Last December, the Rialto Theatre and The Summit FM invited Akron’s music fans and concert lovers out of hibernation for a brand new festival called “Kenmore Winter Break.”

“Akron loves music and residents spend all summer going to outdoor festivals,” explained Rialto Theatre co-owner Seth Vaill. “Once October rolls around the outdoor music festivals and events all stop for the year so we thought why not bring those kinds of festivals indoors during a cold weather month when people are ready for a live music fix.”

The second annual Kenmore Winter Break will take place on Friday, December 2, and Saturday, December 3, and brings 12 bands and solo performers to the Rialto Theatre & Living Room stages.

Two of Akron’s most beloved bands were selected to headline each night of the event – punk/rock quartet Detention on Friday and rock/pop/indie band Big Pop on Saturday.

Sharing the Rialto Theatre stage with Detention and Big Pop are local hip-hop legend Floco Torres – who will be joined by Akron guitar hero Dave Rich (The Beyonderers, Houseguest), dad rockers Glenn Lazear, EarthQuaker Devices staff band Nervous Future, and Cleveland alt rockers LILIEAE.

The event also features six of Northeast Ohio’s best known solo performers in the Rialto Living Room, which is also home to Paninoteca – Kenmore’s newest eatery.

“The 330 area has so much lifeblood of music and culture,” said Brad Savage, Program Director for The Summit FM. “Our radio station supports independent and emerging hometown artists and is proud to have all this great music in our backyard. Kenmore Winter Break is a great way to showcase some of it heading into the Holiday season!”

The artists featured on the Rialto Living Room stage include musicians Rolling Boxcar International, Ray Flanagan, Katy Robinson, and Jeff and Thomas from Run Thomas Run, as well as poets Raja Belle Freeman and Danielle Nicole Nikki Dixon.

“Kenmore Winter Break was such a great time last year and we are thrilled that the Rialto is hosting it for a second year,” said musician and Kenmore Neighborhood Alliance Promoter & Experience Manager Corey Jenkins, adding “as a musician it’s a lot of fun to play, and as someone who loves catching live music on Kenmore Blvd. it’s something I am excited to attend.”

Performances begin at 6 p.m. both nights and run non-stop until the last band of the evening hits its final note in the theatre around 11 p.m. or so.

The Kenmore Winter Break Music Festival sponsors include Akron-based manufacturers SIT Strings and EarthQuaker Devices, as well as Kenmore guitar destinations The Guitar Department and Lay’s Guitar Shop, and Dave Burdge Recording – an Akron-based video production company. One hundred percent of sponsor contributions go toward paying the musicians performing during Kenmore Winter Break.

Single night tickets for Kenmore Winter Break are $15 and weekend passes are $25 and are available now at therialtotheatre.com.

Photos by Jason Chamberlain

What began as a way to spread joy to Kenmore residents during the COVID-19 pandemic has quickly become a holiday tradition.

On Friday, December 2 from 6 to 9 p.m., Kenmore Neighborhood Alliance and the Kenmore Boulevard business will host the third-annual Light the BLVD event, featuring dozens of freshly decorated storefronts, live music, a fully lit median and holiday activities for the whole family to enjoy.

Kenmore’s newest live music venue, Buzzbin Art Music & Shop, will host a holiday singalong with Rubber City Ukes and “the world’s greatest Christmas band” Missile Toe. In addition, the Rialto Theatre will host night one of its second-annual Kenmore Winter Break Music Festival. Other musicians will perform in select shops, and Santa Claus will be on hand for pictures and to spread some holiday cheer to families.

“This is a great opportunity for the community to come together, get in the spirit and support our local businesses,” said Tina Boyes, executive director of Kenmore Neighborhood Alliance.

Throughout the season, you’ll be able to vote for your favorite decorated storefront on Kenmore Neighborhood Alliance’s Facebook page @kenmoreohio. The decorator of the most loved window will be awarded a $100 gift certificate to their favorite Kenmore Boulevard business.

Light the BLVD artists, specials and locations will be added as they are confirmed at betterkenmore.org/events.

by Abigail Stopka

After Sharetta Howze suffered a brain injury, she found herself questioning her purpose in life. “When I became disabled, I felt like my life was over because I couldn’t do anything I loved anymore.”

As an African- American woman with a brain injury, Sharetta felt like a member of two underrepresented communities. “I used art through my occupational therapy which helped me heal.” That inspired her to found the nonprofit Hidden Tr3sures. Now, she helps others with disabilities or overwhelming situations heal through creative coping.

“Creative coping to me is an experience. It is a chance for people to just take a second to breathe and write down their thoughts. it is an opportunity to heal,” she explained. It’s this process that led her to create the nonprofit Hidden Tr3sures.

“The meaning behind the name Hidden Tr3ssures is that you are a treasure. Just because you are disabled or are facing struggles doesn’t mean that you are denied. You are still a treasure,” Sharetta said.

