43
First Night Youngstown praised for its variety and entertainment
First Night Youngstown
Gallery
By Bruce Walton
YOUNGSTOWN
Saturday night was Austintown resident Ed Tesner’s fifth year volunteering for First Night Youngstown.
This year, he was stationed at the Youngstown Historical Center of Industry and Labor – the Steel Museum – at 151 W. Wood St. He said his favorite part about First Night is the opportunity to see old friends and the diversity of the events.
“I guess the variety would be the main thing,” he said. “It also keeps me busy.”
The variety of the 17th annual First Night event attracted waves of people from the Mahoning Valley area at 11 venues in the downtown area. Buttons that cost $10 for adults; $5 for military and students age 13-25, with ID; and free for children 12 and under allowed participants to go to all the events.
The weather was a tolerable 37 degrees, but a chilling wind and light mist pushed many families to run quickly to each new attraction.
Valerie Flanigan of Niles, her children Ava Flanigan, 7, Lydia Flanigan, 11, and Emily Martin, 12, along with Valerie’s friend Shelly Jones were warming themselves by one of the burn barrels downtown on their way to One Hot Cookie for a bite to eat. Valerie said she loves the family-friendly atmosphere to give her children something to do.
“We’re going to wear them out here so they can lay on the couch, watch the ball drop and we can play cards,” Valerie said.
At the steel industry museum, guests enjoyed Irish music by County Mayo and Latino music by Conjunto Requeno while visiting the galleries and exhibits.
Mark and Cathy Plegge from Salem came to enjoy the music stylings of County Mayo as musicians themselves. They also enjoyed the museum, which they’ve never seen.
“We do want to come back to take a little more time in depth because there’s so much here we didn’t realize,” she said.
Another cultural attraction was the Harambee Youth Group of Youngstown. They performed at 20 Federal Place, where 64 dancers and drummers, with ages ranging from 4 to 20, put on a display of traditional African music and dance. The Swahili word “Harambee” means “let’s do it all together” when translated into English.
Youngstown native Jaietta Jackson and her son Jibril came to see the performance. She said she loves the fact the city can include the ethnic heritage for so many at First Night.
“Harambee has been around for years, and it’s really a pleasure to see that they’re still out performing and that the city still supports that kind of dance and our black culture,” she said.
The evening was capped off by a fireworks display near the Market Street bridge.