

The inaugural event last year attracted 430 participants. The goal this year is to get at least 400, said Lyndsey Hughes, the city’s director of events.

The July 3 event begins at 5 p.m. Pre-sale tickets for $5 are available at the 13 bars and restaurants participating in the dash.

Tickets are to be turned in the day of the dash in front of the Party on the Plaza location, 50 E. Federal St., with participants receiving two drink tickets.

Participants can also register the day of the dash for $7.

The first 100 people to visit all 13 locations will receive a downtown dash T-shirt.

Most of the establishments are on or near Federal Street.

They are Cassese’s MVR, the Youngstown Club, Cafe Cimmento, Buffalo Wild Wings, Barleys, Skeeters Jazz Bar, Downtown 36, the Old Precinct, Rosetta Stone, the Imbibe, the Downtown Draught House, Cedars and the Royal Oaks.

A charter bus will make the rounds of the establishments allowing participants to get from place to place without driving, Hughes said.

All proceeds will go to the Pincham Initiative Resource Center, a volunteer organization that helped children pass the Ohio Graduation Test with a nearly 100 percent graduation rate.

For the complete story, read Friday’s Vindicator or Vindy.com