Weekend Entertainment | Downtown Is Open for Fun

Downtown Youngstown can’t reverse its fortunes in a single day, but it will get a push in the right direction Saturday.

That will be the date of The Downtown Open, a free, all-day event presented by the city, 717 Credit Union and other sponsors.

The goal is to get folks back downtown. That will certainly happen, because The Open will include a free concert by Red Wanting Blue – which draws fans by the thousand even when the show isn’t free.

The city is hoping that many in the throng will have such a good time that they’ll keep coming back downtown. After all, having fun can be habit forming.

Downtown used to be ground zero for nightlife, but that came to a screeching halt during the Covid-19 pandemic. It never got a chance to recover afterward because of closed streets due to reconstruction and then the explosion at Realty Tower.

The Open might be the thing that gets the momentum started.

The core event will be the concerts, which will take place on an outdoor stage at the corner of Federal and Phelps streets. The weather looks like it will cooperate.

All downtown bars and restaurants will be open for dining and drinks throughout the day and evening.

The Open is also timed to take advantage of several other events that will draw crowds downtown, creating the synergy that only a city can muster.

Here is a closer look:

• Noon to 4 p.m.: Oh Wow! The Roger & Gloria Jones Children’s Center for Science & Technology will offer free admission.
• 4 p.m.: Howard Howell, jazz-R&B band.
• 6:15 p.m.: Blaq Rose.
• 7:45 p.m.: Youngstown’s Houseband.
• 9:45 p.m.: Red Wanting Blue.

DJ Chip Banks will be the emcee.

Also happening in the center city Saturday:

• Youngstown Film Festival, noon until roughly 9 p.m. at The Vault, 6 W. Federal St. (former Chase Bank location); $30.
• Youngstown State University football game against South Dakota State University (homecoming), 6 p.m. at Stambaugh Stadium. For tickets, go to YSUSports.com.
• “Rocky Horror Picture Show” screening with audience participation, 7 p.m. at Penguin City Brewing, $5.
• Youngstown Phantoms vs. Lincoln Stars hockey game, 6 p.m. at Covelli Centre. Go to YoungstownPhantoms.com.
• “Nightlights” Halloween show at 8 p.m., and “Night-Lite” children’s Halloween show at 2 p.m. at Ward Beecher Planetarium at YSU. Free admission to both.
• “Living Dead: The Musical,” presented by Rust Belt Theater, 8 p.m. at Club Switch, 221 Belmont Ave.; call 330 507 2358.
• “Little Shop of Horrors,” presented by Millennial Theatre Company, 7:30 p.m. at Hopewell Theater, 702 Mahoning Ave. Go to MillennialTheatre.org.

There is one more huge event this weekend: The annual Pumpkin Walk at Twilight from 4 to 8 p.m. at Fellows Riverside Gardens, 123 McKinley Ave., on the west side of Youngstown. 

Admission is free. The Pumpkin Walk, which draws thousands of people every year, is quite a fun spectacle. Hundreds of jack-o-lanterns, many uniquely carved and all with lit candles, line the walkways of the gardens to the delight of kids of all ages. It gets crowded.

For a complete look at everything going on in the Mahoning Valley, check out The List.

Pictured at top: Red Wanting Blue will headline a free concert in downtown Youngstown on Saturday night. (Photo by Stephen Albanese)

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.