Nearly 80 vendors offering their arts at Summer Fest at YSU

YOUNGSTOWN

It’s quite straightforward and expected for one to use a 1920s-style ironing board for removing wrinkles from a shirt or pair of pants, but if you want to use it to brush up on a John Fogerty lick here or an Eric Clapton solo there, you might do well to consult with Ed Wentling.

“This is a double-neck, steel guitar,” Wentling said in describing the $725 electric guitar that is attached to the top of a vintage ironing board and made from a cigar box.

The instrument may seem highly unusual to most musicians and nonmusicians alike, but in many ways, it represents a typical day at the office for Wentling, who owns Bayou Blues Guitars, a Farrell, Pa.-based business that specializes in building and selling unique handmade cigar-box guitars.

Wentling and his wife, Carol, also are among the nearly 80 vendors who are the main attraction of the 18th annual Summer Festival of the Arts at Youngstown State University.

The free, two-day event kicked off Saturday and has brought in numerous local and regional artists, musicians, photographers and others. The festivities continue from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. today at YSU.

Read more about the event in Sunday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.