Like ever-present July heat radiating from regional streets and sidewalks, outdoor revelry and festivals rise in this week’s Fresh Start – particularly in and around the Rubber City. Open-air celebrations dominate the week, with burgeoning merriment found in the Kent Blues Festival, Great Lakes Brewing Company’s Burning River Fest and the Akron Arts Expo at Hardesty Park. Throw in a bit of downhill excitement, and you’re in for a spectacular ride that will carry you through those tough winter months. Guaranteed.
Akron Attraction
Cain Park gets a lot of play for being the premier fine art festival in Northeast Ohio, but try talking to anyone who has been to the Akron Arts Expo at Hardesty Park. With a juried art show and sale, live entertainment and family friendly fun, attendees of this art-centric shindig at Hardesty Park positively love it. The West Market Street event offers diversity and accessibility, drawing thousands every year. Taste of Akron kicks off the weekend on Thursday, July 22 with local food, chefs and restaurateurs. A chic wine-tasting and silent auction follows on Friday, and when the weekend comes, expect art, art and more art of every medium and variety.
Mo’ Better Blues
Nearby Kent offers a whole lotta blues music with the Kent Blues Festival, which runs Friday and Saturday, July 23-24. Twelve venues serve as soap box and preacher pulpit for local and national headliners including the Midlife Chryslers, Austin “Walkin’ Cane,” Colin Dussault’s Blues Project, James Cotton Blues Band & Guy Davis and the legendary 15-60-75 (a.k.a. The Numbers Band). With the weather this nice, it’s hard to imagine anyone actually has the blues around here. But if you need a reason to cry in your beer that doesn’t involve LeBron James, head to Kent this weekend.
More on the Soap Box...
It’s been called “The Greatest Amateur Racing Event in the World.” Akron’s All-American Soap Box Derby World Championship is a tradition that dates back to the Great Depression, showcasing youthful riders in self-styled “soap-box cars” pulled by gravity at race-specific track Derby Downs. Check out the fun Saturday, July 24 starting at 8:30 am, where you'll also find a bevy of kids’ activities. Derby Downs is adjacent to the Rubber Bowl stadium and dead-ends at Akron Fulton International Airport. Come to think of it, the Derby and Akron Art Expo make one heck of a two-fer for you staycationers.
“Burn on, Big River”
In the immortal words of Randy Newman, “Now the lord can make you tumble, and the lord can make you turn, and the lord can make you overflow, but the lord can’t make you burn.” To that end, Great Lakes Brewing Company’s Burning River Fest offers green learning, eco-awareness, live music, local food and more, all inspired by the 1969 Cuyahoga River fire. Pat Conway of Great Lakes and I expound on the 2010 edition, held at the Historic Coast Guard station at Cleveland’s Whiskey Island, later this week on OhioAuthority.com.