Hidden Tr3sures is a support group for people with struggles and disabilities. It is a safe space that provides the opportunity for disabled people to express themselves in a way that is accessible to them. It allows people to express themselves through multiple platforms such as painting, writing, dancing, singing or even just having a shoulder to lean on when times are tough. “It is important for everyone to know that we all have a voice, and every voice is special and unique, and it can make a difference,” she said. “I want everyone to know that they do have a platform for their voice here.”

Hidden Tr3sures will be hosting live poetry during Kenmore First Friday, this Friday August 5th at 6 p.m. in the McCutchan Courtyard. The Black Artist Guild will serve wine and visitors can expect to be encouraged and empowered. A variety of poets will be sharing their own journey of healing. There will also be a chance to participate in open mic. “We are all hidden treasures, and we are here to help bring that out of people. We are working on ourselves in hopes of bringing out the best in others,” said Sharetta.

To learn more about Hidden Tr3sures, visit their Facebook page or website at hiddentr3sures.com. To learn more about Sharetta, www.sharettalatrice.com/blog.

Kenmore Neighborhood Alliance in partnership with Akron Civic Commons and Rotary Club of Akron are excited to announce the return of Kenmore First Fridays to the historic Kenmore Boulevard business district. The events will kick off June 3 with live music from the energetic honky-tonk group The Shootouts, whose third album, “Stampede,” is being produced by 10-time Grammy Award winner Ray Benson. The album will also feature special guest appearances from country legend Marty Stuart, Buddy Miller and their touring partners, Asleep at The Wheel.

Joining The Shootouts on the main stage will be local favorites and self-proclaimed “fun band” Akronauts, and additional live music will be programmed by Akron Recording Company and the youth-based nonprofit First Glance’s hip-hop program and will be sponsored by Cargill and Kenmore Chamber of Commerce. In addition, Oddmall’s “The Great Grassman Gathering” will feature over 40 purveyors of art, games, toys, comics, collectables, and all things odd, geeky, bizarre, imaginative, and wonderful. Oddmall’s presence in June marks the first in a series of market partners scheduled to appear each month.

Kenmore First Fridays will take place every first Friday of the month beginning June 3 and will continue through Sept. 2. The free events will run from 6 to 9 p.m. and will feature live music, vendors, family activities, food trucks and an outdoor beer garden with a rotating cast of breweries that include HiHo Brewing Company, Lock 15 Brewing Company and Thirsty Dog Brewing Co. See the full schedule below:

• June 3: The Shootouts with Akronauts, plus Oddmall: The Great Grassman Gathering
• July 1: Big Pop with The Buffalo Ryders, plus SIT Strings presents Virgil Lay Day and Torchbearers’ Inaugural Community Volunteer Fair
• August 5: Free Black! with Shelby Olive, plus East Ave. Market presents “Summer Impressions” community art project
• September 2: Marc Lee Shannon with Indré, plus Crafty Mart

“This year, we’re celebrating the fifth anniversary of our Kenmore Better Block event, which really kick-started our community’s revitalization efforts,” said Tina Boyes, executive director of Kenmore Neighborhood Alliance. “Since then, we’ve added more than $1.5 million in new investment, an historic district and 12 new businesses along Kenmore Boulevard, many of which support our budding music economy. And the growth can be attributable in part to events like Kenmore First Friday. So, this year we’re bringing in bigger bands, adding a new street stage, and partnering with well-known market partners to celebrate that and encourage people to come back.”

Kenmore First Fridays are FREE and presented by Kenmore Neighborhood Alliance, Akron Civic Commons and Rotary Club of Akron, with additional support from Cargill, Kenmore Chamber of Commerce, Kenmore Komics & Games, The City of Akron, The Summit FM, Akron Promise, Evolve Marketing, Fastenal, KeyBank, Portage Path Behavioral Health, Prentice Funeral Homes, Lowry Heating & Cooling, Thomas C. Loepp Law Offices, and AkronBuzz. Event information will be posted as it becomes available at betterkenmore.org/first-friday.

RSVP to the June 3 Kenmore First Friday on Facebook!

Photos by Power Photography

(Photos by Jason Chamberlain)

Hundreds of music lovers flocked to Kenmore Boulevard December 17-18 for some of the region’s finest musicians during the Rialto Theatre’s first-ever Kenmore Winter Break Music Festival.

The event hosted to a variety of well-known bands like Big Pop, JD Eicher, A Band Named Ashes, Cincinnati’s The Heavy Hours, Detention and Youngstown up-and-comer Candace Campana. Acoustic acts Brian Lisik, Jeff Klemm, Chrissy Strong, Madison Cummins, Jim Ballard and Barry Carroll graced the brand new Rialto Living Room stage, and Vince “DJ Vinnie G” Giles kept concertgoers dancing until closing time.

