YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) — Downtown Youngstown Partnership’s First Friday is back for October.
You can check out some fun things Friday night, all to support the city. It may be a little rainy Friday evening, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a fun night out in downtown Youngstown.
Something new for this First Friday is the focus on art. People can come to the Butler or the McDonough Museum of Art to see all of the exhibits.
They can also see a preview of Ballet Western Reserve’s The Nutcracker at the Butler, starting at 6 p.m.
Downtown Youngstown Partnership Chair Adam Lee says the art focus is in high demand.
“We think that there is a lot of interest in having an evening event at the museums,” Lee said. “This happens in many places in other cities where there’s at least one night out that provides more accessibility and a different kind of vibe than going during the day.”
Music is another big part of the art theme for this First Friday.
The Octave Live Music Cafe downtown will have its house band Slay Steppa perform from 5-10 p.m. The band Lvrboy will perform at Noble Creature Wild Ales and Lagers from 7:30-9:30 p.m.
It’s also Youngstown State University’s family weekend. The theater program will perform Zombie Prom at 7:30 p.m. at Bliss Hall.
There will be different art activities and engagement stations at the Butler from 5-7 p.m. There will be an art scavenger hunt across the street at the McDonough Museum from 5-8 p.m.
Lee says these First Fridays show how the city comes together.
“It’s extraordinarily important to show cohesive planning between different institutions and to drive out a volume of folks, to have a really vibrant, dense evening, to create a lively cultural aspect that you can’t really get in many other places,” Lee said.
Some restaurants downtown have special deals and non-art-related activities Friday night. The Youngstown Phantoms are playing at the Covelli Center.
