Robust growth frames Summer Festival of Arts

Expansion and enhance- ment are on the drawing board for Youngstown’s largest arts collaboration and celebration one month from now.

Come July 8 or 9, a veritable explosion of the visual and performing arts will keep downtown Youngstown and the Youngstown State University area booming with excitement.

We applaud the leaders of the 19th annual Summer Festival of the Arts Weekend for greatly expanding the reach of the signature July extravaganza.

The biggest and likely the best SFA Weekend will offer a whirlwind of activities to satisfy a smorgasbord of tastes four weeks from now.

The centerpiece of the weekend remains the YSU Summer Festival of the Arts, where about 80 artists once again will converge for a feast of tantalizing acts and arts. Other popular events at the flagship event, once again under the well-seasoned management of Lori Factor, include the ethnic food-filled Festival of Nations and the Artists Marketplace.

ENORMOUS GROWTH

The YSU fest certainly has come a long, long way since the early 1980s, when the Walk on Wick Saturday street fair along Wick Avenue was launched. By the late 1990s, when Walk on Wick was bursting at its seams with tens of thousands of visitors and participants, the YSU Festival of the Arts took root.

We’re pleased to see that tradition of consistent growth and diversity continue to mature. This year, the weekend festival will feature six – count them, six – headline events. In addition to the YSU fest, they include:

A Friday night concert on Central Square featuring a reunion of the Valley’s ever-popular Fabulous Flashbacks rock ‘n’ roll band.

St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church Festival on Thursday through Sunday.

The All AmeriCon Comics Convention inside the Covelli Centre on Saturday and Sunday.

Wine and Jazz Fest on Central Square with award-winning headline artist Alex Bugnon.

The 2DE Gospel Fest on Sunday night that will feature the acclaimed Israel Houghton and New Breed.

The growing scope and breadth of artistry on display over that weekend mirror the growing breadth and depth of the Greater Youngstown area’s arts community.

Individuals leading all of those events and Youngstown Director of Downtown Events Michael McGiffin are to be commended for the invaluable partnership they have formed in the name of upgrading the quality of life in the city.

As McGiffin aptly points out, “Summer Festival of the Arts will be a great testament of what this city has to offer and what’s in store for the future here. A collaboration like this is the future of the city of Youngstown, and [its] future is going to look better and better.”