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County agency hits right note, saves downtown jazz fest
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Kim Waters, a firmly established jazz saxophonist with 16 top 10 singles and four top-selling CDs, will headline the jazz fest. The event will be at 7 p.m. July 12 on Central Square downtown.
By GUY D’ASTOLFO
YOUNGSTOWN
The jazz festival is on.
The annual concert that is part of the Summer Festival of the Arts was in jeopardy for the past couple of months.
It was kept alive thanks to an eleventh-hour effort.
Kim Waters, a smooth jazz saxophonist, will headline the jazz fest, which will begin at 7 p.m. July 12 on Central Square downtown.
The jazz fest was in question because of the turmoil in the city’s office of downtown events. Lyndsey Hughes, who headed the department for several years, handled the jazz fest in past years.
However, Hughes was on leave pending the result of a sexual harassment lawsuit she had filed against former city official DeMaine Kitchen. Hughes left the post after the settlement. The position remains open.
The Mahoning County Convention and Visitors Bureau, which had been a collaborator with the Summer Festival of the Arts in past years, stepped in to make sure the jazz festival was not eliminated.
Linda Macala, executive director of the CVB, contacted Eric Ryan Productions, which was able to book Waters. The promotions company is headed by Eric Ryan, who also is the director of Covelli Centre.
“We hated to lose the event,” said Macala, noting that the Tour of the Valley bicycle race, also an annual part of the Summer Fest, had already bowed out this year.
Macala said she was initially concerned that there wouldn’t be enough time to find a jazz artist at such a late date, because most musicians book their summer shows well in advance. The CVB contacted Ryan in May.
Two decades since the release of his debut album, Waters is a firmly established jazz star with 16 top 10 singles and four top-selling CDs, with total sales in excess of 2 million albums.
Opening the jazz festival will be an ensemble composed of students from the Dana School of Music at Youngstown State University. An as-yet unnamed local act also will be added to the bill in the near future, said Ken Bigley of Eric Ryan Productions.
Lori Factor, director of the SFA, which is sponsored by Youngstown State University and takes place July 12-13 on and around the campus, touted the collaborative nature of the event.
This year, working together was more critical than ever, she noted, with the last-minute flurry of activity to keep the jazz festival alive.
Collaboration, in fact, was the word of the day at a news conference Tuesday morning at YSU to reveal details about the SFA.
“When we heard that the Tour of the Valley had been canceled and the jazz festival was in question, we worked together to salvage it,” said the CVB’s Macala. “Without the cooperation of everyone involved, this would not have happened.”
Macala called the SFA and the jazz fest “one of the highlights of the summer.”
The focal point of the SFA is on the main quad of the YSU campus, where more than 75 artisan crafters and artists display and sell their wares in a juried show. There is also a full schedule of live music, theater and dance performances, and the Festival of Nations, which features ethnic foods and cultural displays and performances.
The SFA spawns ancillary events and displays at the museums, churches and cultural centers adjacent to the YSU campus.
Most popular of these is St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church Summerfest, located on the church grounds at 22 N. Walnut St., near Choffin Career Center. The St. Nicholas Summerfest, which runs July 10-13, features authentic Greek food, live music and dance.