“We wanted to do something special: bring a lot of our favorite artists together for a new kind of music festival,” Rialto Theatre co-owner Seth Vaill explained. “By December, people are really starting to miss summer festivals, and many are home for the holidays, looking for something fun and different to do.”

The event was organized and presented by The Rialto Theatre and The Summit FM along with sponsors EarthQuaker Devices, SIT Strings, The Guitar Department and Lay’s Guitar Shop. It was such a success, the Rialto and The Summit are planning other festivals throughout 2022, including Kenmore Spring Break Music Festival to be held April 1-2.

“The ice and snow will be melting, and people will have a good case of cabin fever,” Vaill said. “They’ll be ready to get out and see some shows, and we’re going to give them two great nights of music.”

The Kenmore Spring Break lineup is currently in the works. For updates and ticket information, stay tuned to therialtotheatre.com and follow @therialtotheatre on Instagram and Facebook.

By Jeff Niesel Cleveland Scene Magazine

Published December 3, 2021 Listen to the 91.3 The Summit FM’s Kenmore Winter Break feature with DJ Brad Savage.

On Dec. 17 and 18, the Rialto Theatre and the Summit FM will present Kenmore Winter Break, a two-day festival featuring 12 bands and solo artists in the heart of Akron’s music row, home to five recording studios, two guitar shops, and many of Akron’s working musicians.

Youngstown-born and bred musician/songwriter JD Eicher and his band headline on Dec. 17, and Akron rock/pop/indie sextet Big Pop (whose lineup includes members from Time Cat, Fancy Legs, Free Black!, and The Dreemers) has the headlining honors on Dec. 18.

Cincinnati-based folk rockers the Heavy Hours, who released their first single “Don’t Walk Away,” a folksy anthem co-written by Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys last year, Detention (who are now receiving regular airplay on SiriusXM and recently shared the stage with comedian/musician Fred Armisen and Gerald Casale from DEVO), emerging Struthers native Candace Campana, and Rialto staples A Band Named Ashes will also perform.

The event will also feature six Northeast Ohio singer-songwriters who’ll celebrate the grand opening of the Rialto Living Room, a “cozy” live music performance space serving food and drinks located in the front of the Rialto.

“We wanted to do something special in our new space and bring a lot of our favorite artists together for a new kind of music festival,” Rialto Theatre co-owner Seth Vaill explains in a press release. “By December, concert goers are really starting to miss festivals, and it’s been almost two years since we’ve been able to get ambitious and host a big event like this.”

The artists featured in the Rialto Living Room include Jeff Klemm, Jim Ballard, Brian Lisik, Madison Cummins, Chrissy Strong and Barry Carroll. Closing out both nights of the festival is DJ Vinnie G, who will keep the music going once the live performers have finished for the evening.

“This is the type of music event the Rialto and Kenmore can really own and grow,” says musician and Kenmore Neighborhood Alliance Promoter and Experience Manager Corey Jenkins. “The concept is repeatable and the addition of the new Rialto Living Room space enables the live music to remain constant from the moment the first solo act beings at 6 p.m. until the last band of the evening hits its final note in the theatre around 11 p.m. or so.”

Kenmore Winter Break Music Festival sponsors include Akron-based manufacturers SIT Strings and EarthQuaker Devices, as well as Kenmore guitar destinations The Guitar Department and Lay’s Guitar Shop. One hundred percent of sponsor contributions reportedly go toward paying the musicians performing during Kenmore Winter Break.

Single night tickets for Kenmore Winter Break are $15 and weekend passes are $25.

Each month, 500-700 of your friends and neighbors are hitting the Boulevard on the first Friday of each month for food tucks, live music, vendors, family activities and more during Kenmore First Fridays.

The events take place 6-9 p.m. in the Kenmore Boulevard Historic District, and the last two of the year promise to be the best yet: The Sept. 3 All-Cardinal Class Reunion will feature music from all decades, including Kenmore’s own Courtney Trice and her band Eboni Redsoul & Brown Sugah. There will be special appearances throughout the night by everyone’s favorite mascot.

Then, on Oct. 1, Oddmall, one of Ohio’s largest and most unique exhibitions of art and artifice will line the streets as attendees wait for the Kenmore Grassman to make his appearance. Live music from Hey Mavis and other twangy favorites are sure to entertain.

New this year at Kenmore First Fridays is the EarthQuaker Devices pedalboard at The Guitar Department, where you can try out a new guitar while testing EarthQuaker’s line of fuzz-inducing pedals, all of which are available at the Guitar Department. In addition, the Akorn Jammers open mic night led by Ralph Obert in the McCutchan Courtyard.

Kenmore resident Mapi Byler said she and her family enjoy the community aspect of First Friday, as well as supporting local businesses and musicians. “We love First Friday because it brings our community together and it invites others to come and enjoy it, too,” she said.

For more information on Kenmore First Fridays, follow the Kenmore Neighborhood Alliance Facebook page or visit betterkenmore.org/events.