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New Year’s Eve celebrations in Youngstown and Canfield Freshening up FIRST NIGHT
By GUY D’ASTOLFO
YOUNGSTOWN
First Night Youngstown will have more of an outdoor presence this year.
The annual New Year’s Eve celebration of arts and entertainment in the downtown area will include an outdoor stage for the first time.
The stage will be set up in Central Square, facing north, between Boardman and Federal streets. Dubbed the Main Stage, entertainment there will begin at 8:30 p.m. with the Purple Cat band, followed by HamWater, the Old Goats Band and then the headliner, dance-funk band Geo C and Tha Storm, around 10:30 or 11 p.m.
The ball drop also will take place on Central Square.
“We’re trying to do some new things this year,” said Betsy Johnquest, First Night coordinator. Toward that end, the fireworks will be set off on the Market Street Bridge, which will be closed to traffic. In the past, the fireworks were set off in the Covelli Centre parking lot.
“It will be a great place to do it,” said Johnquest. “Everybody will be able to see them. People who will be on Central Square facing the stage will be able to just look up and see the fireworks.”
One new venue this year will be Christopher’s, the restaurant-bar in the lower level of the City Center One Building.
“It’s a quiet place, kind of a romantic start to the evening,” said Johnquest. The Guilty Pleasures will play at Christopher’s from 8 to 11 p.m. All who enter the restaurant that night will have to have a First Night button ($10).
Another change will be the absence of food sales at the venues. That is so that the existing downtown restaurants can benefit.
“We’re trying to bring more people downtown and there are a lot of restaurants there,” said Johnquest. “We hope that [First Night visitors] give them their business.”
Johnquest said there also will be a few food trucks downtown that night.
Other new or returning events this year include ice sculptor Jeff Kaiser and horse-drawn carriage rides.
“We couldn’t do the carriage rides last year because the owner retired and we didn’t have time to find a replacement,” said Johnquest.
The winner of the annual contest to create the art for the admission button, which grants admission to all First Night Youngstown venues, was Leanne Lee of Girard. Each year, the art contest chooses a downtown building as the subject, and this year it was the Home Saving Building.
FIRST NIGHT CANFIELD
First Night Canfield will also return this New Year’s Eve, with a host of events that are mainly at Old North Church on Herbert Road.
This year, the Canfield event will end an hour early – at 11 p.m. – with fireworks, so families can get home by midnight, said Sarah Drokin, executive director.
“We are really catering to families,” said Drokin. “We are also really trying to encourage youth to pursue the arts.”
With that goal in mind, the FNC board was pleased with the winner of the button design contest: Emily Dunlap, a ninth-grade Canfield resident. She received a $300 prize for winning.
Dunlap’s oil painting, which is featured on the button that grants admission to all venues, depicts the village gazebo with fireworks going off in the sky.
Dunlap is a student of ballet Kathi’s Dance and Gym Center, and also plays piano. She is currently illustrating a children’s book.
Included with the purchase of a First Night Canfield admission button is a sheet of coupons with offers from Cocca’s Pizza, Zenobia, Stone Fruit Coffee, Oven Fresh Pizza, Tequila Jalisco, Piccadilly Parlour and Kim’s Confections.